Jaelee Roberts Is Just Getting Started

There is a particular kind of grace that comes from growing up inside a musical tradition rather than arriving at it from the outside. For Jaelee Roberts ?" the reigning IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year and one of the most compelling young voices in bluegrass and Americana today ?" that grace is not incidental to her artistry. It is the foundation of it. In a wide-ranging conversation with Real Roots Radio to kick off a busy 2025, Roberts offered a portrait of an artist who is simultaneously honoring the giants who shaped her and stepping boldly into her own light.

The occasion was a big one: the release of her new gospel single, He's Gone, a track that arrives with a lineup of collaborators so storied it reads less like a session roster and more like a hall of fame induction ceremony. But to understand what makes this moment meaningful, you have to understand where Jaelee Roberts comes from ?" and the remarkable network of mentors, role models, and surrogate family members who helped bring her here.

A Family Business, and Then Some

Roberts is the daughter of Danny Roberts, banjoist for the legendary bluegrass outfit the Grascals, and her earliest memories are steeped in the sounds and culture of traditional bluegrass music. Growing up meant backstage passes to the Grand Ole Opry, late nights on festival grounds, and a front-row education in what it means to dedicate your life to American roots music. But perhaps more importantly, it meant relationships ?" deep, formative, enduring ones with some of the most revered figures in the genre.

Among the most significant of those relationships was the one her family cultivated with the members of Flat Lonesome ?" the Florida-based bluegrass band that, in its early incarnation as Sandy Creek Revival, came directly into the Roberts orbit through her mother's work as the group's booking agent and manager. For a young Jaelee, watching lead vocalist Kelsey Walljasper (then Kelsey Harle) and her bandmate Charlie Scher navigate the music business with both talent and integrity left a mark that time has only deepened.

"Role model is a huge word," Roberts said when reflecting on Walljasper's influence. "Her and Charlie both are huge role models to me ?" what I wanted to sound like singing, what I wanted to be like as a person in general. They are still like family to us, and it played a very, very important role in my life and honestly who I am now as a person, because they were just like big sisters to me."

The intimacy of those relationships went well beyond the professional. At various points, members of Flat Lonesome essentially lived with the Roberts family. Charlie Scher stayed with them for several years. Kelsey was a constant presence ?" and when she began dating her now-husband Paul, he joined the extended household as well. For Jaelee, an only child, it was a gift she still counts among the most formative of her life.

Faith as a Foundation

Central to the world Jaelee Roberts grew up in was a faith that was never compartmentalized ?" never something reserved for Sunday mornings and kept separate from the work of making music. The church and the stage existed on a continuum for the people around her, and that integration shaped her own approach to both her personal life and her artistic choices.

She recalls being around ten or eleven years old, singing in church alongside Kelsey and Charlie ?" harmonies rising in a small congregation, a young girl watching older women she admired live out their convictions without apology. She still returns to video footage of those moments. They anchor her.

"They taught me, along with my parents, to always keep God in the forefront of whatever you do ?" whether that be music, life, relationships, whatever," Roberts said. "And that is the truth and that is what I try to live out as well."

It is no coincidence, then, that when Roberts began searching for material for her forthcoming album, gospel songs were at the top of her list. And when she needed a songwriter she could trust with something that personal, there was really only one call to make.

The Song That Came From a Swept Floor

Kelsey Walljasper has built a well-earned reputation as one of the most gifted songwriters working in bluegrass and Americana, and Roberts knew it. When she reached out asking whether Walljasper had any gospel material available, the response was immediate and generous. Several songs came Roberts's way ?" and she loved all of them. But the one that truly stopped her in her tracks arrived unexpectedly, the way the best songs often do.

"She randomly, one day ?" I think she said she was mopping or sweeping or something ?" and this idea came to her," Roberts recalled, a smile evident in her voice. "She sat down and wrote it really quickly, made a little demo of it, sent it to me, and I was like: that's the song."

The track, titled He's Gone, carries a message of resurrection and triumph that is as spare and direct as the best traditional gospel writing. The tomb is empty. He has risen. The theological content is ancient, but in Walljasper's hands ?" and now in Roberts's voice ?" it lands with the force of personal testimony rather than doctrinal recitation.

"It says everything," Roberts said. "Praise God, the tomb's empty, He's gone ?" that's strong lyrics, and that's the truth. The message is everything that I want in a gospel song."

A Dream Cast in the Studio

If the song itself was the foundation, the recording session built something extraordinary on top of it. Producer Byron House ?" who also plays bass on the track ?" assembled a band that would make any roots music fan's jaw drop. Andy Leftwich on mandolin, Justin Moses on dobro, Cody Kilby on guitar, Ron Block on banjo, and Steuart Duncan on fiddle: each a master of their instrument, collectively a unit capable of conjuring that deep, resonant, traditional gospel sound Roberts had been hearing in her head.

But it was the vocal guests who transformed the session into something genuinely historic. Roberts had reached out to Sharon and Cheryl White ?" the White sisters, two of the most beloved voices in country and bluegrass gospel history ?" with the hope that they might lend their harmonies to the recording. They agreed. And then they showed up to the studio with someone else in tow.

"They showed up at the studio and Mr. Ricky was with them," Roberts said, referring to Sharon's husband, the bluegrass and country legend Ricky Skaggs. "And I was like, oh boy ?" well, I'm excited for this."

Skaggs didn't just observe. He got on the microphone, singing bass on the track and contributing harmony lines on the second verse. The result is a recording that layers Roberts's clear, expressive lead vocal against some of the most iconic voices in the tradition ?" a multigenerational conversation captured in real time.

Icons as Neighbors and Mentors

For Roberts, the presence of Ricky Skaggs and the White sisters in the studio was remarkable not only musically but personally. These are not distant luminaries she admires from afar ?" they are people she has known since childhood, who have spoken into her life at critical moments, who have prayed with her and prayed over her.

"Getting to be around Ricky Skaggs and hearing him talk as the Godly man that he is, and talking to Sharon and Cheryl both, one-on-one, as a young girl coming up ?" they always told me: keep God first, never take your eye off of what's really important, never let the world slip in," Roberts said. "Being around that was very, very important to me as a little girl, and as a woman now they are still just like that and have always been nothing but encouraging to me."

She paused, searching for words adequate to the feeling, before acknowledging that language might simply fall short. "They are truly ?" all three of them ?" very, very special to me and huge role models."

Sister Sadie and the Power of Sass

While her solo work has been capturing headlines, Roberts remains a core part of Sister Sadie, the acclaimed all-female bluegrass supergroup that has become one of the most exciting acts on the festival circuit. The band recently released a new single, Do What You Want, a track written by Danny and Deanie and Aaron Enerland that, according to Roberts, grew out of a writing session with no agenda whatsoever.

"They literally went into the writing room and had no ideas at all, and they randomly were just like, you know ?" let's just do what we want. And then they were like, wait a second, that could be a song," Roberts recounted with a laugh. "It's very bluegrassy, country-esque. It's kind of a 'follow your arrow' type vibe."

The single is available now through Mountain Home Records, and it fits squarely within Sister Sadie's brand of empowered, high-spirited bluegrass ?" music made by and for women who are entirely comfortable taking up space. Roberts and bandmate Daisy Mullen are expected to share the stage in 2025, and the anticipation on Roberts's part was palpable.

What It Means to Come From Something

There is a throughline in everything Jaelee Roberts does, a coherence that is rare in an artist still in the early chapters of a career. Her gospel music is not a departure from her bluegrass work; her mentorship relationships are not separate from her musical development; her faith is not a genre she occupies on Sunday and leaves behind on Monday. These things are integrated, and the integration is the point.

She grew up watching people she loved do the work with honesty and devotion, and she is doing the same. The IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year title is a recognition of talent, certainly ?" but it is also, in a meaningful sense, a recognition of formation. Jaelee Roberts is not simply a gifted singer. She is the product of a community that invested in her, and she is determined to honor that investment in everything she records and everywhere she performs.

"I wanted, and still want, to be exactly like both of them," she said of Walljasper and Scher. "It was very important to me. They kept me grounded at a very impressionable age."

Where to Find Jaelee Roberts

He's Gone is available now on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. Fans can follow Jaelee Roberts's solo work and tour schedule at Jaelee Roberts Music across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. For Sister Sadie news, dates, and recordings, visit sistersadieband.com or find the band on their social media channels. Real Roots Radio has already confirmed the track will be entering their rotation ?" and if the response to this conversation is any indication, He's Gone is poised to become one of the standout gospel recordings of 2025.