August 9, 2024 — There’s a sweet spot between straight ahead bluegrass and acoustic country, and few young singer/songwriters occupy that space more naturally than Mountain Home Music Company’s Jaelee Roberts. After a bold acoustic reworking of classic rock’s “Stuck in the Middle With You” and the ‘grassy heartbreaker original, “Georgia Rain,” Roberts — nominated for this year’s International Bluegrass Music Association’s Female Vocalist of the Year award — is back with another original that reveals further evidence, not just of her compelling vocals, but an emotional range broad enough to encompass a sweetly declarative love song.
“‘Between The Two Of Us’ was written with my friends Donna Ulisse and Kristen Bearfield,” says Roberts. “When we got together, we agreed that we’d like to write something up-tempo and happy, and ‘Between The Two Of Us’ is the result of that session. It truly is a happy song about love lasting between two people, and what you have to do to achieve that.”
From its gentle guitar opening through the assertive melodies that underpin the confidence of the chorus’s forthright declaration:
If we never let a fear try to have its way
If we never let a fight see the light of day
If our two hearts agree that no one gets a say
In who we are, our love stays safe
Between the two of us
and an instrumental interlude that features a dazzling conversation between fiddle, resonator guitar, mandolin, guitar and banjo, the Byron House-produced track builds masterfully on a momentum that feels as if it’s going to release into traditional bluegrass rhythms, yet never breaks away from the contemporary feel of its syncopation.
“Getting to hear this song come together in the studio was really amazing,” Robertsenthuses, “and I am so thrilled with the end result. The musical arrangement provided by Ron Block, Andy Leftwich, Cody Kilby, Byron House, Justin Moses, Stuart Duncan, and John Gardner absolutely made this song even more special than I could have imagined! To top it off, Stephen Mougin and Kelsi Harrigill joined me on harmonies and their voices were the perfect touch to convey the message of the song. I hope y’all enjoy this love song that is filled with words of hope, joy and encouragement…‘Between The Two Of Us.’”
“Between The Two Of Us” is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.
About Jaelee Roberts
Though she’s in her early 20s, Music City native Jaelee Roberts, is already more than a little familiar with — and to — the music industry. Born to veteran music professionals, she grew up backstage at the Grand Ole Opry and in the middle of rehearsals, business meetings and recording sessions, along with plenty of festivals and concerts. Roberts got her start singing in church at a very early age and began her journey as an instrumentalist at age 4 with fiddle lessons; since then, she has added guitar, mandolin and piano to her musical arsenal. Jaelee participated in and won numerous music and dance competitions, but as she began her teen years, she found herself drawn more to performance than competition. Soon, she was attracting attention for her rich voice and interpretative ability, recording not only with her father, the Grascals’ Danny Roberts, but with the Tom T. and Dixie Hall-backed Daughters of Bluegrass. By the time she finished high school, she’d been chosen in two consecutive years as a vocal track participant in the industry-leading GRAMMY Camp. Jaelee was an official Bluegrass Ramble Showcase artist at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass in 2019 as well as being a 2020 IBMA Songwriter Showcase artist. In 2021, Jaelee signed with Mountain Home Music Company, was invited to join the multi-award winning, all-female supergroup Sister Sadie on guitar and vocals and received the IBMA Momentum Vocalist of the Year and IBMA Vocal Group of the Year awards. By 2022, she had released her debut full-length album Something You Didn’t Count On which became an immediate commercial and critical success. The album debuted in the Top Ten on the Billboard Bluegrass Album chart and peaked at #2 on the Bluegrass Unlimited album chart. The album won the 2023 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) Album of the Year award, and Jaelee was also named Female Vocalist of the Year. In September of 2023, Jaelee made her solo debut at the Grand Ole Opry.