Jelly Roll has come a long way since his days behind bars, reading magazines to pass the time. Now, the subject of those magazines, Jelly says it’s far beyond anything he ever could’ve imagined.
“I grew up reading magazines, so I romanticized that as a child, like, that was one of my dreams,” he told Audacy's Katie Neal of being in a big-time publication. “As a kid, reading Billboard magazine in juvenile — because we’d get that kind of reading material — [and] now, having little, small pieces of Billboard history… that’s crazy, dude,” he continued. “I never thought I’d be in [it],” he laughed before joking “at best” he saw himself in Ripley’s Believe it Or Not for “[eating] the most donut holes or something.”
The 38-year-old has always been open with fans surrounding his troubled past including his struggles with addiction and the legal system. Instead of hiding from his truth, the Nashville-native has boldly stepped up to inspire, connect, and educate fans all over.
“I would have never been confident to dream this big,” he stated. “That’s why now, my preach pitch to kids is, ‘whatever you’re dreamin’ right now is too small, man. You have no clue.’ Things I thought were mountains, God made look like speed bumps… I couldn’t have even dreamed the success that’s happened in my life right now.”
The success has been major and continues to grow as he recently celebrated his second single to Country radio, “Need A Favor,” going #1 after it already spent two weeks atop the Rock charts and is now being played on Pop radio.
“I’m elated,” he said with a huge grin. “These moments, they keep getting more unreal to me. Every day when I think this thing can’t get no bigger, something crazy happens,” he continued, before diving into what he’s dreaming up next.
“Madison Square Garden,” he exclaimed. “I keep thinking about going to MSG. I just keep having this dream of being like a fat Billy Joel… he just has so many iconic Madison Square moments.”
It doesn’t stop there. Jelly also listed playing a show in his hometown stadium and acting in a movie as top goals for himself. “I told you, I’m dreaming big,” he smiled before sharing he’d like to act in a comedy. “I’d want to do something funny… I believe that the two greatest medicines are music and humor.”
Until the acting opportunity comes — because we know it will — Jelly is focused on the music as he is currently on his 44-date, headlining Backroad Baptism tour. The trek is bringing the highly personal music from his debut Country album, Whitsitt Chapel, to fans all over and showing him first-hand how much of an impact his music has made on the lives of others.
“It just feels like I’m living a purpose, it’s a constant reminder,” he said. “Some days you get so muddled with the stuff in the business that even as you get more successful, sometimes your purpose can get lost. I’m one of the lucky artists that gets to constantly be reminded of my purpose and my reasons which is why when I write songs it’s so fresh in my mind.”
He continued on the share some of the moments he carries with him from the current tour that inspire him on a daily basis. “I think of that woman that just told me that story backstage, or I think of the sign at the Valparaiso [Indiana] Porter County Fair 3 nights ago, 4 nights ago, a woman held up a picture of her daughter who died of a fentanyl overdose, an accidental fentanyl overdose, and the sign that the one next to her held said, ‘we had tickets to your show, she couldn’t make it, we came,” he said, before tearing up.
Stories like the above continue to motivate Jelly to reach new audiences who may need to hear his deeply personal messages and that’s exactly what he’s doing with the re-release of his song, “Save Me,” as as duet with fellow Country artist, Lainey Wilson.
“To see the impact it’s had… and then Lainey coming in… Even the people the song had already touched heard it differently from the perspective of a woman,” he expressed.
“I think Lainey has the ability to put this in households it hasn’t been to yet,” he continued. “My thing was, if this song has already helped this many people, I wonder how many more it could help if it had the right person help spread the message and awareness with me.”
Changing lives doesn’t stop at the music for Jelly Roll. He’s on a constant mission to pay it forward. As his career grows, so does his generosity as he extends opportunities to improve the lives of others.
“I’m being able to change people’s lives even outside of music now,” he expressed. “Now, I get to hire people. I get to hire all my friends to work for me, so that’s cool. I get to take dudes off the street and give them second chances. It’s really cool.”
As far as his personal life goes, Jelly is currently in the planning stages for a vow renewal with wife, Bunnie, who is just as loved by Jelly’s fans as he is. So much so that she even hosts her own meet and greets at his shows.
“Go Bunnie, go!” Jelly said of his wife having her own opportunity to spend time with the fans and share her story. “She’s sold a ton of them!”
“The Jelly Roll story got a documentary, the Bunnie story deserves a feature film,” he said with pure admiration for his wife. “She deserves every bit of her own identity that she gets.”
The pair has big plans for 7th year of marriage which include an epic vow renewal in Las Vegas in securing an actual anniversary date. “We never really had an anniversary because we can’t remember what date we got married,” Jelly laughed. “We know we got married between the 30th [of August] and the 1st [of September], but we just don’t remember what day, which time anyways because we were patting and drinking in Vegas. It was like a 4 or 5 day bender and the marriage just happened in the middle of it, so we’re like, let’s do this right, as adults now.”
He continued, “We’re going to parade down the Las Vegas Strip to that one little chapel that married us that drunken night, this time sober, to remember,” he shared. “Renew our vows and party in Vegas like we did that one night seven years ago.”
To hear more about the vow renewal, Jelly’s success and more, check out his entire conversation with Audavy’s Katie Neal above.
Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal