Julie Roberts says she hopes her shows in Maryland this weekend will be the start of a long-running return to center stage.

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"My immediate goal is to get on the road and stay on the road," the country singer told The Washington Post. "I don't want to be gone that long again. I want to make people aware that I'm alive."

Roberts hasn't performed outside of Tennessee since disastrous 2009 and 2010, which saw her lose her recording deal and television movie project, and then her Nashville home in a flash flood.

"I spent the entire year of 2010 rebuilding my home and rebuilding my life," she added.

The past year was a better one for the 33-year-old, who broke into the music business after landing a job as an assistant to the chairman of Universal Music Group Nashville. She released a new album called "Alive," although she is soldiering on as an independent without the resources of a record company,

"Music is what I love," Roberts said. "And honestly, I don't have another option."