There’s never been a doubt in Emily Roth’s mind that she was meant to be a musician. Not even a tornado rummaging through Nashville on the night she moved to Town could keep her from fulfilling her dreams.
A few months later, Roth released her first single, “Meet Me in Tennessee,” and began building connections and friendships in Music City.
Now, four years removed from her move, Roth has a handful of single releases under her belt, with plans for new music in 2026 that will see her expand her sound and continue her growth as an artist.
We chatted with her about all of that and more!
Pro Country: Your bio mentions your musical roots developing in country music at an early age. Who were some of the earliest artists you remember hearing the made you fall in love with country music?
Emily Roth: I grew up with very musical family in the sense that both my parents always were taking my sister and me to concerts. Instead of the TV on, it was always the radio or CDs, and eventually, early morning, before-school playlists.
A lot of my influences came from them with artists like Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, Toby Keith; so many. Taylor Swift was probably one of the first of my own that made me REALLY want to dive in and learn guitar. Like many, I was fascinated over the idea of “here’s this girl not too much older than me actually doing it.”
PC: You began playing guitar at 12 years-old. What was it about playing, and performing, that connected with you so early in your life?
ER: It’s just always been a part of who I am. I was singing songs on top of the staircase and performing to my family before I could even form sentences. I always loved to be the entertainer, and I don’t know why specifically. It’s just always been who I am.
PC: In past interviews, you’ve mentioned that as long as you can remember, you’ve been interested in performing and a future in music. With those deep musical roots, when did you realize you feasibly could pursue music as a career?
ER: I started opening for various local acts around town as young as 13. By late high school years, they turned into actual paying gigs that I was starting to book on my own just from the network of musicians I had been growing up around. I think it was around 2018 that I was booking up every weekend to the point where I kept taking off at my college side job and I was just like, I’m booking every weekend, I don’t need to keep doing both, I’m just going to go for it. I remember the day I quit that job; I booked 13 shows in one phone call. It just felt like a sign that I was going to be okay.
PC: In college, you quit your job and shifted your focus more towards music, and moved to Nashville in 2021. What emotions came with making those major decisions and following through with them? What was it like immersing yourself with the collective talent in Nashville?
ER: Ah, SO MANY EMOTIONS. I was leaving on such a whim that it was like whiplash, in the best way. I was coming to Nashville for about a week out of the month for about three months before I moved, making friends and playing around town. I found this place for rent online while I was visiting and asked to go see it. When I got there, I instantly recognized the home as it was one of my new friends’ houses that she hosted a writers round at in the backyard. I’m big on trusting things when they feel like a sign to me; this was another one of those moments, and I instantly knew I just had to do it. I packed up, sold almost all my stuff and moved within one week. The night I got here, a tornado went through and a tree fell hitting my bedroom window. My mom and I slept on the floor of my new bedroom, and I can remember saying something along the lines of “What have I got myself into;” rolling into town like a tornado, literally.
Nashville is one of the friendliest and welcoming cities ever, especially as a newcomer. It took no time at all to instantly make really cool, fun friendships and connections.
PC: A few months after moving to Nashville, you released your debut single, “Meet Me in Tennessee,” a song that deals with leaving a love behind in North Carolina upon moving to Nashville. What emotions came with releasing music for the first time, and releasing a song that was that personal?
ER: It was genuinely such a cool time in my life. I had never put out music, and I had JUST moved here to do that, and my producer is the coolest guy ever. I had no proper demos or anything, but thankfully I did have a mutual friend. He gave me his contact, and I called him like “hey, I don’t have demos for my songs, but I’d love for you to hear them somehow and see if you’d want to work together.” He’s just such a nice guy and is so passionate about making cool music. He was like “yeah, sure… meet me at Blackbird Studio on my lunch break.” In my mind, I was lowkey freaking out like… “yeah, okay! No biggie!” ~ casual ~.
When I got there, he said, “I have like 30 minutes between this recording session, lets walk and talk.” We walked to a nearby restaurant just talking and getting to know each other a bit while he ate quickly to get back to the studio. After, we had a couple minutes to sit in his car, and I played these voice memos and live band videos of songs I had. He instantly gave me cool feedback and was like I’d love to do this song, and it was “Meet Me in Tennessee,” which was a solo write. To have that feedback with one of my first meetings with a producer felt super cool.
PC: You released two acoustic singles, “Smokin’” and “Makes Sense to Me” in 2024. What did you like about the rawness and vulnerability of releasing those songs that way?
ER: I really loved it, still do. As an artist, the raw sounds are like my favorite. Like where you can hear little finger slides on the fret, little imperfections and just the raw emotion in it. I kind of put those out on a whim decision too, because everything felt like things had to be produced a certain way, and I wanted to originally just have them for content, but the more I played them back, I was thinking that I didn’t know if I could recreate them this emotional in a studio. I kind of just thought they were done like that.
PC: You released “White Boots” in June, which is the first song that dived deeper into a classic, 90s country sound while capturing a fresh, contemporary feel. Can you talk about the sonic influences you drew on for the song, and how much fun the song was to record?
ER: That song is just so cool and fun! I worked on it with Sol again (same producer as “Meet Me in Tennessee”) but he had this new studio down in Muscle Shoals, AL. He said if I wanted to get out of Nashville for a day, we could record there and he’d show me around town. Obviously, Muscle Shoals has such cool history, and it was just a cool idea to make a day trip out of it and get out of town.
Sol owns a coffee shop there too, so when I got there, he took me over there for coffee, and then we hit the studio for a bit. He’s such a beast in the studio too, but it was fun because it was just me and him working together and recording a variety of takes to have fun and play around with it and various instruments. It’s such a collaborative process working with him, because he has an amazing ear for filling certain spots with certain instruments that just take it from one level to a whole new one. He was also so cool about letting me have space to play around with ideas and try different things. Being able to work with him in his own space just made for a much more relaxed feeling that I think opened the door to us being more creative.
PC: You released your newest single, “Matter of Time,” about a month ago, which is a song you wrote with Alex Kiel and Jesse Dozzi. Can you take us into the room and talk about how the song came together?
ER: Absolutely. “Matter of Time” was something I had my mind on for a while. I had been playing around with this idea of understanding that sometimes, you can kind of see the end of something before it even really begins, but you’re so drawn to it or for some reason, attached, that maybe that it’s hard to let it go.
I took the idea to the room with Alex and Dozzi, and they are so cool and talented. I played a part of what I thought the song could be, and we just ran with it. I think I had a draft of a verse and chorus, and Alex just started playing the melody immediately on the keyboard and tracking as Jessi and I just ran with different lyrics. They’re so fun and it truly just felt like a jam session to work with them.
I ended up re-arranging some of the song in the studio because the song had such a dramatic feel to it that the last verse of the song was originally the second verse, but in the studio, I ended up moving it to the end because I just felt like the words there were like a plot twist ending that makes you want to re-listen to it and really put an emphasis on the ending of the story in the song.
PC: You’ve been consistent with releasing new music over the last few years. What information, if any, can you give about what will follow “Matter of Time”? What can listeners expect to hear?
ER: I’m really enjoying being creative and learning more about myself and my audience with each release. The cool thing about releasing music right now is you can release all these singles, and it gives you a chance to highlight each song, as opposed to putting out an album or EP where things could potentially have a chance to get breezed over more if you’re not super intentional. You can expect more music and more experimentation with sounds and styles.
PC: 2026 will bring about your five-year anniversary of moving to Nashville. In that time, how do you feel you’ve grown along the way? What has been the biggest thing you’ve learned?
ER: I just hit my fourth year this month, and it has flown by. I feel like I’ve grown so much in confidence as an artist and putting things out in the world. It’s a vulnerable thing to do, and I think it’s pretty damn cool of anyone who puts themselves out there in such a way. The biggest thing I’ve learned is to be a “yes” person. Say yes to every opportunity and say “yes you can” to yourself when you think it’s something that may feel hard to do.
PC: With “Matter of Time” released at the end of this year, what do you have planned for 2026?
ER: More music. More shows. More fun. More memories.
Pro Country 
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