BobbyCast Presents: Unsigned & Independent: S.2 Ep. 7: Emily Ann - Discovering the Struggles of the Industry at a Young Age

00:00:10
Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Unsigned and Independent. It's season two, episode seven. I'm Bobby Bones, but the guy who runs this show is kick Off Kevin aka Kevin O'Connell, and this artist is Emily Ann. Tell me a little bit about Emily Anne.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: Emily Ann has been on the Voice for She was actually a finalist for Team Blake back in twenty fifteen. That's where she really got her name, and then she thought she was gonna make it big. And so it's a great story to hear how she kind of thought, you know, she got big quick and then kind of came back down to earth a little bit.

00:00:39
Speaker 1: She's played the Opry sixteen times.

00:00:42
Speaker 2: I didn't know that.

00:00:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a lot Emily Anne. Do what she's played at sixteen times. I must have met her somewhere.

00:00:49
Speaker 2: You might have.

00:00:49
Speaker 3: Will you show me on your computer?

00:00:51
Speaker 1: H We pull up her profile.

00:00:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:00:52
Speaker 1: She did not plan on moving to Nashville until she got down with the Voice again. She finished second twenty fifteen. She played the Oprey sixteen times. Picked up a guitar after losing a talent show in middle school and the teacher told her she played anstruim she probably would have won her and her husband have a YouTube channel where they teach new homeowners how to do projects around the house called Sasser House.

00:01:12
Speaker 3: That's interesting. Well side hustle there. I think i've met her at the opera.

00:01:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's super nice.

00:01:18
Speaker 1: If that's her, I think, well, we're about to see about to listen to.

00:01:23
Speaker 3: It with you.

00:01:24
Speaker 1: Here we go, unsigned and independent. Here is Emily Ann.

00:01:28
Speaker 2: Emily Ann is Emily Ann Roberts. Just Emily Ann. Doesn't matter, is it all of it?

00:01:33
Speaker 3: It's all of it. But I'll answer it just about anything. But yeah, my full name's Emily Anne Roberts.

00:01:38
Speaker 2: Okay, so I'll call you Emily Anne Roberts and if I just say Emily An, then it's okay.

00:01:42
Speaker 3: Yes.

00:01:42
Speaker 2: So I have actually seen you before. I saw you last year at the listening room cafe. I went to see Charlie Reynolds because I had her on this podcast last year.

00:01:50
Speaker 3: Wow, and you.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: Were there performing as well. There was somebody else as well. I can't remember who it was. It was like October of last year. So it's been a little while, okay, but I saw you on stage as well, and I was like, she's amazing too. So, I mean everyone at listening room is obviously really good, but you stood out and Charlie and everybody was great. And I even went and I found your instagram found some of your music, and I was like, she's really really good.

00:02:13
Speaker 3: Oh how cool? That's so sweet?

00:02:15
Speaker 2: Right, And I'm like, she's for sure signs I probably can't have her on the podcast. And I did some homework and I just made assumptions, which is something you should, I guess never really do, right, And then did some homework on you. And you've already accomplished so much as you played at the Grand Old Oprary sixteen times. Yes, you were a finalist on The Voice season nine, I believe, Yes, so somebody that accomplished as yourself. And I don't mean this in like a this could be a personal choice, But how are you on an unsigned independent podcast? If that makes sense?

00:02:47
Speaker 3: Oh? How am I? That's a good question. I've been working hard. I've been able to do a whole lot, and I guess that the timing just hasn't been right for me to UH signed on with UH or anything like that. But yeah, I I guess I have accomplished quite a bit when you put it all that way. And I'm really thankful. The Voice was a killer opportunity. And before that, I was just singing at a little Mexican restaurant in East Tennessee, and that's all that I knew about country music, singing at church and playing my little gig at El Charro. So the Voice really opened up so many doors and brought me to Nashville. And I've just been trying to do my very best and work as hard as I can and walk through the doors at the Lord Open. So it's been a journey for sure. I've been here for eight years now. Wow.

00:03:39
Speaker 2: And what got you to go on the Voice?

00:03:41
Speaker 3: Well, that was never a part of my plan. I had, you know, friends and family that had said, you've got an audition for American Idol, you got audition for the Voice. And it was never anything that I really wanted to pursue. And it just fell in my lap. My dad actually recorded little videos of me singing around town or you know, in the living we're on the front porch, and he'd post him to YouTube and we never thought anything about it. I wasn't trying to be a YouTuber. I probably had twenty subscribers.

00:04:07
Speaker 2: Maybe was this before TikTok This.

00:04:09
Speaker 3: Was before this was like two thousand and ten to twenty fifteen range, and so we were not trying to be whoopedy doo with it. But he would just post them, and I guess a casting producer from the Voice somehow found one of my videos. They emailed the account and my parents called me downstairs one night and said, you've been invited to audition for the Voice. Do you want to do it?

00:04:34
Speaker 1: Wow?

00:04:34
Speaker 3: And I was like, well, I guess what do I have to lose? So we loaded up in the car and went down to Atlanta and I auditioned for the Voice, and then one thing led to another and I was able to get on the show. I was on Team Blake and I ended up finishing in second place on the show there in twenty fifteen.

00:04:50
Speaker 2: Did it ever hit you while you were doing it, even especially as a semi or as a finalist sitting there like, holy crowd, this is really happening? Or did it take some time after I hasn't even hit you yet eight years later.

00:05:01
Speaker 3: Yeah. Sometimes I look back at those videos and I'm like, who is that little girl? Like? Is that really me? Was that really my life? No? It did not hit me when I was on the show. You know, I think people don't realize all that goes in to filming those shows. I know I didn't at home. It just looks like you wander up off the street with your guitar and your family and you're gonna sing and you know it just it doesn't seem like there's been a whole lot of time or effort. They pull it off in a way that it just seems real real, But there's a lot of work and time that goes into it. My first audition was in April, and then we weren't done with the show until mid December, so it took almost my whole year of twenty fifteen to be out there doing that. But another thing is you never really watch yourself on TV. So especially in the live rounds. You do the live show and then they take you for interviews and all of the stuff that you got to do afterwards, and you never like go back to the hotel in time to catch the show. And so it wasn't until I got home and people like knew me that I realized, oh my gosh, I've been on National TV, Like I've been in people's living rooms. That did not sink in until I got off the airplane and there was like our little airport in East Tennessee was filled with a bunch of strangers holding signs like we love you, And I was like, what so anyways, that that's what really made it sink in that it really happened, and I was on TV and people watched.

00:06:33
Speaker 2: Did you have any expectations when that all got finished, wrapped up?

00:06:37
Speaker 3: Or were you like, oh, I thought I was off to the races.

00:06:39
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:06:40
Speaker 3: I thought that it was the start of everything. You know they tell you and your interviews the producers are like, so, how does it feel, do you know, kickstart your career and you know everything's just going to be incredible from here. And I will say I cannot. I do not want to be negative. I can't say enough good things about The Voice. I learned so much, but I was not prepared for the reality of getting dumped off that show and realizing like, honey, you're starting at like the ground level. You know, you're not ahead of anybody else. Coming to Nashville made me realize, like cool. I went on the Voice. I learned a lot, and I got some great exposure and I made fans, but I ain't ahead of the pack in any way, shape or form, And so that's something that I wasn't prepared for. And another thing was just how much time it takes in real life to make the splash that you make on a TV show like The Voice. I mean, on the show, you sing a song. In the next morning, it's number one on the iTunes country charts, and then you get off the show and it's the real world and it does not always happen like that. Usually it takes a lot more time to get the type of traction and engagement that you get on that TV show when you're just doing it in the real world.

00:07:58
Speaker 2: Did you have some very moments where you were like, I don't even know if I want to do this again.

00:08:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I sat and cried to my mom and daddy. I was only I guess I turned sixteen on the show, and so I was little and my whole life changed, and I remember having moments crying to my mom and daddy saying like it's is this even really what I want to do? And I'm so overwhelmed, and do I have what it takes? And this isn't what I thought it would be. I mean, I went through all of those emotions and having doubts and all of that. But at the end of the day, every single time I feel that way, because that's not something that I think ever goes away. When we're chasing a big dream that's bigger than we are. I mean, I've got big dreams that I can't pull off on my own. I'm never going to be able to get there just by my own strength, and it's going to take a lot of hard work and a great team around me and all of that. And so I think, no matter where you're at in your career, when you're chasing down something like that, you're going to have moments of doubt of wondering. Like God, Lee, I don't know if that it takes or if I'm ever going to get there, But I guess what keeps me going and keeps me encourage is I know that I didn't do anything truly other than just do my best to get where I'm at. The voice fell in my lap. You know, I was able to end runner up, and I came to Nashville, I got plugged in with a great team, Like things have fallen into place. So when I look at it that way, I'm like, who am I to turn around and walk away. I got to keep on going through these open doors and just keep giving it my best.

00:09:29
Speaker 2: When you talk about your best, the Opry has got to be up there with something, the best that you've ever done. Right when was the first time? I mean sixteen times. I know that's a lot.

00:09:37
Speaker 3: I know I'm giggling with you talking about it. I still get giddy about it. The first time I ever played the Opry, I will never ever ever forget it. It was in October. It was near my birthday. I remember thinking like, oh, I don't need a birthday present for the rest of my life. This is all I need. And Ricky Skaggs was the one who got to introduce me to the crowd and bring me on to the stage for the first time. And he is somebody that I have looked up to for my whole life. I learned how to sing and sing harmony, singing along to his records in the backseat of a car growing up. I mean, he is just it for me, and so it was so incredible to have him introduce me and get to share my heart. And I got a standing ovation at my debut, and I've been able to debut a lot of brand new songs on that stage. I sing with Larry Gatlin on the stage. At one point he came out and sang Hank Williams song with me, just on the fly. There have just been some moments that have been just crazy, like things that you would write a book about one day that have come from just playing the Offrey. So that was a huge dream come true. And every time I get to do it, I'm just as happy as the first time. That's awesome.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: Good for you, and talk about your upbringing a little bit. I mean, if you can hear it in your voice, you have the Southern twin, the Southern accent. You sound like the Southern that you would picture in your head when you hear the voice. So where are you from and what were your parents like? Were you growing up on country music? Did you play music growing up? Were you the first one? What was that like?

00:11:09
Speaker 3: Well? I grew up in East Tennessee in the Knoxville area, and my mom and daddy are precious, but we didn't have like we weren't anything crazy special. My dad was a janitor and my mama worked part time for pediatrician. She was a nurse there and she's still doing that. I mean, I lived a very comfortable life. We went to Gatlinburg once a year, and we went to Florida once a year for vacation. And so the first time I ever even went on an airplane was when I went to go on the Voice. So a very simple life. I had an older sister who was precious, but not one of them could sing, so growing up, I was always the little songbird. And I didn't start playing guitar until the seventh grade, and before that I always loved to sing. I never really thought about playing an instrument. I thought like, maybe I'll be like Hannah Montana and I'll be an actress and a singer and I'll do it all. And that's what my dreams were when I was little. But then as I got older, I started really falling more and more in love with country music. You know, my dad played bluegrass, country gospel all the way to the Eagles. I mean, he played a whole smorgas board of music for me, and it really impacted me more than I realized now looking back. That's the music and the sound that has shaped who I am as an artist. Is that stuff that I was raised on, and so my parents were definitely big music fans, but like I said, nobody played or sang. And so I picked up a guitar after losing in a talent show at my middle school because I asked the teacher what could I do to, you know, make it into the talent show and do better next year, and she said, well, maybe if you would have played an instrument, he would have made it. And I said, okay, fine, I'll show you. So I went home and told my parents I've got to learn how to play the guitar. And so we had a hand me down guitar that my uncle had bought for his son that had just been passed around, and so I got that guitar. I took lessons for a little bit and started playing, and that opened up a whole new world. That's when I started writing. That's when I just really fell in love with like crap, I can do this, Like I'm not just pulling up karaoke on YouTube to sing along to, Like I can make the music myself and take this anywhere I want to go. And so then my big redemption story is I audition for that same talent show in the seventh grade and I won, so don't give up kids, keep on a trucking.

00:13:46
Speaker 2: Did you tell that teacher? Hey, I took your advice. Look at me now.

00:13:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, I have talked about that and now like she's messaged me and been like that makes me cry. I'm like it made me cry in the sixth grade. It broke my heart.

00:13:57
Speaker 2: What song did you sing? Do you remember?

00:13:59
Speaker 3: Yes? I said, sang a song by the vam Perry, all your Life. It's on YouTube, we can see it. Yeah.

00:14:05
Speaker 2: Is that a good thing?

00:14:06
Speaker 3: Well, I'm just a baby, but I mean it was good. I guess I want it. It was good enough to win the Talent Show and Carns, which probably isn't saying that much, but yeah, it's still on YouTube. So I sang all Your Life by the vam Parry and after that it really like gave me a boost and I was like, dang, maybe I've got something. And so we started doing any local competition that we could find, and that's when I started reaching out to different restaurants around town seeing if they would want music on Friday nights.

00:14:36
Speaker 2: Did you have Nashville on your mind as a young child even then?

00:14:39
Speaker 1: Really?

00:14:40
Speaker 3: No, no, no, it was never in my plans. To come to Nashville, which is crazy, but I guess also I was little. I mean I was little even when I went on the voice. Most maybe some kids are thinking about that at thirteen and fourteen, fifteen years old, but I guess I just wasn't thinking that far yet. But after the Voice, I knew I had to come to Nashville. There's a lot of folks in Knoxville that said, you don't need Nashville. You stay here and you can make a career right where you're at. And my dad used to say, if you're going to sell surfboards, you might as well go to the place that you need a surfboard for. So he was like, you got to go to Nashville. So I just after that, I never looked back.

00:15:25
Speaker 2: So and you're happy with the move still?

00:15:27
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:15:28
Speaker 2: Eight years later, eight years later? Yeah? What about now the Emily An now compared to the Emily En eight years ago when she first moved to Nashville. What do you think the biggest difference is?

00:15:39
Speaker 3: Oh, gosh, maybe perspective is the biggest difference. You know, there are some things that have absolutely changed, And I think that I still am starry eyed and I'm hopeful I still have that in me, but I do. I feel like I'm a little bit wiser, a little bit calmer, I'm more sure of myself. But I've always known exactly what I want to do. But when I first got here, I guess I just didn't have the confidence to really give it all I got. I had a lot of different voices, as we all do, opinions, people telling me to go this way and that way and do things more like this person does it, and try it more like they do it. And I did. I tried, And that was a big setback for me when I first got to Nashville, because it's kind of like a game here. You get to town. Everybody wants to be able to put you in a box with somebody else to understand who you are, and then once you sound like that person, they're like, yeah, but who are you? What makes you different? And so I went through a little bit of a struggle trying to learn to take people's opinions and see what I could take from it, but then also not let them steer me away from what I know is what sets me apart. I would have folks say, we love that your country, but we've got to figure out a way to make your country fit. And so then I was trying to take who I was and put it in a box. And you can't be real creative when you're trying to stay inside the lines that somebody puts you in. So I would say the biggest thing that I've learned through the years is that at the end of the day, if anybody's gonna believe a word I say, I got to believe it. And so I can't try to be fake or be somebody that I'm not. I've just got to be true to who I am and share it as authentically and honestly as I can do.

00:17:28
Speaker 2: You feel like social media is a good outlet for that. Nowadays, as an independent artist, you can still be yourself, make your own music, write your own songs, and get it out to the world without having the backing, a major backing to get you out there.

00:17:40
Speaker 1: Oh.

00:17:40
Speaker 3: Absolutely, social media has changed the game for artists like me because you're able to find your group of people and people who believe in it, and then other people who were maybe skeptical now they believe because you've got six million people on a platform that are saying, give me this song. I freaking love it. Okay. Well, then all of a sudden, everybody else who was doubting it says, oh, shoot, you might have something good, you know, And it kind of sucks that it has to be that way, But you know, I'm thankful. If it takes a song blowing up online and posting it a million times to get traction to get you where you got to get to, you do whatever you got to do to get there. So I'm thankful. I'm very thankful for social media. I remember when TikTok came out. I thought it was just a little dance app and I was like, I ain't downloading that thing, and my team told me, like, it's not an option, yeah, to download TikTok. And I'm so thankful that I did because it has changed the game. I have been able to connect with all kinds of folks that might have never heard of me if it wasn't for that platform.

00:18:44
Speaker 2: And how hard was that for you to adjust? Because me personally, I talked about this few done this podcast. I have the app TikTok, but I don't use it. I've never posted, I don't even go on it. I don't even know if on my phone still.

00:18:55
Speaker 3: Good for you. It's addicted.

00:18:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I've heard. And I'm like, okay, I'm already on Instagram and Twitter as much as I am, I don't need another one. But I understand as an artist and somebody who gets creative, even myself, I could probably I could definitely use it just to you know, widen the brand or reach more listeners, whatever it might be. So that's on me at the end of the day. But how tough was that for you to adjust to that and just accept it and be like, Okay, we have to do this now, let's just do it. How long did that take?

00:19:20
Speaker 3: It was tough. And then when I had a video blow up, I was like, actually, this is addicting. It was tough until I saw progress and then I thought, well, I'll shoot Okay, if it works, it works, and I'll do it. But it's very interesting. I was talking to some folks about this actually just last week. My focus and like the things that I'm working on, has shifted in the past year. I spent a lot of time thinking about content, and that was not how it was when I first got to town, or even kind of before TikTok and before Instagram reels and before YouTube shorts and before all this content that you have to have that kind of drives everything that you do. I wasn't thinking about that, and now I spend majority of my week when I'm not writing or recording or out on the road, and even when I'm out on the road, thinking what can I do to turn my life and what I'm doing into content, which is crazy. It's a different it's a different mindset than I've had in the past.

00:20:26
Speaker 2: Interesting. And then when you're out on the road as an independent artist that you just talked about, how tough is that for you?

00:20:32
Speaker 3: Well, I will say you it's tough. And there's plenty of shows that you go out and give it your best and you come home and look at the bank and think, oh crap, well, we're just out here playing for free after everything's been paid for. So it's definitely hard, But that is my true passion is entertaining and connecting with people. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy the other things that I get to do with content creation and talking to people online and through social media. All that is fine, but my love that got me into this in the first place is being on a stage singing my heart out and hopefully connecting with somebody in the audience. That's what I love. So even when it's tough out on the road, it all comes out in the wash because I love it so so much. That's where my heart is.

00:21:25
Speaker 2: Do you have a favorite story on the road and a least favorite story or memory?

00:21:29
Speaker 3: I should say, Okay, my favorite and my least favorite is all one story. So I had just bought my first van and trailer, and I had been renting from people for years. I had been borrowing SUVs, cramming poor little pitiful band members in there like sardines. It's a wonder they went out on the road with me, and we had just like grasped its straws. Every time we had to go out on the road. It was a struggle to figure out what we were going to do. So I saved and saved and saved. Finally I was able to buy my first little trailer and my first van, and I was so proud. And we had had that thing for maybe two weeks. And we were headed to a show in Missouri, and so we're passing the Kansas City Airport. I'll never forget it. I heard a funny little noise. But I thought, oh, the must just hit a bump or something. Okay, well, no, it was not just a little bump. Somehow the pin that held my the hitch okay, into my van. The pin came out and the entire hitch flew out of our van. The only thing that kept the trailer from just flying down the interstate was the safety chains, and that hitch flew under our trailer hit a semi behind us. Yes, and our trailer like hits the ground. It's just dragging all over the place. And so we get off on the side of the road. We didn't know what had happened. When we got out there and looked at it, I just boohooed. I literally boohooed because I knew what was in my bank account. I had spent all my money on this crap, and I thought, okay, well have crap. I mean, I can't afford to do anything. I mean, I'm screwed. Thankfully, the van was okay, but the trailer was just toast. So long story short, the boys stayed with the trailer on the side of the road. We had a piano player whose dad lived in Iowa. He came out to help with the trailer. The girls got in the car and we headed to the gig. To make the gig. I gave it the best that I could. I told them the situation. They were completely understanding. But at the end of the show I went to the guy who booked us and I said, you know, I feel really bad. He had paid for half upfront and was going to pay for the rest that night, and I said, I don't want you to pay me for the other half because you didn't get what you paid for. You wanted the full band. You know, we got here late, we didn't have the full sound system. We literally like coombay yalled it with them sitting in a circle around us, and we sang to him and he said no. He said, I think it worked out just the way it was supposed to. And as I went to leave, it was dark out where we were at, and he just went He grabbed my hand and stuck a wad of cash in my hand and he said, I just want to help you and pour into you and what you're doing. He said, we believe in you so much. Well, I've just started bawling, and you know, said no, no, no, no, no, I can't accept that. He said, no, you take it. So I got in the van and another couple that night had given me because we didn't even have merch they gave me one hundred dollars cash and said, you just put this towards a new trailer. I got in the van. I counted up that money that that man put in my hand, and it was two thousand dollars cash. I got back home to Nashville. We rented a U haul to get us back home. The trailer stayed and died in Missouri the original way. Okay, yeah, it's gone. So we come back home. We have to go out the next weekend. And I I'm thinking, okay, I don't want to keep renting all year long because that's a waste of money. I want to be able to buy something if I can. We had a friend who had a trailer who wasn't using it. Somebody put me in touch with him, and it was the same size trailer that I had before. And so the woman said, well, you know what, we'd sell it, but I don't know really what to charge you for it. She said, let me just see what I paid for it, and I'd like to at least get what I paid for it. Back out of it, I said, okay. She called me back and she said, I paid twenty one hundred dollars for it. That's the exact amount of cash that was handed to me that night. She said, would that work? And I said, yep, I've got the cash right here for you. And I was able to just hand her that twenty one hundred dollars. So all that story to say when you asked me if things are tough on the road, yes, but the Lord makes it all work out. And I have learned that story is one of my favorite memories. It's one of the hardest memories and my favorite memories because it goes to show even when things seem bad, you never know what's going on behind the scenes, and it's gonna work out in the end.

00:26:08
Speaker 2: I can see it in your face right now. It's just I mean, the fact that there's the exact amount.

00:26:12
Speaker 3: The exact amount, that's how you make that up.

00:26:15
Speaker 2: Not even like twenty not twenty two hundred, no, the exact twenty one hundred. And then that one fan they gave you that extra hundred. It's just, yeah, I don't know, I know, that's crazy. I know, well, good for you.

00:26:26
Speaker 3: I know it worked out. I'm thankful.

00:26:28
Speaker 2: How tough was that show that night?

00:26:29
Speaker 3: Then?

00:26:30
Speaker 2: I mean, how could you not? It was in your head the whole time, I imagine, yes, and I had.

00:26:34
Speaker 3: Been boohooing the whole time. So then I get there and I'm trying to pull myself together, and I'm one of those criers. If I start crying, oh gosh, I'm just going to cry and it's all over my face. And so anyways, I had to just say, like, mind over matter. You're out here in Missouri and these folks have been waiting for months for this, so you got to just give it all you got. And so I did, and I was able to just say okay, out of sid out of mind. As soon as it was over, it all came crashing back in. But sometimes you just got to put your mind over the situation that you're in.

00:27:10
Speaker 2: I like it. I like it. You'll get through it. Twenty dollars and every other thing in life. You talked about a supporting system earlier. And I know that you're married. You've been married for how long now?

00:27:23
Speaker 3: Two years?

00:27:23
Speaker 2: And how did your you and your husband meet? I see him all over your Instagram? Do you guys even have a YouTube channel together.

00:27:28
Speaker 3: We do have a thank you for asking about it. I'm so proud of it. So, yes, we have the Sasser House, which is I guess my married name, and that's my husband's last name. And yes, we met in high school in Spanish class and he was so shy and I was just smitten with him. I thought he was just a doll and so sweet and so uh. Took some wrangling, but I finally got him to come around and realize, I'm the one for you.

00:27:55
Speaker 2: Baby sounds like a guy.

00:27:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, So once he got his head wrapped around it and he was like, okay, cool. So we were able to be together throughout the whole journey of the voice and that whole experience and crazy ride together and then me getting my start in Nashville. So he's been through the whole journey with me. But now we have our first little house that we bought back in August, and we started the Sasser House. And so I if I was not doing music, I would be Susie homemaker. Okay. I love all the things around the home. I love cooking, I love decorating. I crochet like a little mamma and so I love homemaking and any type of little DII budgety stuff like that to make a house a home. And then he is really talented in building and refinishing furniture. So we've kind of taken all of this that kind of has made our house a home and we're now sharing it on YouTube. And this little house we bought is a fixer upper, so all along the way we're doing home renovation as well, and we're no chipping Joanna, but I hope that we're encouraging two folks that may be like us, that are like I can't knock down a whole wall or I can't you know. Sometimes HGTV's a little intimidating, and so we want to be able to show folks that you can do a whole lot with a little It's kind of our motto. So thank you for asking about it. It's been a fun thing to do.

00:29:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've seen it on Instagram and then I looked at the YouTube channel and all like this is was that planned? Or were you just kind of like we did a couple projects and we're like, you know what, maybe we should do something about this.

00:29:31
Speaker 3: Well. Chris has always kind of posted his furniture flipping stuff online and I post some cooking stuff on my pages and some of my crochet stuff, and we were just kind of talking about it, like wouldn't it be neat if there was just like one place where all of this could live. And so that's when we came up with the Sassar House.

00:29:51
Speaker 2: I like it. You guys are doing great. Thanks, he's great. I want to talk about some of your music here. Got a song earlier March called he set her off.

00:30:00
Speaker 3: Sproud Alive and Flower, But she's sproud alive and mom yay set her up?

00:30:06
Speaker 2: Okay, where does this song? It sounds like you've probably gotten this before, like a Miranda Lambert old school country song, and I mean, your foot is stomping? Where does this come from?

00:30:16
Speaker 1: Well?

00:30:16
Speaker 3: I was writing that day with Seth Moseley and Parker Welling and I told him, I said, you know, there's all these songs about women going nutso on their men in country music, and I'm like, where does that come from? And we just basically decided, well, there has to be a series of events that take place. We're not just born crazy. Surely somebody makes us crazy. And so that is how the song was born. We basically said, let's tell the story. What did he do that set her off? And so that's where that came from. And I have had a lot of really fun and terrifying videos that have been shared using this song. When I first teased it, I'm not even kidding you. One of the first videos you can see it on TikTok, a woman used the sound. She literally had her husband's stuff thrown in the yard. A cop pulled up, he was picking up his stuff, trying to put it back in the bag. It was chaos, and I looked at my husband and I was like, did I did I do that?

00:31:20
Speaker 1: Like?

00:31:20
Speaker 3: Did I just encourage that and put that in that woman's mind? So it's been very funny to see the reaction. But we had a lot of fun writing it, and I tell you what, we have fun singing it. It is a foot stomping song, like you said.

00:31:33
Speaker 2: For sure, And the video itself is great. You did great in it.

00:31:38
Speaker 3: I've worked very hard on that and had a lot of fun with it, y'all. If you have not seen the video, to everybody listening, you got to check it out. We burned a house down, and like really burned a house down. I had a lot of people think it was a green screen. It was not. It was real, and I smoked my first cigarette. Whoa, so that's worth watching.

00:31:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was real. Then it was real. Yeah, I mean you're yeah, Okay.

00:32:01
Speaker 3: I did practice. I had some practice rounds. I will say that my first try was not on camera, and thank god, because my first try was pretty.

00:32:08
Speaker 2: Pitiful, confident of a lung.

00:32:11
Speaker 3: Actually no, I did not really cough up alung. But well, okay, that's a lot. Maybe I did, Maybe I did, but I was just real stiff. I had to like loosen up. But thankfully there were people on set that had smoked many cigarettes and so they helped me out. But I went to jail. And then of course at the end of it, I'm well, you watch it for yourself and see what happens. But it's fun.

00:32:34
Speaker 2: I highly recommend it too. It's very entertaining, it's funny. Check her out, Emily and she's got over twenty million streams, named one of Rolling Stones's Best Acts of cma FS twenty nineteen. Emily, And do you have anything else coming up this summer that you want to talk about?

00:32:46
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, well, we're on the road like crazy. So y'all check out my website. I've got all my tour dates on there, and hopefully we're coming somewhere near you. We have a whole lot of fun out in concert and playing live shows, and so you're sure to have a good time. I'd love to see y'all out.

00:33:01
Speaker 2: Where can they find you on social media?

00:33:03
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm pretty easy to find if you know my name, but it's Emily and Music. But if you look up Emily and Roberts, you should be able to find me. But I have fun on social media too. Y'all come hang out on TikTok, but be prepared. I guess you don't know what you're gonna get. Sometimes I get a little giffy, but we're sure to have fun together.

00:33:22
Speaker 2: Go check her out, follower, streamer, music, supporter, everything. Thank you so much for coming in. It's a lot of fun.

00:33:27
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you.