Jelly Roll stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about how his number one song “Need A Favor” came together, his crazy marriage story, his Hulu documentary, how he is giving back to his community and more.
Jelly Roll’s new number one song, “Need A Favor,” has made history! It's the first song ever to appear in the top 10 of both Mainstream Rock Airplay and Country Airplay. When he got the call with the song idea, he loved it. He knew he wanted the production of the song to sound like an old southern church anthem and to sound like worship music for real sinners.
There have been a lot of crazy moments in Jelly Roll’s life in the last year that he still can’t believe happened. A few that stuck out to him were meeting Garth Brooks and winning three CMT Awards, which he compared to what he imagined prom and graduation must’ve felt like since he didn’t get to experience either of those. He also shared how last month, he played the North Dakota State Fair and broke the attendance record with close to 19,000 attending. A few years ago, none of this seemed possible to him, so he’s not taking any moment for granted. Jelly Roll was known first as a rapper, now a singer, but he thinks he’s best at songwriting. He chooses connection over energy and wants to be an artist that can connect with the crowd. He sings with conviction, and he thinks it resonates with people.
Jelly Roll released his documentary Save Me on Hulu and has received an overwhelming positive response from it. People who are not country music fans come up to him and tell him they watched it and are fans of him now. He’s happy it also brought attention to Risked Youth, a cause not many people knew existed, and bringing awareness to that was his main purpose for the documentary. Jelly Roll is constantly trying to help kids who are incarcerated because he was once in their position. He thinks it’s important to always be conscious about the ways you can give back and help others, especially if it’s a cause you’re passionate about. He knows all too well how a 16-year-old who is serving time does not know how to break the cycle to make sure they don’t end up back in that position. He said kids at that age who are locked up don’t need discipline, they need love and rehabilitation. He goes back to the same juvenile center he was locked up in and shows the kids love and courage. He just played CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium, which shares the same parking lot as the juvenile center he was in, and he told the kids that story to show it’s possible for them to change and make something of themselves and offer them some hope on the other side.
While in the studio, Jelly Roll shared his crazy marriage story. When they were in Las Vegas, he and his wife went to the courthouse after and got engaged and married on the same night at a little chapel at 1 a.m. They aren’t sure which day is actually their anniversary, August 30 or September 1, but they will be back in Vegas those same days this year so they are going back to that chapel and will have a real anniversary.
Jelly Roll also recalled the story of him tipping $1-thousand at a Dallas What-A-Burger. He does not remember doing it, he re-lived it the next morning. But it was after the ACM Awards and he was drunk and feeling good, so he got on Instagram live and left the very generous tip.
Jelly Roll is playing over 200 shows this year, to see him on tour, visit JellyRoll615.com.