Jelly Roll stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about his new tour, how he ended up performing with Limp Bizkit and Lana Del Rey and more!
Jelly Roll’s fame has skyrocketed over the last year and his success has been shown from the numerous awards he’s won like the 2023 CMA New Artist of the Year and 2024 Academy of Country Music Award for Music Event of the Year for “Save Me.” When he accepts his awards, he’s known for giving inspiring, uplifting speeches, but shared he doesn’t really prepare or stress for them and just speaks from the heart.
His massive hit that featured Lainey Wilson, “Save Me” originally was a solo song for him because of its extremely vulnerable message. He shared he was so emotional the night he wrote it. He was in a room with a guy he went to high school with who was an old drug dealer and now painted houses. Jelly Roll is a reformed drug dealer, so they both never thought they would be hit song writers. They both didn’t know much about guitars, that’s why the chord structure of the song is so simple. The painfulness of the situation poured out of him into the song. He uploaded it to YouTube, and he was so scared of it that he commented under the video that he knew it was a little different for him and asked people to let him know what they thought and if it should be on the album. The song became his tipping point that led to him signing a record deal. It was the song that really transformed what people’s understanding of him was. If “Save Me” hadn't won at the ACM Awards, he felt like it wouldn't have gotten what it deserved because it was the last chance for it to be nominated before he had to move on to a new album cycle. He expressed how grateful he is that the song got the recognition it deserved.
Jelly Roll, a native to Nashville, was known around town for a long time before he found success in country music. He was first known as a rapper and hip-hop artist. He does not look like a typical country artist, so a lot of people didn’t understand what he was about at first. One of the first artists to show him support was Ernest. They were good friends, so he got into that Big Loud group of Morgan Wallen and Hardy right before Wallen blew up. Keith Urban was one of the first artists who talked about him publicly in a cool way too, along with Riley Green and Cody Johnson. When Green and Johnson showed their support for him, he dared someone to tell him he’s not country because Green, who is a huge duck hunter, and Johnson, who is a professional bull rider, were giving him their sign of approval.
Jelly Roll recently sang with Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit and said he was freaking out about it since he’s a big fan. He would have come out and sang any song they wanted, but Durst picked “Behind Blue Eyes.” He, Durst, and DJ Lethal rehearsed it together and he said the kid in him was crawling out. He described Durst as so down to earth and loving. They're both big touchy-feely guys and he thought at one moment they would wrestle because they kept hitting elbows.
Jelly Roll also recalled a wild Friday night he had after he won the 2024 Academy of Country Music Award for Music Event of the Year for “Save Me” with Lainey Wilson. At the ACM after party, he and Kane Brown played against Jason Aldean and Post Malone in death beer pong. Then he went to play Kid Rock's Rock 'N Rodeo and they sang “Cowboy” together. After that, he got on a plane and flew to Hangout Fest to sing “Sweet Home Alabama” with Lana Del Rey after she invited him to perform with her. They first met at Stagecoach, and he found out she’s a huge fan of country music and the spirit of country music. He felt like her songwriting has always catered towards that style.
His Beautifully Broken Tour starts August 27th, and he compared it to “rockstar touring.” He’s not just doing shows on the weekend, he’s also performing throughout the week and will be gone almost every night for 10 weeks. He loves touring that way and would rather get in as many shows as possible in a week than only play 2-3 only on weekends. He shared how he wants to have a meeting with artists to tell them they're doing touring wrong. He says that touring and money don't make any sense and it's more economical to play on weekdays and not just do two shows a week. When he was a fan of music, he remembered people taking time off from school or work to go to shows because it created so much buzz in the town. He’s hoping this tour creates that feeling for people. He's never done a full arena tour, so this is a new adventure for him, which means production will be bigger for these shows. For his first Ryman show he spent $120,000 on stage production and made $40,000. The production display has always been a top priority for him because it helps create a better-quality show for the fans.
Jelly Roll has recently come under fire for one of his tour rider requests. When he was asked what his most frivolous purchase was, he revealed that he only wears a pair of socks once. He has a new pair of boxes, a new t-shirt, and new socks for every tour day. So, after every show, he throws them away because he knows there will be new ones waiting for him at the next stop. He’s been doing it for years because he believes that “fat people can’t also be stinky,” so he always wants a fresh pair.
Jelly Roll is always filming because if he keeps having this level of success, he just wants the footage in case he gets presented with another opportunity for a documentary. He’s also considered getting into acting and is currently having serious conversations about being part of a TV show. It's for a show that exists already and is a more serious drama, but he wants to get into the comedy side of film.
The Beautifully Broken Tour starts in August. You can check out JellyRoll615.com for more information.