On this episode of Unsigned & Independent, Kevin brings on a Tennessee native in Emily Ann Roberts. Emily Ann was once a finalist on The Voice at just age 15, but quickly learned that was only the beginning of her journey. Kevin and Emily dive into her playing at the Opry 16 times, how her worst tour day became her best, her YouTube channel that she has with her husband, and so much more!
Socials:
IG & Twitter: Emilyann_Music
Follow: @KickOffKevin
Podcast Description:
Unsigned and Independent is a six episode season podcast hosted by Kevin O’Connell that features unsigned and independent artists and bands in Nashville. The purpose of this podcast is to highlight the journey and grind musicians go through trying to make it in the industry; the journey most fans don’t see leading up to national success. People move to music city from all over the country to chase something they have only dreamed of – making music and performing for a living. This podcast will dive into stories on the road, late nights and early mornings on the infamous Broadway, their background story, and if there is an ultimate goal for each artist or band. The artists featured on this podcast don’t have the backing of a label or sometimes even management, or a publishing team to handle their bookings, travel, etc.… But what they all have in common is a genuine passion for the love of music and performing. There is hidden talent spread throughout music city and the aim of this podcast is to give this hidden talent an opportunity to have a platform for an audience to hear their story, what the process is really like in the industry, and hopefully gain a new fan or two.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to another episode of Unsigned and Independent. It's season two,
episode seven. I'm Bobby Bones, but the guy who runs
this show is kick Off Kevin aka Kevin O'Connell, and
this artist is Emily Ann. Tell me a little bit
about Emily Anne.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Emily Ann has been on the Voice for She was
actually a finalist for Team Blake back in twenty fifteen.
That's where she really got her name, and then she
thought she was gonna make it big. And so it's
a great story to hear how she kind of thought,
you know, she got big quick and then kind of
came back down to earth a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
She's played the Opry sixteen times.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, that's a lot Emily Anne. Do what she's played
at sixteen times. I must have met her somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
You might have.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Will you show me on your computer?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
H We pull up her profile.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
She did not plan on moving to Nashville until she
got down with the Voice again. She finished second twenty fifteen.
She played the Oprey sixteen times. Picked up a guitar
after losing a talent show in middle school and the
teacher told her she played anstruim she probably would have
won her and her husband have a YouTube channel where
they teach new homeowners how to do projects around the
house called Sasser House.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
That's interesting. Well side hustle there. I think i've met
her at the opera.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, she's super nice.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
If that's her, I think, well, we're about to see
about to listen to.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
It with you.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Here we go, unsigned and independent. Here is Emily Ann.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Emily Ann is Emily Ann Roberts. Just Emily Ann. Doesn't matter,
is it all of it?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
It's all of it. But I'll answer it just about anything.
But yeah, my full name's Emily Anne Roberts.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Okay, so I'll call you Emily Anne Roberts and if
I just say Emily An, then it's okay.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So I have actually seen you before. I saw you
last year at the listening room cafe. I went to
see Charlie Reynolds because I had her on this podcast
last year.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Wow, and you.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Were there performing as well. There was somebody else as well.
I can't remember who it was. It was like October
of last year. So it's been a little while, okay,
but I saw you on stage as well, and I
was like, she's amazing too. So, I mean everyone at
listening room is obviously really good, but you stood out
and Charlie and everybody was great. And I even went
and I found your instagram found some of your music,
and I was like, she's really really good.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Oh how cool? That's so sweet?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Right, And I'm like, she's for sure signs I probably
can't have her on the podcast. And I did some
homework and I just made assumptions, which is something you should,
I guess never really do, right, And then did some
homework on you. And you've already accomplished so much as
you played at the Grand Old Oprary sixteen times. Yes,
you were a finalist on The Voice season nine, I believe, Yes,
(02:37):
so somebody that accomplished as yourself. And I don't mean
this in like a this could be a personal choice,
But how are you on an unsigned independent podcast? If
that makes sense?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Oh? How am I? That's a good question. I've been
working hard. I've been able to do a whole lot,
and I guess that the timing just hasn't been right
for me to UH signed on with UH or anything
like that. But yeah, I I guess I have accomplished
quite a bit when you put it all that way.
(03:08):
And I'm really thankful. The Voice was a killer opportunity.
And before that, I was just singing at a little
Mexican restaurant in East Tennessee, and that's all that I
knew about country music, singing at church and playing my
little gig at El Charro. So the Voice really opened
up so many doors and brought me to Nashville. And
I've just been trying to do my very best and
(03:30):
work as hard as I can and walk through the
doors at the Lord Open. So it's been a journey
for sure. I've been here for eight years now. Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And what got you to go on the Voice?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Well, that was never a part of my plan. I had,
you know, friends and family that had said, you've got
an audition for American Idol, you got audition for the Voice.
And it was never anything that I really wanted to pursue.
And it just fell in my lap. My dad actually
recorded little videos of me singing around town or you know,
in the living we're on the front porch, and he'd
(04:01):
post him to YouTube and we never thought anything about it.
I wasn't trying to be a YouTuber. I probably had
twenty subscribers.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Maybe was this before TikTok This.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Was before this was like two thousand and ten to
twenty fifteen range, and so we were not trying to
be whoopedy doo with it. But he would just post them,
and I guess a casting producer from the Voice somehow
found one of my videos. They emailed the account and
my parents called me downstairs one night and said, you've
(04:31):
been invited to audition for the Voice. Do you want
to do it?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And I was like, well, I guess what do I
have to lose? So we loaded up in the car
and went down to Atlanta and I auditioned for the Voice,
and then one thing led to another and I was
able to get on the show. I was on Team
Blake and I ended up finishing in second place on
the show there in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Did it ever hit you while you were doing it,
even especially as a semi or as a finalist sitting
there like, holy crowd, this is really happening? Or did
it take some time after I hasn't even hit you
yet eight years later.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah. Sometimes I look back at those videos and I'm like,
who is that little girl? Like? Is that really me?
Was that really my life? No? It did not hit
me when I was on the show. You know, I
think people don't realize all that goes in to filming
those shows. I know I didn't at home. It just
looks like you wander up off the street with your
(05:21):
guitar and your family and you're gonna sing and you
know it just it doesn't seem like there's been a
whole lot of time or effort. They pull it off
in a way that it just seems real real, But
there's a lot of work and time that goes into it.
My first audition was in April, and then we weren't
done with the show until mid December, so it took
almost my whole year of twenty fifteen to be out
(05:43):
there doing that. But another thing is you never really
watch yourself on TV. So especially in the live rounds.
You do the live show and then they take you
for interviews and all of the stuff that you got
to do afterwards, and you never like go back to
the hotel in time to catch the show. And so
it wasn't until I got home and people like knew
(06:06):
me that I realized, oh my gosh, I've been on
National TV, Like I've been in people's living rooms. That
did not sink in until I got off the airplane
and there was like our little airport in East Tennessee
was filled with a bunch of strangers holding signs like
we love you, And I was like, what so anyways,
(06:27):
that that's what really made it sink in that it
really happened, and I was on TV and people watched.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Did you have any expectations when that all got finished,
wrapped up?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Or were you like, oh, I thought I was off
to the races.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I thought that it was the start of everything. You
know they tell you and your interviews the producers are like, so,
how does it feel, do you know, kickstart your career
and you know everything's just going to be incredible from here.
And I will say I cannot. I do not want
to be negative. I can't say enough good things about
The Voice. I learned so much, but I was not
prepared for the reality of getting dumped off that show
(07:04):
and realizing like, honey, you're starting at like the ground level.
You know, you're not ahead of anybody else. Coming to
Nashville made me realize, like cool. I went on the Voice.
I learned a lot, and I got some great exposure
and I made fans, but I ain't ahead of the
pack in any way, shape or form, And so that's
(07:27):
something that I wasn't prepared for. And another thing was
just how much time it takes in real life to
make the splash that you make on a TV show
like The Voice. I mean, on the show, you sing
a song. In the next morning, it's number one on
the iTunes country charts, and then you get off the
show and it's the real world and it does not
(07:47):
always happen like that. Usually it takes a lot more
time to get the type of traction and engagement that
you get on that TV show when you're just doing
it in the real world.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Did you have some very moments where you were like,
I don't even know if I want to do this again.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah, I sat and cried to my mom and daddy.
I was only I guess I turned sixteen on the show,
and so I was little and my whole life changed,
and I remember having moments crying to my mom and
daddy saying like it's is this even really what I
want to do? And I'm so overwhelmed, and do I
(08:23):
have what it takes? And this isn't what I thought
it would be. I mean, I went through all of
those emotions and having doubts and all of that. But
at the end of the day, every single time I
feel that way, because that's not something that I think
ever goes away. When we're chasing a big dream that's
bigger than we are. I mean, I've got big dreams
that I can't pull off on my own. I'm never
going to be able to get there just by my
(08:45):
own strength, and it's going to take a lot of
hard work and a great team around me and all
of that. And so I think, no matter where you're
at in your career, when you're chasing down something like that,
you're going to have moments of doubt of wondering. Like God, Lee,
I don't know if that it takes or if I'm
ever going to get there, But I guess what keeps
me going and keeps me encourage is I know that
(09:07):
I didn't do anything truly other than just do my
best to get where I'm at. The voice fell in
my lap. You know, I was able to end runner up,
and I came to Nashville, I got plugged in with
a great team, Like things have fallen into place. So
when I look at it that way, I'm like, who
am I to turn around and walk away. I got
to keep on going through these open doors and just
(09:27):
keep giving it my best.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
When you talk about your best, the Opry has got
to be up there with something, the best that you've
ever done. Right when was the first time? I mean
sixteen times. I know that's a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I know I'm giggling with you talking about it. I
still get giddy about it. The first time I ever
played the Opry, I will never ever ever forget it.
It was in October. It was near my birthday. I
remember thinking like, oh, I don't need a birthday present
for the rest of my life. This is all I need.
And Ricky Skaggs was the one who got to introduce
me to the crowd and bring me on to the
(09:59):
stage for the first time. And he is somebody that
I have looked up to for my whole life. I
learned how to sing and sing harmony, singing along to
his records in the backseat of a car growing up.
I mean, he is just it for me, and so
it was so incredible to have him introduce me and
get to share my heart. And I got a standing
(10:20):
ovation at my debut, and I've been able to debut
a lot of brand new songs on that stage. I
sing with Larry Gatlin on the stage. At one point
he came out and sang Hank Williams song with me,
just on the fly. There have just been some moments
that have been just crazy, like things that you would
write a book about one day that have come from
(10:41):
just playing the Offrey. So that was a huge dream
come true. And every time I get to do it,
I'm just as happy as the first time. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Good for you, and talk about your upbringing a little bit.
I mean, if you can hear it in your voice,
you have the Southern twin, the Southern accent. You sound
like the Southern that you would picture in your head
when you hear the voice. So where are you from
and what were your parents like? Were you growing up
on country music? Did you play music growing up? Were
you the first one? What was that like?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Well? I grew up in East Tennessee in the Knoxville area,
and my mom and daddy are precious, but we didn't
have like we weren't anything crazy special. My dad was
a janitor and my mama worked part time for pediatrician.
She was a nurse there and she's still doing that.
I mean, I lived a very comfortable life. We went
(11:31):
to Gatlinburg once a year, and we went to Florida
once a year for vacation. And so the first time
I ever even went on an airplane was when I
went to go on the Voice. So a very simple life.
I had an older sister who was precious, but not
one of them could sing, so growing up, I was
always the little songbird. And I didn't start playing guitar
(11:54):
until the seventh grade, and before that I always loved
to sing. I never really thought about playing an instrument.
I thought like, maybe I'll be like Hannah Montana and
I'll be an actress and a singer and I'll do
it all. And that's what my dreams were when I
was little. But then as I got older, I started
really falling more and more in love with country music.
(12:16):
You know, my dad played bluegrass, country gospel all the
way to the Eagles. I mean, he played a whole
smorgas board of music for me, and it really impacted
me more than I realized now looking back. That's the
music and the sound that has shaped who I am
as an artist. Is that stuff that I was raised on,
and so my parents were definitely big music fans, but
(12:39):
like I said, nobody played or sang. And so I
picked up a guitar after losing in a talent show
at my middle school because I asked the teacher what
could I do to, you know, make it into the
talent show and do better next year, and she said, well,
maybe if you would have played an instrument, he would
have made it. And I said, okay, fine, I'll show you.
(13:02):
So I went home and told my parents I've got
to learn how to play the guitar. And so we
had a hand me down guitar that my uncle had
bought for his son that had just been passed around,
and so I got that guitar. I took lessons for
a little bit and started playing, and that opened up
a whole new world. That's when I started writing. That's
(13:24):
when I just really fell in love with like crap,
I can do this, Like I'm not just pulling up
karaoke on YouTube to sing along to, Like I can
make the music myself and take this anywhere I want
to go. And so then my big redemption story is
I audition for that same talent show in the seventh
grade and I won, so don't give up kids, keep
on a trucking.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Did you tell that teacher? Hey, I took your advice.
Look at me now.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, yes, I have talked about that and now like
she's messaged me and been like that makes me cry.
I'm like it made me cry in the sixth grade.
It broke my heart.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
What song did you sing? Do you remember?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yes? I said, sang a song by the vam Perry,
all your Life. It's on YouTube, we can see it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Is that a good thing?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Well, I'm just a baby, but I mean it was good.
I guess I want it. It was good enough to win
the Talent Show and Carns, which probably isn't saying that much,
but yeah, it's still on YouTube. So I sang all
Your Life by the vam Parry and after that it
really like gave me a boost and I was like, dang,
maybe I've got something. And so we started doing any
(14:27):
local competition that we could find, and that's when I
started reaching out to different restaurants around town seeing if
they would want music on Friday nights.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Did you have Nashville on your mind as a young
child even then?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Really?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
No, no, no, it was never in my plans. To
come to Nashville, which is crazy, but I guess also
I was little. I mean I was little even when
I went on the voice. Most maybe some kids are
thinking about that at thirteen and fourteen, fifteen years old,
but I guess I just wasn't thinking that far yet.
(15:00):
But after the Voice, I knew I had to come
to Nashville. There's a lot of folks in Knoxville that said,
you don't need Nashville. You stay here and you can
make a career right where you're at. And my dad
used to say, if you're going to sell surfboards, you
might as well go to the place that you need
a surfboard for. So he was like, you got to
go to Nashville. So I just after that, I never
(15:23):
looked back.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
So and you're happy with the move still?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Eight years later, eight years later? Yeah? What about now
the Emily An now compared to the Emily En eight
years ago when she first moved to Nashville. What do
you think the biggest difference is?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Oh, gosh, maybe perspective is the biggest difference. You know,
there are some things that have absolutely changed, And I
think that I still am starry eyed and I'm hopeful
I still have that in me, but I do. I
feel like I'm a little bit wiser, a little bit calmer,
I'm more sure of myself. But I've always known exactly
(16:04):
what I want to do. But when I first got here,
I guess I just didn't have the confidence to really
give it all I got. I had a lot of
different voices, as we all do, opinions, people telling me
to go this way and that way and do things
more like this person does it, and try it more
like they do it. And I did. I tried, And
that was a big setback for me when I first
got to Nashville, because it's kind of like a game here.
(16:28):
You get to town. Everybody wants to be able to
put you in a box with somebody else to understand
who you are, and then once you sound like that person,
they're like, yeah, but who are you? What makes you different?
And so I went through a little bit of a
struggle trying to learn to take people's opinions and see
(16:48):
what I could take from it, but then also not
let them steer me away from what I know is
what sets me apart. I would have folks say, we
love that your country, but we've got to figure out
a way to make your country fit. And so then
I was trying to take who I was and put
it in a box. And you can't be real creative
when you're trying to stay inside the lines that somebody
puts you in. So I would say the biggest thing
(17:11):
that I've learned through the years is that at the
end of the day, if anybody's gonna believe a word
I say, I got to believe it. And so I
can't try to be fake or be somebody that I'm not.
I've just got to be true to who I am
and share it as authentically and honestly as I can do.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You feel like social media is a good outlet for that. Nowadays,
as an independent artist, you can still be yourself, make
your own music, write your own songs, and get it
out to the world without having the backing, a major
backing to get you out there.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Absolutely, social media has changed the game for artists like
me because you're able to find your group of people
and people who believe in it, and then other people
who were maybe skeptical now they believe because you've got
six million people on a platform that are saying, give
me this song. I freaking love it. Okay. Well, then
(18:00):
all of a sudden, everybody else who was doubting it says, oh, shoot,
you might have something good, you know, And it kind
of sucks that it has to be that way, But
you know, I'm thankful. If it takes a song blowing
up online and posting it a million times to get
traction to get you where you got to get to,
you do whatever you got to do to get there.
So I'm thankful. I'm very thankful for social media. I
(18:23):
remember when TikTok came out. I thought it was just
a little dance app and I was like, I ain't
downloading that thing, and my team told me, like, it's
not an option, yeah, to download TikTok. And I'm so
thankful that I did because it has changed the game.
I have been able to connect with all kinds of
folks that might have never heard of me if it
wasn't for that platform.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And how hard was that for you to adjust? Because
me personally, I talked about this few done this podcast.
I have the app TikTok, but I don't use it.
I've never posted, I don't even go on it. I
don't even know if on my phone still.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Good for you. It's addicted.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, that's what I've heard. And I'm like, okay, I'm
already on Instagram and Twitter as much as I am,
I don't need another one. But I understand as an
artist and somebody who gets creative, even myself, I could
probably I could definitely use it just to you know,
widen the brand or reach more listeners, whatever it might be.
So that's on me at the end of the day.
But how tough was that for you to adjust to
that and just accept it and be like, Okay, we
(19:17):
have to do this now, let's just do it. How
long did that take?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
It was tough. And then when I had a video
blow up, I was like, actually, this is addicting. It
was tough until I saw progress and then I thought, well,
I'll shoot Okay, if it works, it works, and I'll
do it. But it's very interesting. I was talking to
some folks about this actually just last week. My focus
(19:41):
and like the things that I'm working on, has shifted
in the past year. I spent a lot of time
thinking about content, and that was not how it was
when I first got to town, or even kind of
before TikTok and before Instagram reels and before YouTube shorts
and before all this content that you have to have
that kind of drives everything that you do. I wasn't
(20:03):
thinking about that, and now I spend majority of my
week when I'm not writing or recording or out on
the road, and even when I'm out on the road,
thinking what can I do to turn my life and
what I'm doing into content, which is crazy. It's a
different it's a different mindset than I've had in the past.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Interesting. And then when you're out on the road as
an independent artist that you just talked about, how tough
is that for you?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Well, I will say you it's tough. And there's plenty
of shows that you go out and give it your
best and you come home and look at the bank
and think, oh crap, well, we're just out here playing
for free after everything's been paid for. So it's definitely hard,
But that is my true passion is entertaining and connecting
(20:54):
with people. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy the other
things that I get to do with content creation and
talking to people online and through social media. All that
is fine, but my love that got me into this
in the first place is being on a stage singing
my heart out and hopefully connecting with somebody in the audience.
(21:15):
That's what I love. So even when it's tough out
on the road, it all comes out in the wash
because I love it so so much. That's where my
heart is.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Do you have a favorite story on the road and
a least favorite story or memory?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
I should say, Okay, my favorite and my least favorite
is all one story. So I had just bought my
first van and trailer, and I had been renting from
people for years. I had been borrowing SUVs, cramming poor
little pitiful band members in there like sardines. It's a
wonder they went out on the road with me, and
(21:51):
we had just like grasped its straws. Every time we
had to go out on the road. It was a
struggle to figure out what we were going to do.
So I saved and saved and saved. Finally I was
able to buy my first little trailer and my first van,
and I was so proud. And we had had that
thing for maybe two weeks. And we were headed to
a show in Missouri, and so we're passing the Kansas
(22:14):
City Airport. I'll never forget it. I heard a funny
little noise. But I thought, oh, the must just hit
a bump or something. Okay, well, no, it was not
just a little bump. Somehow the pin that held my
the hitch okay, into my van. The pin came out
and the entire hitch flew out of our van. The
(22:36):
only thing that kept the trailer from just flying down
the interstate was the safety chains, and that hitch flew
under our trailer hit a semi behind us. Yes, and
our trailer like hits the ground. It's just dragging all
over the place. And so we get off on the
side of the road. We didn't know what had happened.
When we got out there and looked at it, I
(22:56):
just boohooed. I literally boohooed because I knew what was
in my bank account. I had spent all my money
on this crap, and I thought, okay, well have crap.
I mean, I can't afford to do anything. I mean,
I'm screwed. Thankfully, the van was okay, but the trailer
was just toast. So long story short, the boys stayed
(23:20):
with the trailer on the side of the road. We
had a piano player whose dad lived in Iowa. He
came out to help with the trailer. The girls got
in the car and we headed to the gig. To
make the gig. I gave it the best that I could.
I told them the situation. They were completely understanding. But
at the end of the show I went to the
guy who booked us and I said, you know, I
(23:44):
feel really bad. He had paid for half upfront and
was going to pay for the rest that night, and
I said, I don't want you to pay me for
the other half because you didn't get what you paid for.
You wanted the full band. You know, we got here late,
we didn't have the full sound system. We literally like
coombay yalled it with them sitting in a circle around us,
and we sang to him and he said no. He said,
I think it worked out just the way it was
supposed to. And as I went to leave, it was
(24:08):
dark out where we were at, and he just went
He grabbed my hand and stuck a wad of cash
in my hand and he said, I just want to
help you and pour into you and what you're doing.
He said, we believe in you so much. Well, I've
just started bawling, and you know, said no, no, no, no, no,
I can't accept that. He said, no, you take it.
(24:28):
So I got in the van and another couple that
night had given me because we didn't even have merch
they gave me one hundred dollars cash and said, you
just put this towards a new trailer. I got in
the van. I counted up that money that that man
put in my hand, and it was two thousand dollars cash.
I got back home to Nashville. We rented a U
haul to get us back home. The trailer stayed and
(24:50):
died in Missouri the original way. Okay, yeah, it's gone.
So we come back home. We have to go out
the next weekend. And I I'm thinking, okay, I don't
want to keep renting all year long because that's a
waste of money. I want to be able to buy
something if I can. We had a friend who had
a trailer who wasn't using it. Somebody put me in
(25:11):
touch with him, and it was the same size trailer
that I had before. And so the woman said, well,
you know what, we'd sell it, but I don't know
really what to charge you for it. She said, let
me just see what I paid for it, and I'd
like to at least get what I paid for it.
Back out of it, I said, okay. She called me
back and she said, I paid twenty one hundred dollars
for it. That's the exact amount of cash that was
(25:34):
handed to me that night. She said, would that work?
And I said, yep, I've got the cash right here
for you. And I was able to just hand her
that twenty one hundred dollars. So all that story to
say when you asked me if things are tough on
the road, yes, but the Lord makes it all work out.
And I have learned that story is one of my
(25:55):
favorite memories. It's one of the hardest memories and my
favorite memories because it goes to show even when things
seem bad, you never know what's going on behind the scenes,
and it's gonna work out in the end.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I can see it in your face right now. It's
just I mean, the fact that there's the exact amount.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
The exact amount, that's how you make that up.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Not even like twenty not twenty two hundred, no, the
exact twenty one hundred. And then that one fan they
gave you that extra hundred. It's just, yeah, I don't know,
I know, that's crazy. I know, well, good for you.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
I know it worked out. I'm thankful.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
How tough was that show that night?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Then?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I mean, how could you not? It was in your
head the whole time, I imagine, yes, and I had.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Been boohooing the whole time. So then I get there
and I'm trying to pull myself together, and I'm one
of those criers. If I start crying, oh gosh, I'm
just going to cry and it's all over my face.
And so anyways, I had to just say, like, mind
over matter. You're out here in Missouri and these folks
have been waiting for months for this, so you got
(26:55):
to just give it all you got. And so I did,
and I was able to just say okay, out of sid
out of mind. As soon as it was over, it
all came crashing back in. But sometimes you just got
to put your mind over the situation that you're in.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
I like it. I like it. You'll get through it.
Twenty dollars and every other thing in life. You talked
about a supporting system earlier. And I know that you're married.
You've been married for how long now?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Two years?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
And how did your you and your husband meet? I
see him all over your Instagram? Do you guys even
have a YouTube channel together.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
We do have a thank you for asking about it.
I'm so proud of it. So, yes, we have the
Sasser House, which is I guess my married name, and
that's my husband's last name. And yes, we met in
high school in Spanish class and he was so shy
and I was just smitten with him. I thought he
was just a doll and so sweet and so uh.
(27:50):
Took some wrangling, but I finally got him to come
around and realize, I'm the one for you.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Baby sounds like a guy.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Yeah, So once he got his head wrapped around it
and he was like, okay, cool. So we were able
to be together throughout the whole journey of the voice
and that whole experience and crazy ride together and then
me getting my start in Nashville. So he's been through
the whole journey with me. But now we have our
(28:17):
first little house that we bought back in August, and
we started the Sasser House. And so I if I
was not doing music, I would be Susie homemaker. Okay.
I love all the things around the home. I love cooking,
I love decorating. I crochet like a little mamma and
so I love homemaking and any type of little DII
(28:40):
budgety stuff like that to make a house a home.
And then he is really talented in building and refinishing furniture.
So we've kind of taken all of this that kind
of has made our house a home and we're now
sharing it on YouTube. And this little house we bought
is a fixer upper, so all along the way we're
doing home renovation as well, and we're no chipping Joanna,
(29:03):
but I hope that we're encouraging two folks that may
be like us, that are like I can't knock down
a whole wall or I can't you know. Sometimes HGTV's
a little intimidating, and so we want to be able
to show folks that you can do a whole lot
with a little It's kind of our motto. So thank
you for asking about it. It's been a fun thing
to do.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yeah, I've seen it on Instagram and then I looked
at the YouTube channel and all like this is was
that planned? Or were you just kind of like we
did a couple projects and we're like, you know what,
maybe we should do something about this.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Well. Chris has always kind of posted his furniture flipping
stuff online and I post some cooking stuff on my
pages and some of my crochet stuff, and we were
just kind of talking about it, like wouldn't it be
neat if there was just like one place where all
of this could live. And so that's when we came
up with the Sassar House.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I like it. You guys are doing great. Thanks, he's great.
I want to talk about some of your music here.
Got a song earlier March called he set her off.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Sproud Alive and Flower, But she's sproud alive and mom
yay set her up?
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Okay, where does this song? It sounds like you've probably
gotten this before, like a Miranda Lambert old school country song,
and I mean, your foot is stomping? Where does this
come from?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Well?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
I was writing that day with Seth Moseley and Parker
Welling and I told him, I said, you know, there's
all these songs about women going nutso on their men
in country music, and I'm like, where does that come from?
And we just basically decided, well, there has to be
a series of events that take place. We're not just
born crazy. Surely somebody makes us crazy. And so that
(30:42):
is how the song was born. We basically said, let's
tell the story. What did he do that set her off?
And so that's where that came from. And I have
had a lot of really fun and terrifying videos that
have been shared using this song. When I first teased it,
I'm not even kidding you. One of the first videos
(31:03):
you can see it on TikTok, a woman used the sound.
She literally had her husband's stuff thrown in the yard.
A cop pulled up, he was picking up his stuff,
trying to put it back in the bag. It was chaos,
and I looked at my husband and I was like,
did I did I do that?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Like?
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Did I just encourage that and put that in that
woman's mind? So it's been very funny to see the reaction.
But we had a lot of fun writing it, and
I tell you what, we have fun singing it. It
is a foot stomping song, like you said.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
For sure, And the video itself is great. You did
great in it.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I've worked very hard on that and had a lot
of fun with it, y'all. If you have not seen
the video, to everybody listening, you got to check it out.
We burned a house down, and like really burned a
house down. I had a lot of people think it
was a green screen. It was not. It was real,
and I smoked my first cigarette. Whoa, so that's worth watching.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yeah, that was real. Then it was real. Yeah, I
mean you're yeah, Okay.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
I did practice. I had some practice rounds. I will
say that my first try was not on camera, and
thank god, because my first try was pretty.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Pitiful, confident of a lung.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Actually no, I did not really cough up alung. But well, okay,
that's a lot. Maybe I did, Maybe I did, but
I was just real stiff. I had to like loosen up.
But thankfully there were people on set that had smoked
many cigarettes and so they helped me out. But I
went to jail. And then of course at the end
of it, I'm well, you watch it for yourself and
(32:33):
see what happens. But it's fun.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
I highly recommend it too. It's very entertaining, it's funny.
Check her out, Emily and she's got over twenty million streams,
named one of Rolling Stones's Best Acts of cma FS
twenty nineteen. Emily, And do you have anything else coming
up this summer that you want to talk about?
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Oh gosh, well, we're on the road like crazy. So
y'all check out my website. I've got all my tour
dates on there, and hopefully we're coming somewhere near you.
We have a whole lot of fun out in concert
and playing live shows, and so you're sure to have
a good time. I'd love to see y'all out.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Where can they find you on social media?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Okay, I'm pretty easy to find if you know my name,
but it's Emily and Music. But if you look up
Emily and Roberts, you should be able to find me.
But I have fun on social media too. Y'all come
hang out on TikTok, but be prepared. I guess you
don't know what you're gonna get. Sometimes I get a
little giffy, but we're sure to have fun together.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Go check her out, follower, streamer, music, supporter, everything. Thank
you so much for coming in. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Oh, thank you.
Welcome to another episode of Unsigned and Independent. It's season two,
episode seven. I'm Bobby Bones, but the guy who runs
this show is kick Off Kevin aka Kevin O'Connell, and
this artist is Emily Ann. Tell me a little bit
about Emily Anne.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Emily Ann has been on the Voice for She was
actually a finalist for Team Blake back in twenty fifteen.
That's where she really got her name, and then she
thought she was gonna make it big. And so it's
a great story to hear how she kind of thought,
you know, she got big quick and then kind of
came back down to earth a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
She's played the Opry sixteen times.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, that's a lot Emily Anne. Do what she's played
at sixteen times. I must have met her somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
You might have.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Will you show me on your computer?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
H We pull up her profile.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
She did not plan on moving to Nashville until she
got down with the Voice again. She finished second twenty fifteen.
She played the Oprey sixteen times. Picked up a guitar
after losing a talent show in middle school and the
teacher told her she played anstruim she probably would have
won her and her husband have a YouTube channel where
they teach new homeowners how to do projects around the
house called Sasser House.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
That's interesting. Well side hustle there. I think i've met
her at the opera.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, she's super nice.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
If that's her, I think, well, we're about to see
about to listen to.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
It with you.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Here we go, unsigned and independent. Here is Emily Ann.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Emily Ann is Emily Ann Roberts. Just Emily Ann. Doesn't matter,
is it all of it?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
It's all of it. But I'll answer it just about anything.
But yeah, my full name's Emily Anne Roberts.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Okay, so I'll call you Emily Anne Roberts and if
I just say Emily An, then it's okay.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So I have actually seen you before. I saw you
last year at the listening room cafe. I went to
see Charlie Reynolds because I had her on this podcast
last year.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Wow, and you.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Were there performing as well. There was somebody else as well.
I can't remember who it was. It was like October
of last year. So it's been a little while, okay,
but I saw you on stage as well, and I
was like, she's amazing too. So, I mean everyone at
listening room is obviously really good, but you stood out
and Charlie and everybody was great. And I even went
and I found your instagram found some of your music,
and I was like, she's really really good.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Oh how cool? That's so sweet?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Right, And I'm like, she's for sure signs I probably
can't have her on the podcast. And I did some
homework and I just made assumptions, which is something you should,
I guess never really do, right, And then did some
homework on you. And you've already accomplished so much as
you played at the Grand Old Oprary sixteen times. Yes,
you were a finalist on The Voice season nine, I believe, Yes,
(02:37):
so somebody that accomplished as yourself. And I don't mean
this in like a this could be a personal choice,
But how are you on an unsigned independent podcast? If
that makes sense?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Oh? How am I? That's a good question. I've been
working hard. I've been able to do a whole lot,
and I guess that the timing just hasn't been right
for me to UH signed on with UH or anything
like that. But yeah, I I guess I have accomplished
quite a bit when you put it all that way.
(03:08):
And I'm really thankful. The Voice was a killer opportunity.
And before that, I was just singing at a little
Mexican restaurant in East Tennessee, and that's all that I
knew about country music, singing at church and playing my
little gig at El Charro. So the Voice really opened
up so many doors and brought me to Nashville. And
I've just been trying to do my very best and
(03:30):
work as hard as I can and walk through the
doors at the Lord Open. So it's been a journey
for sure. I've been here for eight years now. Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And what got you to go on the Voice?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Well, that was never a part of my plan. I had,
you know, friends and family that had said, you've got
an audition for American Idol, you got audition for the Voice.
And it was never anything that I really wanted to pursue.
And it just fell in my lap. My dad actually
recorded little videos of me singing around town or you know,
in the living we're on the front porch, and he'd
(04:01):
post him to YouTube and we never thought anything about it.
I wasn't trying to be a YouTuber. I probably had
twenty subscribers.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Maybe was this before TikTok This.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Was before this was like two thousand and ten to
twenty fifteen range, and so we were not trying to
be whoopedy doo with it. But he would just post them,
and I guess a casting producer from the Voice somehow
found one of my videos. They emailed the account and
my parents called me downstairs one night and said, you've
(04:31):
been invited to audition for the Voice. Do you want
to do it?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And I was like, well, I guess what do I
have to lose? So we loaded up in the car
and went down to Atlanta and I auditioned for the Voice,
and then one thing led to another and I was
able to get on the show. I was on Team
Blake and I ended up finishing in second place on
the show there in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Did it ever hit you while you were doing it,
even especially as a semi or as a finalist sitting
there like, holy crowd, this is really happening? Or did
it take some time after I hasn't even hit you
yet eight years later.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah. Sometimes I look back at those videos and I'm like,
who is that little girl? Like? Is that really me?
Was that really my life? No? It did not hit
me when I was on the show. You know, I
think people don't realize all that goes in to filming
those shows. I know I didn't at home. It just
looks like you wander up off the street with your
(05:21):
guitar and your family and you're gonna sing and you
know it just it doesn't seem like there's been a
whole lot of time or effort. They pull it off
in a way that it just seems real real, But
there's a lot of work and time that goes into it.
My first audition was in April, and then we weren't
done with the show until mid December, so it took
almost my whole year of twenty fifteen to be out
(05:43):
there doing that. But another thing is you never really
watch yourself on TV. So especially in the live rounds.
You do the live show and then they take you
for interviews and all of the stuff that you got
to do afterwards, and you never like go back to
the hotel in time to catch the show. And so
it wasn't until I got home and people like knew
(06:06):
me that I realized, oh my gosh, I've been on
National TV, Like I've been in people's living rooms. That
did not sink in until I got off the airplane
and there was like our little airport in East Tennessee
was filled with a bunch of strangers holding signs like
we love you, And I was like, what so anyways,
(06:27):
that that's what really made it sink in that it
really happened, and I was on TV and people watched.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Did you have any expectations when that all got finished,
wrapped up?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Or were you like, oh, I thought I was off
to the races.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I thought that it was the start of everything. You
know they tell you and your interviews the producers are like, so,
how does it feel, do you know, kickstart your career
and you know everything's just going to be incredible from here.
And I will say I cannot. I do not want
to be negative. I can't say enough good things about
The Voice. I learned so much, but I was not
prepared for the reality of getting dumped off that show
(07:04):
and realizing like, honey, you're starting at like the ground level.
You know, you're not ahead of anybody else. Coming to
Nashville made me realize, like cool. I went on the Voice.
I learned a lot, and I got some great exposure
and I made fans, but I ain't ahead of the
pack in any way, shape or form, And so that's
(07:27):
something that I wasn't prepared for. And another thing was
just how much time it takes in real life to
make the splash that you make on a TV show
like The Voice. I mean, on the show, you sing
a song. In the next morning, it's number one on
the iTunes country charts, and then you get off the
show and it's the real world and it does not
(07:47):
always happen like that. Usually it takes a lot more
time to get the type of traction and engagement that
you get on that TV show when you're just doing
it in the real world.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Did you have some very moments where you were like,
I don't even know if I want to do this again.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah, I sat and cried to my mom and daddy.
I was only I guess I turned sixteen on the show,
and so I was little and my whole life changed,
and I remember having moments crying to my mom and
daddy saying like it's is this even really what I
want to do? And I'm so overwhelmed, and do I
(08:23):
have what it takes? And this isn't what I thought
it would be. I mean, I went through all of
those emotions and having doubts and all of that. But
at the end of the day, every single time I
feel that way, because that's not something that I think
ever goes away. When we're chasing a big dream that's
bigger than we are. I mean, I've got big dreams
that I can't pull off on my own. I'm never
going to be able to get there just by my
(08:45):
own strength, and it's going to take a lot of
hard work and a great team around me and all
of that. And so I think, no matter where you're
at in your career, when you're chasing down something like that,
you're going to have moments of doubt of wondering. Like God, Lee,
I don't know if that it takes or if I'm
ever going to get there, But I guess what keeps
me going and keeps me encourage is I know that
(09:07):
I didn't do anything truly other than just do my
best to get where I'm at. The voice fell in
my lap. You know, I was able to end runner up,
and I came to Nashville, I got plugged in with
a great team, Like things have fallen into place. So
when I look at it that way, I'm like, who
am I to turn around and walk away. I got
to keep on going through these open doors and just
(09:27):
keep giving it my best.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
When you talk about your best, the Opry has got
to be up there with something, the best that you've
ever done. Right when was the first time? I mean
sixteen times. I know that's a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I know I'm giggling with you talking about it. I
still get giddy about it. The first time I ever
played the Opry, I will never ever ever forget it.
It was in October. It was near my birthday. I
remember thinking like, oh, I don't need a birthday present
for the rest of my life. This is all I need.
And Ricky Skaggs was the one who got to introduce
me to the crowd and bring me on to the
(09:59):
stage for the first time. And he is somebody that
I have looked up to for my whole life. I
learned how to sing and sing harmony, singing along to
his records in the backseat of a car growing up.
I mean, he is just it for me, and so
it was so incredible to have him introduce me and
get to share my heart. And I got a standing
(10:20):
ovation at my debut, and I've been able to debut
a lot of brand new songs on that stage. I
sing with Larry Gatlin on the stage. At one point
he came out and sang Hank Williams song with me,
just on the fly. There have just been some moments
that have been just crazy, like things that you would
write a book about one day that have come from
(10:41):
just playing the Offrey. So that was a huge dream
come true. And every time I get to do it,
I'm just as happy as the first time. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Good for you, and talk about your upbringing a little bit.
I mean, if you can hear it in your voice,
you have the Southern twin, the Southern accent. You sound
like the Southern that you would picture in your head
when you hear the voice. So where are you from
and what were your parents like? Were you growing up
on country music? Did you play music growing up? Were
you the first one? What was that like?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Well? I grew up in East Tennessee in the Knoxville area,
and my mom and daddy are precious, but we didn't
have like we weren't anything crazy special. My dad was
a janitor and my mama worked part time for pediatrician.
She was a nurse there and she's still doing that.
I mean, I lived a very comfortable life. We went
(11:31):
to Gatlinburg once a year, and we went to Florida
once a year for vacation. And so the first time
I ever even went on an airplane was when I
went to go on the Voice. So a very simple life.
I had an older sister who was precious, but not
one of them could sing, so growing up, I was
always the little songbird. And I didn't start playing guitar
(11:54):
until the seventh grade, and before that I always loved
to sing. I never really thought about playing an instrument.
I thought like, maybe I'll be like Hannah Montana and
I'll be an actress and a singer and I'll do
it all. And that's what my dreams were when I
was little. But then as I got older, I started
really falling more and more in love with country music.
(12:16):
You know, my dad played bluegrass, country gospel all the
way to the Eagles. I mean, he played a whole
smorgas board of music for me, and it really impacted
me more than I realized now looking back. That's the
music and the sound that has shaped who I am
as an artist. Is that stuff that I was raised on,
and so my parents were definitely big music fans, but
(12:39):
like I said, nobody played or sang. And so I
picked up a guitar after losing in a talent show
at my middle school because I asked the teacher what
could I do to, you know, make it into the
talent show and do better next year, and she said, well,
maybe if you would have played an instrument, he would
have made it. And I said, okay, fine, I'll show you.
(13:02):
So I went home and told my parents I've got
to learn how to play the guitar. And so we
had a hand me down guitar that my uncle had
bought for his son that had just been passed around,
and so I got that guitar. I took lessons for
a little bit and started playing, and that opened up
a whole new world. That's when I started writing. That's
(13:24):
when I just really fell in love with like crap,
I can do this, Like I'm not just pulling up
karaoke on YouTube to sing along to, Like I can
make the music myself and take this anywhere I want
to go. And so then my big redemption story is
I audition for that same talent show in the seventh
grade and I won, so don't give up kids, keep
on a trucking.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Did you tell that teacher? Hey, I took your advice.
Look at me now.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, yes, I have talked about that and now like
she's messaged me and been like that makes me cry.
I'm like it made me cry in the sixth grade.
It broke my heart.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
What song did you sing? Do you remember?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yes? I said, sang a song by the vam Perry,
all your Life. It's on YouTube, we can see it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Is that a good thing?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Well, I'm just a baby, but I mean it was good.
I guess I want it. It was good enough to win
the Talent Show and Carns, which probably isn't saying that much,
but yeah, it's still on YouTube. So I sang all
Your Life by the vam Parry and after that it
really like gave me a boost and I was like, dang,
maybe I've got something. And so we started doing any
(14:27):
local competition that we could find, and that's when I
started reaching out to different restaurants around town seeing if
they would want music on Friday nights.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Did you have Nashville on your mind as a young
child even then?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Really?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
No, no, no, it was never in my plans. To
come to Nashville, which is crazy, but I guess also
I was little. I mean I was little even when
I went on the voice. Most maybe some kids are
thinking about that at thirteen and fourteen, fifteen years old,
but I guess I just wasn't thinking that far yet.
(15:00):
But after the Voice, I knew I had to come
to Nashville. There's a lot of folks in Knoxville that said,
you don't need Nashville. You stay here and you can
make a career right where you're at. And my dad
used to say, if you're going to sell surfboards, you
might as well go to the place that you need
a surfboard for. So he was like, you got to
go to Nashville. So I just after that, I never
(15:23):
looked back.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
So and you're happy with the move still?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Eight years later, eight years later? Yeah? What about now
the Emily An now compared to the Emily En eight
years ago when she first moved to Nashville. What do
you think the biggest difference is?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Oh, gosh, maybe perspective is the biggest difference. You know,
there are some things that have absolutely changed, And I
think that I still am starry eyed and I'm hopeful
I still have that in me, but I do. I
feel like I'm a little bit wiser, a little bit calmer,
I'm more sure of myself. But I've always known exactly
(16:04):
what I want to do. But when I first got here,
I guess I just didn't have the confidence to really
give it all I got. I had a lot of
different voices, as we all do, opinions, people telling me
to go this way and that way and do things
more like this person does it, and try it more
like they do it. And I did. I tried, And
that was a big setback for me when I first
got to Nashville, because it's kind of like a game here.
(16:28):
You get to town. Everybody wants to be able to
put you in a box with somebody else to understand
who you are, and then once you sound like that person,
they're like, yeah, but who are you? What makes you different?
And so I went through a little bit of a
struggle trying to learn to take people's opinions and see
(16:48):
what I could take from it, but then also not
let them steer me away from what I know is
what sets me apart. I would have folks say, we
love that your country, but we've got to figure out
a way to make your country fit. And so then
I was trying to take who I was and put
it in a box. And you can't be real creative
when you're trying to stay inside the lines that somebody
puts you in. So I would say the biggest thing
(17:11):
that I've learned through the years is that at the
end of the day, if anybody's gonna believe a word
I say, I got to believe it. And so I
can't try to be fake or be somebody that I'm not.
I've just got to be true to who I am
and share it as authentically and honestly as I can do.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You feel like social media is a good outlet for that. Nowadays,
as an independent artist, you can still be yourself, make
your own music, write your own songs, and get it
out to the world without having the backing, a major
backing to get you out there.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Absolutely, social media has changed the game for artists like
me because you're able to find your group of people
and people who believe in it, and then other people
who were maybe skeptical now they believe because you've got
six million people on a platform that are saying, give
me this song. I freaking love it. Okay. Well, then
(18:00):
all of a sudden, everybody else who was doubting it says, oh, shoot,
you might have something good, you know, And it kind
of sucks that it has to be that way, But
you know, I'm thankful. If it takes a song blowing
up online and posting it a million times to get
traction to get you where you got to get to,
you do whatever you got to do to get there.
So I'm thankful. I'm very thankful for social media. I
(18:23):
remember when TikTok came out. I thought it was just
a little dance app and I was like, I ain't
downloading that thing, and my team told me, like, it's
not an option, yeah, to download TikTok. And I'm so
thankful that I did because it has changed the game.
I have been able to connect with all kinds of
folks that might have never heard of me if it
wasn't for that platform.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And how hard was that for you to adjust? Because
me personally, I talked about this few done this podcast.
I have the app TikTok, but I don't use it.
I've never posted, I don't even go on it. I
don't even know if on my phone still.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Good for you. It's addicted.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, that's what I've heard. And I'm like, okay, I'm
already on Instagram and Twitter as much as I am,
I don't need another one. But I understand as an
artist and somebody who gets creative, even myself, I could
probably I could definitely use it just to you know,
widen the brand or reach more listeners, whatever it might be.
So that's on me at the end of the day.
But how tough was that for you to adjust to
that and just accept it and be like, Okay, we
(19:17):
have to do this now, let's just do it. How
long did that take?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
It was tough. And then when I had a video
blow up, I was like, actually, this is addicting. It
was tough until I saw progress and then I thought, well,
I'll shoot Okay, if it works, it works, and I'll
do it. But it's very interesting. I was talking to
some folks about this actually just last week. My focus
(19:41):
and like the things that I'm working on, has shifted
in the past year. I spent a lot of time
thinking about content, and that was not how it was
when I first got to town, or even kind of
before TikTok and before Instagram reels and before YouTube shorts
and before all this content that you have to have
that kind of drives everything that you do. I wasn't
(20:03):
thinking about that, and now I spend majority of my
week when I'm not writing or recording or out on
the road, and even when I'm out on the road,
thinking what can I do to turn my life and
what I'm doing into content, which is crazy. It's a
different it's a different mindset than I've had in the past.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Interesting. And then when you're out on the road as
an independent artist that you just talked about, how tough
is that for you?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Well, I will say you it's tough. And there's plenty
of shows that you go out and give it your
best and you come home and look at the bank
and think, oh crap, well, we're just out here playing
for free after everything's been paid for. So it's definitely hard,
But that is my true passion is entertaining and connecting
(20:54):
with people. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy the other
things that I get to do with content creation and
talking to people online and through social media. All that
is fine, but my love that got me into this
in the first place is being on a stage singing
my heart out and hopefully connecting with somebody in the audience.
(21:15):
That's what I love. So even when it's tough out
on the road, it all comes out in the wash
because I love it so so much. That's where my
heart is.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Do you have a favorite story on the road and
a least favorite story or memory?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
I should say, Okay, my favorite and my least favorite
is all one story. So I had just bought my
first van and trailer, and I had been renting from
people for years. I had been borrowing SUVs, cramming poor
little pitiful band members in there like sardines. It's a
wonder they went out on the road with me, and
(21:51):
we had just like grasped its straws. Every time we
had to go out on the road. It was a
struggle to figure out what we were going to do.
So I saved and saved and saved. Finally I was
able to buy my first little trailer and my first van,
and I was so proud. And we had had that
thing for maybe two weeks. And we were headed to
a show in Missouri, and so we're passing the Kansas
(22:14):
City Airport. I'll never forget it. I heard a funny
little noise. But I thought, oh, the must just hit
a bump or something. Okay, well, no, it was not
just a little bump. Somehow the pin that held my
the hitch okay, into my van. The pin came out
and the entire hitch flew out of our van. The
(22:36):
only thing that kept the trailer from just flying down
the interstate was the safety chains, and that hitch flew
under our trailer hit a semi behind us. Yes, and
our trailer like hits the ground. It's just dragging all
over the place. And so we get off on the
side of the road. We didn't know what had happened.
When we got out there and looked at it, I
(22:56):
just boohooed. I literally boohooed because I knew what was
in my bank account. I had spent all my money
on this crap, and I thought, okay, well have crap.
I mean, I can't afford to do anything. I mean,
I'm screwed. Thankfully, the van was okay, but the trailer
was just toast. So long story short, the boys stayed
(23:20):
with the trailer on the side of the road. We
had a piano player whose dad lived in Iowa. He
came out to help with the trailer. The girls got
in the car and we headed to the gig. To
make the gig. I gave it the best that I could.
I told them the situation. They were completely understanding. But
at the end of the show I went to the
guy who booked us and I said, you know, I
(23:44):
feel really bad. He had paid for half upfront and
was going to pay for the rest that night, and
I said, I don't want you to pay me for
the other half because you didn't get what you paid for.
You wanted the full band. You know, we got here late,
we didn't have the full sound system. We literally like
coombay yalled it with them sitting in a circle around us,
and we sang to him and he said no. He said,
I think it worked out just the way it was
supposed to. And as I went to leave, it was
(24:08):
dark out where we were at, and he just went
He grabbed my hand and stuck a wad of cash
in my hand and he said, I just want to
help you and pour into you and what you're doing.
He said, we believe in you so much. Well, I've
just started bawling, and you know, said no, no, no, no, no,
I can't accept that. He said, no, you take it.
(24:28):
So I got in the van and another couple that
night had given me because we didn't even have merch
they gave me one hundred dollars cash and said, you
just put this towards a new trailer. I got in
the van. I counted up that money that that man
put in my hand, and it was two thousand dollars cash.
I got back home to Nashville. We rented a U
haul to get us back home. The trailer stayed and
(24:50):
died in Missouri the original way. Okay, yeah, it's gone.
So we come back home. We have to go out
the next weekend. And I I'm thinking, okay, I don't
want to keep renting all year long because that's a
waste of money. I want to be able to buy
something if I can. We had a friend who had
a trailer who wasn't using it. Somebody put me in
(25:11):
touch with him, and it was the same size trailer
that I had before. And so the woman said, well,
you know what, we'd sell it, but I don't know
really what to charge you for it. She said, let
me just see what I paid for it, and I'd
like to at least get what I paid for it.
Back out of it, I said, okay. She called me
back and she said, I paid twenty one hundred dollars
for it. That's the exact amount of cash that was
(25:34):
handed to me that night. She said, would that work?
And I said, yep, I've got the cash right here
for you. And I was able to just hand her
that twenty one hundred dollars. So all that story to
say when you asked me if things are tough on
the road, yes, but the Lord makes it all work out.
And I have learned that story is one of my
(25:55):
favorite memories. It's one of the hardest memories and my
favorite memories because it goes to show even when things
seem bad, you never know what's going on behind the scenes,
and it's gonna work out in the end.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I can see it in your face right now. It's
just I mean, the fact that there's the exact amount.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
The exact amount, that's how you make that up.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Not even like twenty not twenty two hundred, no, the
exact twenty one hundred. And then that one fan they
gave you that extra hundred. It's just, yeah, I don't know,
I know, that's crazy. I know, well, good for you.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
I know it worked out. I'm thankful.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
How tough was that show that night?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Then?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I mean, how could you not? It was in your
head the whole time, I imagine, yes, and I had.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Been boohooing the whole time. So then I get there
and I'm trying to pull myself together, and I'm one
of those criers. If I start crying, oh gosh, I'm
just going to cry and it's all over my face.
And so anyways, I had to just say, like, mind
over matter. You're out here in Missouri and these folks
have been waiting for months for this, so you got
(26:55):
to just give it all you got. And so I did,
and I was able to just say okay, out of sid
out of mind. As soon as it was over, it
all came crashing back in. But sometimes you just got
to put your mind over the situation that you're in.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
I like it. I like it. You'll get through it.
Twenty dollars and every other thing in life. You talked
about a supporting system earlier. And I know that you're married.
You've been married for how long now?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Two years?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
And how did your you and your husband meet? I
see him all over your Instagram? Do you guys even
have a YouTube channel together.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
We do have a thank you for asking about it.
I'm so proud of it. So, yes, we have the
Sasser House, which is I guess my married name, and
that's my husband's last name. And yes, we met in
high school in Spanish class and he was so shy
and I was just smitten with him. I thought he
was just a doll and so sweet and so uh.
(27:50):
Took some wrangling, but I finally got him to come
around and realize, I'm the one for you.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Baby sounds like a guy.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Yeah, So once he got his head wrapped around it
and he was like, okay, cool. So we were able
to be together throughout the whole journey of the voice
and that whole experience and crazy ride together and then
me getting my start in Nashville. So he's been through
the whole journey with me. But now we have our
(28:17):
first little house that we bought back in August, and
we started the Sasser House. And so I if I
was not doing music, I would be Susie homemaker. Okay.
I love all the things around the home. I love cooking,
I love decorating. I crochet like a little mamma and
so I love homemaking and any type of little DII
(28:40):
budgety stuff like that to make a house a home.
And then he is really talented in building and refinishing furniture.
So we've kind of taken all of this that kind
of has made our house a home and we're now
sharing it on YouTube. And this little house we bought
is a fixer upper, so all along the way we're
doing home renovation as well, and we're no chipping Joanna,
(29:03):
but I hope that we're encouraging two folks that may
be like us, that are like I can't knock down
a whole wall or I can't you know. Sometimes HGTV's
a little intimidating, and so we want to be able
to show folks that you can do a whole lot
with a little It's kind of our motto. So thank
you for asking about it. It's been a fun thing
to do.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yeah, I've seen it on Instagram and then I looked
at the YouTube channel and all like this is was
that planned? Or were you just kind of like we
did a couple projects and we're like, you know what,
maybe we should do something about this.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Well. Chris has always kind of posted his furniture flipping
stuff online and I post some cooking stuff on my
pages and some of my crochet stuff, and we were
just kind of talking about it, like wouldn't it be
neat if there was just like one place where all
of this could live. And so that's when we came
up with the Sassar House.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I like it. You guys are doing great. Thanks, he's great.
I want to talk about some of your music here.
Got a song earlier March called he set her off.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Sproud Alive and Flower, But she's sproud alive and mom
yay set her up?
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Okay, where does this song? It sounds like you've probably
gotten this before, like a Miranda Lambert old school country song,
and I mean, your foot is stomping? Where does this
come from?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Well?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
I was writing that day with Seth Moseley and Parker
Welling and I told him, I said, you know, there's
all these songs about women going nutso on their men
in country music, and I'm like, where does that come from?
And we just basically decided, well, there has to be
a series of events that take place. We're not just
born crazy. Surely somebody makes us crazy. And so that
(30:42):
is how the song was born. We basically said, let's
tell the story. What did he do that set her off?
And so that's where that came from. And I have
had a lot of really fun and terrifying videos that
have been shared using this song. When I first teased it,
I'm not even kidding you. One of the first videos
(31:03):
you can see it on TikTok, a woman used the sound.
She literally had her husband's stuff thrown in the yard.
A cop pulled up, he was picking up his stuff,
trying to put it back in the bag. It was chaos,
and I looked at my husband and I was like,
did I did I do that?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Like?
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Did I just encourage that and put that in that
woman's mind? So it's been very funny to see the reaction.
But we had a lot of fun writing it, and
I tell you what, we have fun singing it. It
is a foot stomping song, like you said.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
For sure, And the video itself is great. You did
great in it.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I've worked very hard on that and had a lot
of fun with it, y'all. If you have not seen
the video, to everybody listening, you got to check it out.
We burned a house down, and like really burned a
house down. I had a lot of people think it
was a green screen. It was not. It was real,
and I smoked my first cigarette. Whoa, so that's worth watching.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yeah, that was real. Then it was real. Yeah, I
mean you're yeah, Okay.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
I did practice. I had some practice rounds. I will
say that my first try was not on camera, and
thank god, because my first try was pretty.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Pitiful, confident of a lung.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Actually no, I did not really cough up alung. But well, okay,
that's a lot. Maybe I did, Maybe I did, but
I was just real stiff. I had to like loosen up.
But thankfully there were people on set that had smoked
many cigarettes and so they helped me out. But I
went to jail. And then of course at the end
of it, I'm well, you watch it for yourself and
(32:33):
see what happens. But it's fun.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
I highly recommend it too. It's very entertaining, it's funny.
Check her out, Emily and she's got over twenty million streams,
named one of Rolling Stones's Best Acts of cma FS
twenty nineteen. Emily, And do you have anything else coming
up this summer that you want to talk about?
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Oh gosh, well, we're on the road like crazy. So
y'all check out my website. I've got all my tour
dates on there, and hopefully we're coming somewhere near you.
We have a whole lot of fun out in concert
and playing live shows, and so you're sure to have
a good time. I'd love to see y'all out.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Where can they find you on social media?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Okay, I'm pretty easy to find if you know my name,
but it's Emily and Music. But if you look up
Emily and Roberts, you should be able to find me.
But I have fun on social media too. Y'all come
hang out on TikTok, but be prepared. I guess you
don't know what you're gonna get. Sometimes I get a
little giffy, but we're sure to have fun together.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Go check her out, follower, streamer, music, supporter, everything. Thank
you so much for coming in. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Oh, thank you.
Host
Bobby Bones
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