Eleven years after what she had hoped was her big break, Emily Ann Roberts has traded her “Meemaw Peepaw van” for a real tour bus. She’s selling out headlining shows, booking venues she once only dreamed about and celebrating her first Country Music Association awards nomination.
“I think for the rest of my life I will look back on this year as a year that kind of changed it all for me,” Roberts told Knox News recently.
Roberts’ momentous 2026 continues with the release of her new EP “Thread,” a vulnerable project that’s just as much about her bumpy journey through the music industry as it is about romantic relationships.
The Knoxville native opened up about her career, “Thread” and her special connection with fans during a fun chat with Knox News
in Dolly Parton’s personal dressing room at Dollywood.
Too country for country radio
After being the runner-up on “The Voice” in 2015 and being coached by Blake Shelton, Roberts thought she’d be “off to the races.” Instead, she “hit roadblock after roadblock” once she arrived in Nashville.
“I was told that I didn't have a place on country radio. And I'm still told that,” Roberts said, sitting on Parton’s comfy white couch.
“I mean, my career is doing better than it ever has and I really feel like we're on the edge of some really incredible things and dreams coming true, but I'm still told that,” she added.
Roberts said she has sometimes been told her music is too positive, pointing to songs about faith and love that haven't gotten the same traction as music centered on heartbreak or toxic relationships. But she believes there's room in country music for all of it, and she’s learned she’s really good at getting back up again.
“I know who I am,” she said. “I don't look for that in the comment section or in what a record label says about me."
Finally feeling seen and heard
Staying true to herself has led to meaningful songs and albums, and a growing, loyal fanbase that’s along for the journey.
Roberts is touring more now than ever before, as an opening act for artists such as Thomas Rhett, and as a headliner. She’s been blown away by sold-out headlining performances in cities that she’s never been to before.
“That shows me that we are on to something,” she said.
“If somebody is willing to spend their hard-earned money on a ticket and they show up and they know every word and then they buy a T-shirt. It's just like y'all are committed, you know, like y'all are my friends and we are in this together,” she continued.
The industry is beginning to catch on, too. She has been honored with several accolades this year, including her first Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Awards nominations, a rising artist-writer of the year award and being named MusicRow’s Discovery Artist of the Year.
“That is wild! That really makes me feel like I'm here and I'm doing it,” Roberts said of the CMA nomination, specifically.
“For a lot of years in Nashville, you can feel very invisible,” she said. “This year, for the first time in my career, I'm like they do hear and they do see me.”
Hanging on by a ‘Thread’
Roberts’ five-track EP “Thread” was released Oct. 16. It marks a new chapter in her artistry and career, she said.
The title struck Roberts immediately when co-writer Jessi Alexander brought the idea of “hanging on by a thread” into a writing session. Roberts said her eyes filled with tears. Since signing her first record deal, she had felt like she was fighting to get things done and sometimes didn't know what would come next.
“I love to think that nothing is too far gone,” Roberts explained. “I feel that way about relationships, I feel that way about my career – that as long as there's breath still in me, that there is hope and there's a reason to keep going and keep fighting.”
Roberts co-wrote all the songs on the EP, which is part of a larger project to follow. Allowing herself to be more vulnerable in the writer's room has not only helped her become more confident in songwriting but also helped her produce a “smorgasbord” of musical sounds and emotions.
That rollercoaster of emotions ensures that she’s never bored onstage, and she hopes her audiences aren’t either.
“I enjoy putting on shows where maybe people are crying, maybe people are laughing, people are hooting and hollering, and the people are reminiscent and sentimental about things,” she said. “I think that it's neat to try and feel as many emotions as we can in our time together.”
The Yeehaw Meemaw revolution
Roberts’ fans don’t just fill venue seats. Through her music and “Yeehaw Meemaw” persona, Roberts has cultivated a special community on social media.
She has 1.8 million followers on her personal TikTok account and 1.9 million on the “Sasser House” account she shares with husband Chris Sasser. Fun posts about Roberts’ “BAM girl outfits,” her crocheting, or the cooking and gardening the couple does get millions of views.
“(It’s) been really neat to see how other folks have seen themselves or what they dream of for themselves in our life,” she said. “It's not like I thought I'm going to start this revolution of the Meemaws, but it's kind of turned into that,” she joked.
What you see on social media is not a branding gimmick; it’s just Roberts being her goofy self, she said. But people have become fans after being drawn in by the Yeehaw Meemaw’s authentic personality.
“People will find me picking green beans in the backyard and say, ‘I didn't know she was a singer,’ and then buy a ticket to the show and all of a sudden they're a fan of my music, all from some green beans or from canning jam!”
Sasser is her biggest supporter, though, especially during times when she can barely hang onto the thread that’s keeping her dreams alive.
“He is the brave one,” she said. “He has never ever, ever been afraid or intimidated by the mountain that I need to climb.”
‘Live now while you can’
Roberts was just 16 when she competed on “The Voice.” And as she prepares to turn 28, she’s now beginning to truly feel the long journey and hard work pay off. The Karns High School graduate hopes that her story is an example for anyone chasing their dreams.
“You've got to be true to yourself, and you've got to do what you know in your heart you are made to do,” she said.
“You only get one life and you ought to chase down all your dreams and do all the things that excite you, ‘cause you can't get a do over. So, you got to live now while you can,” Roberts added.
Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email devarrick.turner@knoxnews.com.
Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Emily Ann Roberts celebrates a big year. ‘They do see me!’ | Exclusive
