Jaelee Roberts On Her Sophomore Album, Working With Great Musicians, and SamJam Bluegrass

On Friday, August 29th, Daniel sat down with Jaelee Roberts of Sister Sadie to discuss her brand new solo record Let Me Be Lonely. Here is the following conversation:

Daniel Mullins: The new project, Let Me Be Lonely. This album has been a long time coming. I know you've been working on it for a few years now. What's it mean for it to finally, come out into the world for everyone to enjoy?

Jaelee Roberts: It means absolutely everything to me. I am so excited about this album because, you know, I only have one other solo project, and like you just said, I've been working on this one for a long time now, and I got to work, hand-in-hand. Byron House produced this album, which was super cool, and, there's just a lot of things about this album that I'm super proud of, and super excited about, and I'm so pumped for everybody to hear it, and I hope everybody likes it!

Daniel Mullins: While you are the reigning IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year in the world of bluegrass, your tastes go beyond bluegrass. Who are some of the influences and places where you drew inspiration for this new project?

Jaelee Roberts: Oh, goodness, there's so many. I will always one hundred thousand percent say the Osborne brothers are a huge inspiration to me, always. Definitely some older country vibes on this. I pulled… I actually recorded a Harley Allen song. His country record is one of my favorite records ever. Not only is he my favorite songwriter, but one of my favorite singers, and I'm always trying to draw inspiration from not only my favorite bluegrass artists, like, of course, Rhonda Vincent, Ken and Amanda Smith, I still draw inspiration from Flatt Lonesome very heavily, and then from the countryside, I pull from George Jones, Leon Womack, Merle Haggard, all of the big people that I love so, much and that I listen to literally every day. Patty Loveless and I love Trisha Yearwood.

Daniel Mullins: Who are some of the top pickers that are joining you on this album?

Jaelee Roberts: Oh, my goodness.

Daniel Mullins: There's a lot of them.

Jaelee Roberts: There is a lot of them. This album is just a dream come true for me, because I was joined by fiddle and mandolin by Andy Leftwich, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Justin Moses on dobro, Cody Kilby on guitar, Byron House on bass, John Gardner on drums, Ron Block on banjo, and then I had Grayson Lane join me on harmonies. I got to sing some harmonies. Kelsi Harrigill, who wrote a couple of songs on the album, sang harmony on a couple of things. Steven Mougin, Wyatt McCubbin, Ricky Skaggs, Sharon and Cheryl White, it has been….just absolutely craziness for me.

Daniel Mullins: All over the place!

Jaelee Roberts: Yeah, it's literally a dream come true, right? There's no other explanation than it's just surreal and a dream come true for me. And John Cowan! I can't forget John Cowan!

Daniel Mullins: You can't forget John Cowan!

Jaelee Roberts: and John Powell, my literal favorite.

Daniel Mullins: A lot has happened for you professionally since the release of your debut solo album, Something You Didn't Count On. Drawing from those experiences, what makes the release of your sophomore solo effort, Let Me Be Lonely, so special? And how do you think that you've grown professionally from your first album to your second album?

Jaelee Roberts: That's such a cool question. Okay, so I think I've grown a lot, just because, like, when I first started my album, Something You Didn't Count On, I was 19 years old. I just graduated high school, going into college, I was just all over, I didn't know what to expect. I'd been around people making albums my whole life, but I'd never gotten to make my own, and Tim Sturritt was such a gigantic help to me in that, because he produced that album, and he was just so encouraging to me, and all of the musicians that I had on that album, that was a dream come true in itself as well. I think I've grown a lot musically, because I still listen to pretty much all of the same things, but I've studied it more. I even wrote papers about the music that I love in college. Not only have I studied it musically, but I've studied the history, and the lyrical aspect of songs. I've written so many more songs since being 19, and I've traveled to so many more places. I joined Sister Sadie as well when I was 19 right after I got signed with Mountain Home, and so that in itself too, getting to have all of those musical opportunities, and getting to write with those people, and travel all over the place. I think I've grown tremendously musically since that time, and of course, as a person, too. I'm 24 now so you grow and grow and things change.

Jaelee Roberts: I've always wanted to do, like, a 70s themed photoshoot, and it just fell into place perfectly with these pickings of songs and some of the songs that I wrote on the album, and calling the album Let Me Be Lonely. When I figured out the album title, I got to go do my photo shoot, and me and one of my best friend, Lex, we went and teased up my hair, and did all the pictures, and did all the 70s film on everything, and it's just so fun. I love it so much, and it's just completely different from my first album, which I think is a good thing, you know? It's good to move around a little bit every now and then.

Daniel Mullins: Definitely got the Tammy Wynette photoshoot vibe going on.

Jaelee Roberts: That was my inspiration, that was my complete inspiration, so I'm so glad you picked up on that!

Daniel Mullins: You can't slide in some subtle Tammy Wynette references and think they're gonna get past me.

Jaelee Roberts: I love that so much!

Daniel Mullins: I know that you love coming to Sam Jam, because, heck, I've seen you there on your days off, right?

Jaelee Roberts: Yes, absolutely. It's one of my favorite festivals ever.

Daniel Mullins: Why is it so much fun, and what's it mean that Sam Jam 10 includes you and Sister Sadie?

Jaelee Roberts: It means so much. So this festival has just been one that, since it started, I've loved going to. I love Sammy, I love all of the people and his family that are there, and all of my bluegrass family, it seems, to always be at this festival. And every year that I've gone, it's been so much fun. I can remember a couple years back, I was there and we did karaoke. Whenever the the actual acts were done, we all went under the tent and danced and sang karaoke, and everybody just hangs out. It's not just festival goers hanging out, you get to hang out with them, but you also get to hang out with all of the other artists, which I think is so fun, because that doesn't always get to happen a lot, it seems like we're ships passing in the night at all times, like, I don't ever get to see anybody anymore. It's just always like a big family reunion there. So I'm really so excited that we get to play there. I'm pumped.

Daniel Mullins: The new album, Let Me Be Lonely, tell me about this title track, because I know that it's one that our listeners are gonna love.

Jaelee Roberts: Yeah, so “Let Me Be Lonely” is a song that Kelsi Harrigill and Wyatt McCubbin wrote.

Daniel Mullins: I know that our crowd loves them some Wyatt. They love Kelsi, too, but they have a little bias towards anything that Wyatt has a hand in writing.

Jaelee Roberts: Well, I'm telling you what, anything that he has a hand in is absolutely fantastic. So, when this song came to me, I was like, whoa. Because I'm a lover of a sad song. Sad songs are my favorite songs, they make me happy, and sad at the same time. I sat down with my guitar, and I figured out a key to sing it in, and I was sitting down, and I just was like, oh my goodness, this is everything that I want in a song. And so, when we were putting it together in the studio. I was talking with Byron House, and he… I was like, do you think we could have some… some steel? Russ Paul is playing steel on this whole album, which is insane to me as well, but the way that his steel cries with Stuart Duncan's fiddle on this track just made it everything to me. When I heard it, I cried. I'd love to make a full country album someday, but just the fact that I got to put this on there. I mean lyrically, it's just so country and so lonesome, which I love so much, and Kelsi and Wyatt both sang Harmony on it with me, which just was a cherry on top. I love it so much, and so the album is Let Me Be Lonely, because, you know, Let me be lonely!

Daniel Mullins: It's awesome! And, of course, you've grown up looking up to Kelsi Harrigill and Wyatt's been a longtime friend as well. So how great to have two friends that are really just kicking tail as songwriters in bluegrass and country and beyond, and to have an original that they wrote together, and then to have them both on it, that had to just be a little extra special.

Jaelee Roberts: It absolutely was extra special to me. I love it so much and I truly and honestly can't believe that it's happening. I lay in bed at night, I'm like, there's no way that I'm getting to do this for my life… like, this is so cool. Kelsi has been, like, a sister to me and a mentor to me my whole entire life at this point, and Wyatt has been a long-time friend, and I look up to him as a singer and a songwriter and a person, too. Great people, great singers, great writers, and I'm so blessed to have them be a part of this.

Daniel Mullins: We've had a great time chatting with Jaylee Roberts. Where can folks go to, check out this new album, Let Me Be Lonely?

Jaelee Roberts: They can find it on any streaming platform. Any platform that y'all like to use, you can find it on, and I… I hope that you love it as much as I loved making it.

Check out Jaelee’s new album: https://jaeleerobertsmusic.com/