Reyna Roberts: Songwriting Salvation

Reyna Roberts vividly remembers the first time she performed. She was three and living in Alaska when her mother propped her up on a barstool and asked what she wanted to sing. Moments later, she belted out “Lady Marmalade,” and patrons came up afterward to tell her how well she did. At that moment, Roberts was hooked. 

“I’ve always wanted to be an artist,” the budding singer/songwriter tells American Songwriter over acai bowls at Nashville’s Sun & Fork. “There’s never been anything else as long as I can remember.”

The daughter of two Army combat engineers, Roberts grew up in Alaska, Alabama, and California. Her parents loved country music, so she was raised on Gretchen Wilson, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, and The Chicks. Roberts gravitated to the big vocalists. Adele, Beyonce, and Christina Aguilera were also early influences.

As a teenager, Roberts began writing songs. Her first was inspired by the wrestling captain, Noah, whom she had a crush on. “I had this idea called ‘Lying to Myself’ because I knew that he didn’t like me, but I was just lying to myself,” she says with a laugh.

Roberts, now 25, moved to Nashville in 2020 to pursue a career in country music. She has made great strides, gaining praise from Carrie Underwood and Mickey Guyton after sharing her cover of Underwood’s “Drinking Alone” on socials. She was named to the CMT Next Women of Country Class of 2021 the following year. 

The powerhouse vocalist introduces herself with the first half of her debut double album, Bad Girl Bible, out now. Roberts wrote or co-wrote every track on the project, and collaborators include Danny Myrick, Jaren Johnston, Kendall Brower, Sean McConnell, and Natalie Stovall.

Roberts describes the wide-ranging sound as “Reyna Country.” While the project has Roberts sharing songs about her life, it also sees the singer/songwriter taking on the character of a woman on a spiritual journey and the highs and lows that entails.

“I wanted to tell a story of her life,” Roberts explains. “She has to fight demons and battles and go through many things. At the end of the story, she is saved. She has to walk through hell [and] makes her way into heaven by the end of the album.”

The double album, divided into Old Testament and New Testament, features 24 tracks. Some songs touch on real past relationships, like the stripped-down piano ballad “Death of Me.” Were you made for me / Were you heaven sent / I swear that God reached down and put you in my hands, she sings. Others, like the sultry, modern-day Bonnie and Clyde anthem “Miranda,” see Roberts on the run from the law with her partner. If you’re going down, I’m down right with ya / Love on the run / Six feet down, that’s where they’ll find us, she croons.

The latter gives a nod to several of the singer/songwriter’s influences, including Johnny Cash, Miranda Lambert, and Beyonce. While the initial idea was inspired in part by Lambert’s “Gunpowder & Lead,” Roberts also gives a nod to Cash and his cover of the traditional folk song “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” The three-minute tune has Roberts singing the bridge of the traditional track.

“I love Johnny Cash,” she says. “[I thought] it would be so cool if I added that into the storyline, especially because he was an outlaw. One thing that inspires me as an artist is having that outlaw vibe.”

“We Said I Do” is the only song on the project Roberts wrote by herself. The modern-day murder ballad has the singer taking deadly revenge on her fictional husband.

“I wrote the song on piano,” she says. “I wanted to tell a story about a woman being cheated on, and she ends up killing her husband.”

Many of Roberts’ solo writes were done in her closet. While she admits it’s “really weird,” she says there is something peaceful about being completely enclosed and writing in the dark. When she writes songs, she says, she often sees them as movies or photos first.

“A lot of times if I’m writing a song, I’ll have multiple storylines in my head,” she explains. “So, I will write three different songs that have different stories. Then, I’ll narrow it down to one that I like.”

While she knows this writing process is unconventional, it allows her to flesh out the characters in each song. Her songwriting has evolved tremendously in the decade since she started. She now pulls from fabricated tales and made-up storylines that sound as if she lived them. Her litmus test for every creation is, “Am I proud of this song?  

“If this was played for people that have inspired my career, like Beyonce or Chris Stapleton, or Adele, if they heard it, would I be excited and proud to show it to them?” she says. “If not, then I shouldn’t have it on this album. I want to create songs that inspire the artists that have inspired me.”