Emily Ann Roberts Lost The Voice at 16. A Decade Later, Nashville Finally Caught Up (2026)

Most reality show runners up get one good year. Emily Ann Roberts got a long, unglamorous decade of open mics, Opry spots and independent releases, and in 2026 that patience is finally paying off. She has an ACM nomination, a major label behind her and a summer spent opening for Thomas Rhett. For a singer who first reached a national audience as a 16 year old on Team Blake Shelton, that is a striking second act. Some would argue it is really the first.

The Short Version

Johnny Cash on the Backroads

Roberts grew up in Karns, a small community just outside Knoxville, in a household where music and faith carried equal weight. Her father Tommy loved bluegrass and classic country, and car rides meant Johnny Cash and David Allan Coe on the stereo. Her mother Kelly kept the family anchored in church life, and it was in the church her great grandfather founded that Emily first sang in front of people.

Nobody pushed her toward a career. Music was simply always in the room. She and older sister Abby were close, she went to Karns High School, and by her teens she was playing local venues and open mics, including regular sets at a Mexican restaurant near home. That detail matters more than it sounds. Singers who learn their craft over the clatter of plates tend to learn how to hold a room that isn't paying attention.

Second Place, First Lesson

Season 9 of The Voice in 2015 put a teenage Roberts on national television under Blake Shelton, and she finished runner up. Plenty of contestants have treated a finish like that as a ceiling. She seems to have treated it as an apprenticeship.

The years that followed were not flashy. She kept writing, kept releasing music and kept returning to the Grand Ole Opry, where she has now performed more than 16 times. Songs like Someday Dream, Scratching Out a Living, Jack and Jill Daniel's and He Set Her Off built a following that leaned traditional: Appalachian phrasing, bluegrass bones, a voice that sounds like it was raised in a pew. Her 2025 EP Memory Lane became a fan favourite, and Icon Polls findings put her past 100 million global streams across platforms as of 2026.

Why 2026 Feels Different

The industry signals have stacked up quickly. In 2025 she signed with RECORDS and Sony Music Nashville. Then came the recognition:

• A 2026 ACM nomination for New Female Artist of the Year
• AIMP Nashville Rising Artist Writer of the Year
• A place in MusicRow's Next Big Thing Class of 2026

The writer award is the one worth underlining. Nashville respects singers, but it pays songwriters, and being named a rising writer suggests her career isn't resting on a television moment. Add an opening slot on Thomas Rhett's 2026 dates, appearances at C2C Festival and C2C Berlin, plus a handful of her own headline shows, and you have an artist being positioned for the long run rather than a quick cash in. A second album has been described as in the works for 2026, following Memory Lane; until a release date is confirmed, treat that as a plan rather than a promise.

There is also a delightfully odd credit on her résumé. She voices Trixie in the reimagined Country Bear Musical Jamboree at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, singing Try Everything. Millions of theme park visitors have heard her without knowing her name.

The Money: An Estimate, Not a Bank Statement

There is no official figure for Roberts's wealth, and she has never published one. Icon Polls estimates her net worth at $2 million to $4 million as of 2026. That range draws on the obvious income streams: recorded music and streaming, live shows and touring, merchandise and brand collaborations. A major label deal and arena exposure through the Rhett tour should push that number up, but opening acts rarely get rich from the slot itself. The real value is the audience it builds.

Bam Girl on Stage, Meemaw at Home

Standing roughly 5 feet 5 inches, Roberts makes up for it with colour. Fans call her bold stage look her "bam girl" style, and it is distinctly hers. Off stage the picture flips. She calls herself the "Yeehaw Meemaw," a nickname for the side of her that loves crochet, gardening, canning and sewing. It's a smart bit of self definition: modern country artist and businesswoman in public, old school homemaker in private, and both halves feel genuine rather than branded.

Spanish Class, Then a Farm Wedding

Roberts married Chris Sasser on November 7, 2020. They are high school sweethearts who met in Spanish class at Karns High, dated for about five years and got engaged on her 21st birthday. The wedding took place at Marblegate Farm in Friendsville, Tennessee, with a fall theme drawn from the colours of the Smoky Mountains.

The couple have no children as of 2026. Chris is far from a background figure, though. Together they run the Sasser House social channels, sharing homemaking, lifestyle and behind the scenes content, and he has become a familiar face to her fans. In an era when country stars often wall off their marriages, the openness is part of the appeal.

The Verdict

Roberts is not a sudden success. She is a ten year overnight one, and that is a more durable kind. The voice was there at 16; what has changed is the writing, the team behind her and the confidence to be both the bold performer and the woman canning tomatoes on Instagram. If the second album lands, the ACM nomination may look less like a peak and more like a starting gun. Curious who else is on the rise? Browse more artist profiles and explore the latest Icon Polls features, where fans get the final say.

How old is Emily Ann Roberts?

She was born on October 23, 1998, so she is 27 and turns 28 later this month.

Who is her husband?

Chris Sasser, her high school sweetheart. They married on November 7, 2020, in Friendsville, Tennessee.

Where did she first get famous?

On Season 9 of NBC's The Voice in 2015, where she finished runner up on Team Blake Shelton.