Emily Ann Roberts is Making Country Music that Grandmas and Gen-Z Can Both Enjoy

Country music has always been underpinned by an air of nostalgia and warm, sepia-tinged wistfulness. Even when new sub-styles and textures emerge within the genre, the one constant is a dedication to honouring those who went before them.

Few artists epitomise this spirit to the extent of Emily Ann Roberts, one of the genre's brightest new voices, who is pioneering a brand of country fondly titled “Yeehaw Meemaw”.

Of course, in recent years, as the pace of life continues to ramp up and AI is used in increasingly dystopian ways, the yearning to return to a less hurried and less digitized time has grown stronger and stronger - crucially, among both the young and old.

As a result, Roberts is capturing the zeitgeist with her old-school approach to both country music and social media. Already a popular figure in the Music City scene, the Knoxville native has expanded her audience through her charming and irresistibly wholesome Sasser House TikTok page, which follows her and her husband as they welcome viewers into their home for some traditionally “meemaw” hobbies.

These include crocheting, offering home decor tips and canning tomatoes with fellow country stars such as Ella Langley. Vitally, Roberts is not only making all of these things accessible and easy to emulate for viewers, but she's making them feel cool again.

“Yeehaw Meemaw is me in a nutshell”, Roberts smiles during a conversation with Holler ahead of her C2C Festival 2026 appearance, “And I guess what it means to me is knowing that I can be a country artist who is a business owner, who is young and who leads a star-studded life on stage, but I can also have another side of me that is steeped in forgotten traditions, like crochet, gardening, canning, home-making and sewing. I'm not one or the other. It's one part Yeehaw, one part Meemaw...Your identity isn't wrapped up in just one part of who you are”.

Everything about Roberts’ blossoming brand feels intentional, with the classic country sound of her latest releases aligning seamlessly with the meemaw-inspired thread of her social media channels. On her October EP, Memory Lane, Roberts showcases her ear for infectious, undulating hooks and retro, steel-soaked compositions.

The ‘Jack and Jill Daniel's’ singer-songwriter sums up this sound, before teasing what attendees can look forward to from her C2C Festival set, “I would tell them that this country music is cornbread. I am unapologetically country, and I think that that's probably what sets me apart. I can't hide who I am - my sound, my accent, the way I talk, and what's in my heart. What you see is what you get...I try to keep everything positive and fun, which is important to me. So fans can hopefully expect a good time and to leave with a smile on their face, and their spirits lifted”.

And why should Roberts hide who she is? The fast-emerging artist is part of an exciting wave of neo-traditional country artists, such as Ella Langley, Willow Avalon and Elizabeth Nichols, who are placing an emphasis on reviving the sounds of bygone eras, while still giving these classic sonics a refreshing, contemporary twist.

‘Easy Does It’ is a beautifully pared-down ode to rejecting the addictive but implosive nature of an on-off relationship, with Roberts’ sinuous vocals gliding across the gentle guitar, while ‘Memory Lane’ is a yearning, steel-soaked reflection on a break-up that harks back to the steel-soaked country ballads of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

‘Jack and Jill Daniel's’ is the cornerstone of Memory Lane, with Roberts regaling listeners with a playful reimagining of the whiskey firm's origin story (“Ain't no mystery, that's the way it goes / Behind every shot of Jack, there's a Jill Daniels”).

“I wish ‘Jack and Jill Daniels’ was a true story, because man, that would be good”, Roberts laughs, “But I always say that a good story is a good story whether it's true or not, and that one is definitely not. I was writing with three buddies of mine, Ryan Beaver, Jeremy Spillman and Trent Willmon. Ryan and Jeremy had been thinking about ideas that they thought would be good for me, and they brought that idea in of ‘Jack and Jill Daniel's’. I loved the thought of women being the reason that men drink. I thought it was very entertaining and funny - and probably true! So I just dove right into it, and the song came out fairly quickly”.

With Roberts’ enchanting twang, her love of wholesome, uplifting content, her willingness to incorporate a range of different elements into her brand and her penchant for intricate, vibrant storytelling, you can't help but see the influence of Dolly Parton.

Roberts gushes, “Dolly is such a great example that you can do everything, and I try to do everything in my career. I'm not just a singer. I share so much of my life online, and there are so many things that I'm passionate about, and I think Dolly was a real trailblazer to show female artists that you don't have to just be a singer. If you are a singer, you can be an actress, and you can be a friend, and you can be wife, and you can be passionate about all kinds of different things. Not only do I look up to her for her songwriting, but also for who she is and the brand she's built”.

The ‘Pretty in Pink’ crooner cites one Dolly song in particular as being a key touchstone for her artistic evolution, “I love ‘Coat of Many Colors’, and if I had to pick a favorite section or lyric of that song, it would probably be, “They didn't understand it / And I tried to make them see / That one is only poor / Only if they choose to be”. I think that's a really special lyric, because you can be rich in a lot of things other than money, and you can be poor in a lot of things other than money. You can be rich in spirit. You can be rich in joy. You can be rich in love - or you can be poor in those things...I think that lyric shows Dolly's heart, and I love lyrics where you can get to know a person and what they're about through their songs”.

Following the momentum she's built through her Memory Lane EP and her Sasser House socials channels over the past 12 months or so, 2026 is shaping up to be a blockbuster year for Roberts. With new music on the horizon and a world tour that features high-profile slots at C2C Festival and C2C Berlin (including a performance on the much-loved Holler Stage at the latter), the ‘He Set Her Off’ hitmaker is undoubtedly consolidating herself as one of the future stars of the genre.

Roberts teases what's in store, “Well, I am working on my second album, so I can say that much. Memory Lane and that chapter is not closed, but it also still stands alone. It will make sense when it is all out. I knew that the EP was a certain chapter that I wanted to have its own moment - but the story is not finished yet... I am finishing my new album next month, and I'm so excited to finally get to share it with folks. So there will be a second record from Emily Ann in 2026, and I cannot wait to get to share it with everybody. ‘Come Home to You’ is the first release off that project, but there are a lot more singles coming down the pike...”

As she hints, the next chapter in Roberts’ story is imminent, with the country prodigy sharing tantalising snippets of new music via socials, including the wonderfully light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek ‘Whipped’ and the soulful, philosophical ‘Weeds’.

Through her combination of stellar, undeniable melodies, intricate lyricism and heartwarming imagery, Roberts is cementing herself as a unifying force in modern country, and an artist who is uniquely striking a chord with both Gen-Z and their grandmas. After all, as Roberts aptly muses, “You're never too young to be old-school”.

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