JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Emily Ann Roberts shared the notion you “can't hide country” when she released her debut album last year. But now, the Knoxville native would tell you the mantra has become less of a confession and more of a promise to herself.
“I felt like for the first time, ‘This is who I am,’” Roberts told Tri-Cities Scene. “You’ve got the more traditional music (on the record). Then you’ve got some big-band songs that excited me.
And that's why I cut ‘em.” Roberts will perform such unapologetically country tunes Thursday, Aug. 16, as part of Jamey Johnson’s What A View Tour at Johnson City’s Freedom Hall Civic Center.
She opens the show acoustically ahead of Ben Haggard — country singer and son to legendary artist Merle Haggard — all before headliner and “In Color” crooner Johnson takes the stage. Roberts’ acoustic set is only the better to showcase her love for country and Appalachian-infused music. “It’s really neat because usually we’re out with the whole band and we have the whole shebang happening,” Roberts said.
“When it's more acoustic-driven and it's just guitars and the song, you can really lean into the music and what the song is saying. Sometimes I think when things are more broken down they can be even more special.” Roberts didn’t suddenly emerge from her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee with fiddle-driven tunes at the ready — and often, despite the advice of Nashville music executives.
Instead, her love for more traditional country music lived inside her like the strum of a subtle mandolin in a background recording. But now, it’s at the forefront. “My heart is with the more traditional country or even like, jacked-up bluegrass country,” Roberts said.
“I love Appalachian instrumentation with mandolins, banjos, acoustic guitars and fiddles and dobros. That makes my heart so happy because that's what I was raised on.” It's been nearly 10 years since a 16 year-old blonde haired lover of country and bluegrass music first appeared on NBC’s “The Voice,” citing bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs as an inspiration (he lended his vocals on her song “Still Searching” along with Vince Gill on her debut album and introduced her during her first Grand Ole Opry appearance in Nashville).
She placed second on “The Voice” and has spent the last nine years between unleashing her Appalachian country roots and offering up a radio-ready discography. “For years I really struggled in Nashville because a lot of folks would say stuff to me like, ‘We love who you are but we’ve just gotta figure out how to take who you are and make it fit on country radio,’” she said. “I would try to write music that would make everybody happy, honestly.
“I was so burnt out and miserable with the songs I was writing. I just wasn't really fired up about any of it. I woke up from that and realized at the end of the day, God’s given this gift to me to use in a way that only I can.
I can't chase what other people are doing. I can't try to be somebody else. I have to be authentic to myself and bring to the table the gifts the Lord’s given me.
” Emily Ann Roberts' debut album features her love for country music. At moments, Robert’s album soars into traditional-leaning territory like a fiery Earl Scruggs solo. Country music flies on tunes like “Whole Lotta Little” and “Back Home” (on the deluxe edition).
You can catch glimpses of ‘90s country on songs like the Shania Twain-inspired “Find Me A Man.” “I think for the first time, I was being more honest than I had ever been in my music and with my sound,” Roberts said. “I got to a place where I was like, ‘Well, take it or leave it, this is Emily Ann.
’” In Nashville, Roberts is joined by fellow East Tennessean and Piney Flatts native Carson Peters — who also appeared on a season of “The Voice” — in leaning into Appalachian music and in much of her songwriting exploration. “He and I have been writing a ton and getting to know each other so much better,” Roberts said. “He’s a couple years younger than me, but i feel like we’re both kind of youngins in this business.
It’s neat to have a friend in him and being from the same neck of the woods we just hit it off.” The two joined forces this summer at Kingsport’s Fun Fest, opening for Tyler Hubbard — a show, not unlike the one set for Johnson City this week, set in a place that feels a bit more like home to Roberts than the rest of the world. “Anytime I get to play in east Tennessee, it just absolutely fills up my heart,” she said.
“I am so thankful for the way East Tennessee has always wrapped their arms around me since ‘The Voice.’ Anytime I can go back home, I feel like I'm able to talk to the folks like they’re family because they are family. It feels like coming back home instead of going and trying to win over a new crowd.
” As long as she's in the Volunteer State, a show isn't complete without Rocky Top. “I used to put ‘Rocky Top’ on my setlist and play it all over, but man it got discouraging,” Roberts said. “We’d be in Michigan or something and we’d get to the part where you’re supposed to ‘whoo’ and no one would ‘whoo!’ I would feel so far from home.
I’d be like, ‘Man, okay, this just reminded me how far away I am.’ “Now I reserve Rocky Top for Tennessee. All my East Tennessee folks especially can count on hearing at least a snippet of it.
” One tune she doesn’t reserve just for her home state is “The Building,” which details her experience growing up at West Lonsdale Baptist Church that her great-grandfather pastored in Knoxville. She plays it at each show, she said, (though she admits she didn’t know how a slower piano ballad might go over on Blake Shelton’s Back To the Honky Tonk Tour last spring). “I think it doesn’t matter where you are.
I think if a song is real and genuine, it's going to connect with folks,” Roberts said. “ ..
. I never dreamed that when other folks would hear it they would hear their story. But that has been the most beautiful thing about it.
Other folks hear it and they tell me it takes them right back to the second pew at Bethel Baptist Church. That’s been really, really cool to see how God can use a song that's so specific to me and my story. Yet when other people hear it, they hear theirs.
” Maybe above all else, connection is what Roberts has found in releasing her “Can’t Hide Country” record — which has been a sign for the 25-year-old that she's on the right path. “I released music before this album, but it did not connect like this one has,” she said. “I think people crave authenticity and everybody’s looking for something real.
” “Can’t Hide County” includes humorous songs like “Chickens” and “He Set Her Off,” (which insinuates a woman scorned is “fragile bomb” moreso than a delicate flower). But, for Roberts, the album and her music isn't just about those toe-tappin’, “fun little songs.” “I want to listen to music that challenges me and makes me think,” she said.
“We all love fun little songs. I think about some of the songs I was raised on that are just fun and you just want to smile and sing along. There's a time and place for that.
But I think the songs that really make an impact on our lives are the ones that really say something and the ones that are honest and the ones that tell a story. That's why I love country music so much. There’s room for all of that.
” Connection doesn't stop with music for Roberts and her husband, Chris, also from Knoxville. The two share their Sasser House YouTube page where Chris shares his home renovation projects on their home and Emily shares her life as a self-professed “yeehaw meemaw” — which includes everything from crocheting her CMA outfit to tending to the weeds in their garden. “We started thinking, ‘There has to be other young couples like us who want to make a house a home but maybe don't have the budget for the things you see on TV or on pinterest,’” she said.
“Neither one of us really grew up with lots of money. So it was kind of in us to know that if we want something and we can't afford it, we will figure out a way to make something else work. “It’s been fun to hear people’s reactions.
If nothing else, it’s a fun little scrapbook basically for us to look back on.” Up ahead, Roberts aims to keep sharing her country music gospel, leaning into her traditional-leaning style as she heads into the studio at the end of this month. “I’m leaning even more into my East Tennessee roots,” she said.
“I'm leaning even more into that Appalachian sound that I love so much. I’m even more unapologetic with how traditional and how to true to the country genre this music will be. For years I tried really hard to ride that line and make everyone happy.
Seeing how ‘Can’t Hide Country connected, when I think about what’s next, I really just want to go all the way. “I don't want to hold back at all. I don't want to check off any boxes.
I want to be authentic to the sound that fills up my heart and what I think sets me apart. I'm excited to see how people respond to it.”.
