Biography
Born to music professionals, Jaelee Roberts has grown up backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, in the middle of business meetings, recording studios, and at festivals and concerts. Roberts got her start singing in church at a very early age and she does not remember a time when she wasn’t completely in love with music. Jaelee began her journey as an instrumentalist at age 4 with fiddle lessons and has also added guitar, mandolin and piano to her musical arsenal. From age 6 to 12 Jaelee participated in and won numerous music and dance competitions but found that her passion was for performance over competing. Following that passion, she has been blessed with many opportunities to take the stage with a long list of her musical heroes.
By the time Jaelee was 12 years old she had been in the studio as featured vocalist/harmony vocalist on seven songs: four songs for Tom T. & Miss Dixie Hall’s 2013 epic Pickin’ Like A Girl collection by the Daughters of Bluegrass on Blue Circle Records and three songs on Danny Roberts’ 2014 solo project, Nighthawk on Mountain Home Records.
Jaelee has been very active in a number of youth music organizations including the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Youth Council and Kids on Bluegrass program. Roberts was also chosen from applicants across the United States as a vocal track participant at GRAMMY Camp for two years (2017 in Nashville, TN and 2018 in Los Angeles, CA) which gave her the opportunity to spend two weeks fully immersed in music with her peers – collaborating with songwriters, musicians and recording engineers – and getting instruction from industry powerhouses.
In 2019, Jaelee had two singles released on Euphony Records that received national and international airplay. The first release, “All My Tears” garnered attention from Patty Loveless saying “Jaelee Roberts…WOW…this girl can sing! She brings a vocal performance to this track that touches the core of what fires me up about music.” Jaelee’s second single, the self-penned “One’s Real Life”, was inspired by a dream and the song’s hook “one’s real life” was vividly recalled after waking. Also, in 2019, Jaelee was a featured performer at the prestigious Musicians Against Childhood Cancer (MACC) Festival in Ohio as well as being an Official Showcase Artist at the IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC.
While 2020 proved to be a challenging year for the music industry, Jaelee continued to make great strides to expand her musical horizons by honing her songwriting skills. Jaelee was selected to perform one of her original compositions at the IBMA Songwriters Showcase during the 2020 Virtual IBMA World of Bluegrass. In October, it was announced that Jaelee had signed a recording contract with Mountain Home Music and in December she was invited to appear on the Grand Ole Opry as a guest of IBMA’s reigning Entertainers of the Year, Sister Sadie, to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Bluegrass Music!
February 5, 2021, Jaelee’s debut single on Mountain Home Records, “Something You Didn’t Count On” from a forthcoming CD was released and has been received by radio and fans alike with great enthusiasm. Written by Jaelee and singer/songwriter Theo MacMillan, “Something You Didn’t Count On” is a well-crafted story of an unexpected love capable of sweeping past every doubt and obstacle.
While chasing her music dreams, Jaelee is also attending Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) where she is studying Commercial Songwriting at the school’s College of Media and Entertainment.