LOS ANGELES, CA- In country music, sometimes all it takes is one line to hook you — a single phrase that cuts through the noise and lingers long after the song fades. For Emily Ann Roberts’ latest single, “The Fence,” that line is simple but devastating: “There’s a good man on the porch / And I’m on the fence.”
Released via Starstruck Entertainment and produced by Brandon Hood, “The Fence” finds Roberts leaning into the emotional push-pull of love and restlessness. Co-written with veteran hitmakers Jessi Alexander and Paul Sikes, it’s a ballad of dualities — comfort and curiosity, loyalty and longing, fear and freedom. And Roberts walks that line with clarity and heart.
From the very first verse, we’re placed in a country idyll. Her man is salt-of-the-earth dependable, sipping Kentucky bourbon at sunset, rooted in the land he’s worked for. It’s the kind of setting country music romanticizes with ease — and for good reason. But Roberts complicates the scene with a subtle undercurrent of doubt. Her vocals, soft but tinged with tension, confess a different truth: “One part of me feels lucky / One part wants to run.”
That tension is the song’s heartbeat. While “The Fence” doesn’t break new sonic ground — and that’s not necessarily a fault — it does what traditional country is built for: it tells a story. A story about a woman torn between a good life and a great unknown. A story about a choice most of us, at one time or another, have faced.
If there’s a criticism here, it’s that the song plays things relatively safe. The production is warm and radio-friendly, the melody unassuming. But again, that’s often the beauty of country music — it lets the lyrics do the heavy lifting. And when the writing hits, as it does in that titular line, it hits hard.
Roberts, a Knoxville native and The Voice alum who’s already played the Grand Ole Opry more than 20 times, has been steadily building her voice in the genre. With “The Fence,” she isn’t chasing a trend — she’s planting her flag squarely in the rich soil of narrative-driven, emotionally resonant country. It’s not a song that screams for attention — instead, it settles in quietly and stays with you. And that’s its strength.
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