An outlaw country headliner whose music reaches far beyond the genre’s borders, Sara Petite has built an award-winning career with songs that owe as much to the rock & roll roadhouse as they do the honky-tonk.

The five-time International Songwriting Competition finalist returns once again to the intersection of country twang and roots-rock bang with ‘The Empress’.

Produced by Grammy nominee Eric Corne, it’s a rawly-refined record whose 11 songs take place in dive bars, trailer parks, the throes of passion, and the feedback loop of addiction.

Sara embodies her characters fully, from the heartbroken narrator on “The Mistress” — an old-school country/soul ballad about a lover’s affair with alcohol — to the hell-raising hillbilly heroine for “Bringin’ Down the Neighborhood.

She maintains a strong female perspective throughout, celebrating the full range of womanhood along the way.

‘The Empress’ is an album for all genders, stocked with songs that tackle the universal struggles we all face.

Even so, its central heroes are Joan of Arc, Mary Magdalene, and other woman who, like Sara, have pushed against imbalances in society for the sake of fairness.