Mountain Home Music has released a first single from their upcoming album with bluegrass singer and songwriter, Jaelee Roberts.
Though still studying in college, Roberts has a voice to be reckoned with, and the music industry has seen big things in store for this young lady since she was in her early teens. She was born into a musical family – both of her parents are bluegrass professionals – and has learned the music business via absorption from an early age. Her dad, Danny, plays mandolin with The Grascals and has spent his whole life in music, while her mom, Andrea, currently runs a booking and publicity agency, and toured as a singer for many years when she was younger.
Fans of The Grascals got to see her grow up at festivals, sitting in with the band on occasion out on the road. She also sang on her dad’s solo project in 2014, and released a self-produced solo project in 2019, but anyone who follows the youth movement in bluegrass will have heard her singing each year in the hallways of the SPBGMA and IBMA conventions.
In short, this girl can sing!
And don’t just take it from us. The Queen herself, the one and only Rhonda Vincent, shared this comment on Roberts’ abilities.
“Jaelee Roberts is a perfect example of amazing talent, formed from a musical family foundation, nurtured into a beautiful rising star. I love it when the next generation continues a family tradition!”
For her first Mountain Home single, Jaelee has selected one she wrote with fellow Nashville writer Theo MacMillan, which they call Something You Didn’t Count On.
She says that the song has the possibility of multiple interpretations.
“Something You Didn’t Count On is about anything that happens in life unexpectedly. The main theme is about love coming out of nowhere, but it really has so many underlying meanings, and that’s why I love the song so much. The melody and lyrics came to Theo and I pretty quickly and, interestingly, the storyline comes from either the male or female perspective. I think my favorite line in the song is, ‘you don’t always look for what you find,’ which is the focus of what the song is all about!”
Jaelee is supported here by Alan Bibey on mandolin, Tony Wray on guitar, Kristin Scott Benson on banjo, Tim Surrett on bass, and Jimmy Mattingly on fiddle. Paul and Kelsi Harrigill provide the vocal harmony.
Here ’tis…
Something You Didn’t Count On is available now as a single wherever you stream or download music online. Radio programmers can get the track via AirPlay Direct.
