(chiming music) (gentle music) (waves whooshing) - Music has always lingered.

Ever since I was little.

Elementary school, I joined orchestra.

Church was a great place to experiment as much as I wanted to.

In church, as long as you're doing it for God, it doesn't matter how terrible you sound, (laughs) somebody's gonna clap and say amen.

♪ All the colors in the valley ♪ ♪ Brushed the Shenandoah sky ♪ I was looking to follow the beaten path.

You go to college, you get a job, you get married, you have kids, and all the while I'm always writing songs.

Once I got to my thirties, I started going to open mics where I could learn how to be on stage again.

I would perform at these open mics and people would say, "Man, you got like a country vibe to you."

I didn't know what to do with that 'cause I didn't see people like me doing country music.

♪ If dreams are somewhere in the distance ♪ 2020 comes around, everyone's stuck in their house, so I get on Twitter and I find Mickey Guyton, a Black woman doing country music.

Through Mickey Guyton I find "Color Me Country," which is an Apple radio show hosted by Rissi Palmer.

In engaging with "Color Me Country," I meet a woman named Holly G. As a Black woman and as a queer woman, she could never feel comfortable enough to go to country music concerts.

So she started a blog called the Black Opry and adds me to the roster.

Again, just like I had a space that I could grow when I was going to church, and then when I was doing open mics, now there was a another space, the Black Opry, where I could be confident in who I am.

♪ There is room for every kind ♪ I made a choice that I was going to step away from working full time and I was gonna give music a shot, and it was really the quarantine that pushed me over the edge.

It was this huge global reminder that life is short and you only have so much time here on Earth.

And so in June of 2021, I said goodbye to the beaten path and I said hello to the jungle.

♪ There's somethin' in the water ♪ ♪ Then I'm somewhere in the tide ♪ (water sloshing) (door beeping) - Hey, hey.

- Hey, hey.

How's it going?

- Good, good.

Did you get my file?

Tempo 163.

I hate even number tempos.

I've been working with Soul Haven Studio since about 2015, and I remember sitting at the console and I'm like, "Well, I guess I should find a producer."

And Johnny's like, "You're the producer."

(gentle music) I have the vision for the music in my head, and I make the executive decisions to get it done.

Maybe some slide.

Do you have a slide?

- What?

- Why not?

That's the whole fun of it.

We're here to be creative.

This isn't a job.

Technically it is, but.

Having a spirit of collaboration and a spirit of fun, that's what's really making this record special.

♪ Your papa ♪ ♪ He was a rolling stone ♪ We were in Philly for a 4th of July picnic and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" came on and I was just like, "Man, that sounds like it could be a really dope folk song."

♪ All he left us was alone ♪ I started strumming it and fashioning the lyrics in a new way that fit this folktale.

♪ Mama, is it true what they say ♪ You're stepping into some dangerous territory by touching a classic like that.

♪ All his life he had never worked a day ♪ So it's gotta be done right.

♪ He has three children and another wife ♪ This is an exciting way to invite communities that probably wouldn't have considered country music before.

♪ He did some storefront preachin' ♪ To see how one of their favorite songs could be shed in a different light and that it fits all just as well.

♪ Such a shame, stealing in the name God ♪ (mellow music) (Roberta vocalizing) Writer's American Dream Theater is a pillar in the community as far as cultivating the arts.

They created this program with children who have interest in learning and enjoying music and creating from that perspective.

♪ As is someone like it should ♪ - It was something that I could have used when I was their age.

♪ This started with ♪ ♪ But got also strong ♪ ♪ Strong enough to rock my world ♪ ♪ That is me who you're gonna love ♪ - Okay.

For a kid like Amir who is extremely talented, the process is taking what they have and do all your words fit into this rhythm.

♪ This started with ♪ ♪ But got also strong ♪ ♪ Strong enough to rock my world ♪ ♪ But I keep prayin' to the stars above ♪ ♪ That is me who you're gonna love ♪ - It's really just helping them take a step back from their initial draft and learning how to carve it so that it communicates their point clearly.

♪ Straight up, I wanna be your boy ♪ ♪ Straight up, I wanna bring you joy ♪ ♪ Straight up, I wanna be your boy ♪ ♪ Straight up, straight up, straight up, yeah ♪ - Hey, that's it.

We got it.

Boom.

(audience clapping) ♪ If I'm too much of a woman ♪ ♪ You can kindly step aside ♪ - I've always been confident in myself and my ability, especially as a songwriter, but you want to grow and flourish.

When I'm in spaces like the writers round at the Big Pink, I'm free to be me.

♪ If I'm too much of a woman ♪ ♪ Boy, you're too little of a man ♪ The punchline, "If I'm too much of a woman, you're too little of a man" came to me and I drew from all the previous experiences that I've had when I felt the need to shrink myself in order to make other people feel comfortable.

♪ Too big or too small, we never measure up ♪ When I wrote the song, I teamed up with all women musicians from across the United States.

Some of us never even met in person, but we came together to create this song that would speak to women.

♪ 'Cause I can't take it no more ♪ ♪ If I'm too much of a woman ♪ When we shot the music video, I reached out to Neisha Himes.

She took up boxing because after surviving domestic violence, she never wanted to feel like she was defenseless again.

I said, "That's it.

That's the vision right there."

♪ If I'm too much of a woman ♪ ♪ You're too little of a man ♪ I told CMT, "I got this music video already.

Can we do a rollout on it?"

And they're like, "We got you.

We're gonna put it on national television and in Times Square."

(people cheering) To see the range of people involved and how far it got.

I couldn't ask for a better outcome.

♪ If I'm too much of a woman ♪ ♪ Boy, you're too little of a man ♪ (audience clapping and cheering) (singers vocalizing) I would definitely say that 2023 has been the payoff.

♪ This is about that ♪ This natural order keeps unfolding.

♪ Braid my hair ♪ ♪ I'll be packin' light, bikini and a bottle ♪ The year kicked off with being inducted into CMTs Next Women of Country.

My first red carpet.

"People" magazine, and then my very first solo set in Nashville.

(upbeat music) That venue, the basement is historic.

Just to see the amount of support was a very reassuring moment.

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ It's mind blowing to think that this is still technically the beginning of the journey.

It's not necessarily that these are steps that are getting me closer to the dream.

And I am Roberta Lea, guys.

I feel like these steps are the dream.

(upbeat music) (audience cheers) (audience cheers)