Arden, North Carolina — Since the beginning of last year, Jaelee Roberts has released four singles, earned a coveted Momentum Vocalist of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Music Association and joined Sister Sadie — the all-woman group that earned an IBMA Entertainer of the Year trophy in 2020 and three consecutive (2019-2021) Vocal Group of the Year honors — as lead singer and guitarist.
Now, with the release of her debut album, Something You Didn’t Count On, the young singer/songwriter announces that she’s ready and willing to take center stage on her own and serves notice that the legacy of Nashville’s connection to bluegrass is in the good hands of a new generation.
As the daughter of the Grascals’ Danny Roberts and industry professional Andrea Roberts, one might think that Jaelee’s affinity, not just for mainline bluegrass, but for acoustic country-leaning songs would come naturally — but to do so would under-estimate the intentionality of her choices. Though she relied on award-winning producer-bassist Tim Surrett (Balsam Range) and a clutch of top-notch players, including current Grascal and award-winning banjo player Kristin Scott Benson as well as former Grascal (and current Garth Brooks) fiddler Jimmy Mattingly, there’s no doubt that, whether one looks at the selection of material or the maturity and self-confidence of her compelling vocals, it’s Jaelee herself whose vision informs the entire project.
That vision, and the musical muscle to translate it into polished, yet deeply expressive music had already produced results even before the project was completed. The first single (and title track) showed off Roberts’ bluegrass sensibilities — and, along with colleague Theo MacMillan (Theo & Brenna)—her songwriting chops, too, while subsequent releases revealed her religious faith (“Still Waters”), affinity for finely-crafted Music Row balladry (“Think Again”) before circling back to pure bluegrass with “You Can’t Stop Me From Staying,” written by rising star Molly Tuttle and award-winning tunesmith Jon Weisberger.
The complete collection reaches even more broadly, including more of Roberts’ originals (“November,” also written with MacMillan, heartbreak ballad “The Beginning Was The End,” written with rising singer/songwriter Mallory Eagle, and the melancholy “Lie To Me,” written with Kelli Kingrey and the prolific Jerry Salley); a gospel classic-in-the-making (“I Owe Him Everything”) from southern gospel hitmaker Lyn Rowell, and a archetypal slice of Nashville ‘grass in “Sad Songs” — her current radio single. And just to make sure that every aspect of Roberts’ musicality gets its due, there are two appealing covers — one a recap of Gram Parsons’ “Luxury Liner” that tips its hat to Emmylou Harris’ 1976 recording, the other a glistening reading of “Landslide” that wraps country and bluegrass giant Vince Gill’s velvet harmonies around Roberts’ wistful lead vocal.
“To be honest,” Roberts confesses, “This album is simply a dream come true for me! I have been thinking about making an album since I was just a little kid, because I’ve always known that music was going to be my lifelong pursuit and that I want to share the music in my heart with other people. I’m so thankful to Mickey Gamble and everyone at Mountain Home Music for taking a chance on me and signing me to the label when I was just 19 years old and with very little touring/stage experience. It means so much to have a group of people that believe in you, and I’ll forever be grateful to them for this opportunity.”
“The album came together in two different recording sessions and started during the height of the pandemic in 2020,” she notes. “Going into the studio the first time I had a good idea about what I wanted to do, because I’d been thinking about it for a long time. I love writing songs and it was very important to me to include music that had come from my heart so that people could really get to know me in my debut album. Then, before going in to record the second set of songs, I had time to really think about how I wanted to round out the album, and to spend time digging through material from other writers. I wanted to make sure that the songs told different stories and that the tempos were different and so on – it’s important to me that it feels like an album and not just twelve singles.”
“The experience of having these songs come to life,” Roberts concludes, “is something that I will always cherish and I’m already anxious to do it again. I am so thrilled to share my first album filled with music that I love, and I sure hope that everyone enjoys listening to it!”
Listen to Something You Didn’t Count On HERE.