About Roberta Lea
Roberta Lea is proving herself to be a force to reckon with in the local and national country music industry. Members of the Black Opry recognized the talent of this amazing, award-winning singer and songwriter, inviting her to become of a part of their Nashville-based country music collective team! Here's an excerpt from her featured interview with Nashville Scene, an online publication highlighting the city's "massive arts and entertainment industry":
For Lea, representation is not just about her physical presence on the stage, but the content of her songs as well. The video for her track “Ghetto Country Streets” premiered on CMT. Lea points out that her use of the word “ghetto” is strategic. After all, country music often represents the stories of poor white communities. “Growing up in the struggle and having to make your way — it’s all the same, but it’s just expressed differently,” she says.
And those universal experiences of hardship, like making up one’s own games, can bring multiple identities together. “People get it,” Lea says, “and they’re just ready to receive the story in a new perspective.”
Lea’s approach clearly resonates with fans. Her Kickstarter project validated the 37-year-old, who hesitated to do music full time because she felt she would be lost in the crowd. When she connected with Black Opry founder Holly G via the Twitter account for singer-songwriter Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Radio, Lea felt for the first time like she had an artistic community to support her.
“If anything, there’s at least 316 people who are ready to listen to my album, and that’s something that I need to know,” Lea says, referring to the number of backers of her Kickstarter. “Having support from my local neighbors to global community artists like Brandi Carlile and Allison Russell — that’s a great range of people to prepare music for.”
It means a lot for Lea to represent Norfolk, Va. As far as Lea can tell, she is the first Black woman from the area to pursue a career as a country musician, and she’s honored to represent her musical community back home when she comes to Nashville. “I feel like I’m very privileged to be in a position that allows me to stretch between these two communities,” she says.
