Jelly Roll Visits His Old Nashville Jail Cell

Jelly Roll recently visited the Metro Country Jail in Nashville with CBS' Sunday Morning show and even took the show's host into his old jail cell. Jelly said upon entering the small cell, "This is jail; it sucks."

He noted that the cell "still smells the same" and added while tearing up "There was a time in my life where I truly thought, 'This is it.' And then coming here after getting nominated for two GRAMMYS, it just hits differently. I didn't think I would get emotional, to be honest. When I left here, I did have a plan." He pointed to a small table in his former cell and said, "I wrote hundreds of songs right here."

Jelly was in and out of jail for ten years. His first time was at age 14, for drug possession, drug dealing, shoplifting, and aggravated robbery. He said he knew that he loved music, and it was the only thing he had; it was his only "skill set."

He even talked about his nickname, which he was given to him by his mother when he was a kid. His real name is Jason Deford. He said, "If someone walked in right now and said 'Jason,' I wouldn't look up."

As for his childhood, he said his father booked bets and his mother struggled with drugs, so he believed that's just what you "did" in life. He said that his music was something he handed out with his drug deals. He said with a laugh about handing the music out, "I rap too; it was like my business card. Dealing to me was always a means to music."

Asked if he felt like he earned his success, Jelly said that he is "starting to" but he "didn't at first." He revealed that he's "still dealing with imposter [syndrome] stuff." He says he is talking with his therapist about that. Jelly says he asks himself if he really deserves this, noting he is a "guy that's haunted by my past." He says, "There's a very dark hallway between my ears."

When he visits jails and juvenile centers in his travels to help those still incarcerated, he says he tells them, "It's okay not to have it figured out at 35. Just know that you can figure it out and believe in that."

He concluded that in those visits, where he speaks and performs, he tries to get them "free for a moment." For juveniles, he says he is just trying to get them to understand that they "are loved."

Jelly Roll has become a country music sensation, topping the country charts, winning his first CMA award, and being nominated for a couple of GRAMMY Awards, one in the all-genre New Artist category and the other in the Best Country Duo/Group for his collaboration "Save Me" with Lainey Wilson.

Everyone, including his fellow country stars, is talking about him. Luke Bryan told us his thoughts on Jelly when we interviewed him recently. He said, "Jelly Roll and I have been at some events together. We hung out at a backstage festival a month and a half ago briefly. I think what Jelly Roll embodies and represents is something really, really special. When I'm around him, the way he holds himself. You are just drawn to him. He's such a star in that role."

Bryan added, "Every time I'm around the guy, he's just so intriguing and interesting. I think his form of country music speaks to a potentially forgotten box of people in country music, and he's able to really speak to that crowd."

He continued, "What makes him special is, as a fan, you get to see into his world, which is a world of a lot of people, and I think that's what you have to do to rise where he has risen. To speak to people and tell your story honestly. He tells his story the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I think that's what people love about him. You know, life's journey is not all squeaky, clean, and beautiful, with no bumps in the road. I think he lets a lot of people not feel alone."

It's been a whirlwind of a year for the native Nashvillian. Jelly took fan questions on his Insta Stories not long ago and touched on several subjects, including his mental health, after wrapping his headlining "Backroad Baptism Tour" and why he is going without his phone through the end of the year.

When a fan asked about his mental health, Jelly replied, "This is probably too honest, but exhausted and unstable. Definitely when I get through the holidays, and I've got a lot of stuff to do between now and the holidays, but when I get through the holidays, I really need to take some personal time."

Jelly Roll talked about the importance of therapy in a recent interview on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Jelly described himself as an "old-school Southern man." He noted that his relationship with God and faith are also key parts of his evolution.

Jelly added that he believes in "God and therapy." He said he is "extremely open-minded" in his "old age." Jelly offered, "I quit searching to be happy, and I started searching to be useful." That's when everything changed for him, and he strives to "be a man of service" and to help people.

We all know his country hit songs like "Son of A Sinner," "Need A Favor," and the duet remix of his song "Save Me" with Lainey Wilson. As we continued celebrating this unique and gracious artist, we thought we would get familiar with some of his songs before he made such a significant mark in country music.

This hard rock song was released two years ago from his Ballads of the Broken album. That album is the first major-label album by Jelly Roll. "Dead Man Walking," released as a single, reached number one on the US Mainstream Rock chart. The album also included "Son of a Sinner," his first country chart-topper.

See that video here.

This song comes from his 2015 album, Therapeutic Music 5. The song talks about smoking weed and being in jail. In the song, Jelly does a lot of rapping along with singing the chorus, which includes the lyrics, "I hope that Heaven has a smoking section/ I hope that Heaven has a smoking section/ When it's said and done and we're all gone/ I hope they got a place that we can blow / I hope that Heaven has a smoking section." Jelly's mom appears in the music video.

This song came off of Jelly's 2017 album, "Addiction Kills." The music video for the song has over 53 million views and features his wife, Bunnie Xo. The couple were married in 2016. The song and video include a lot of swear words, sexual situations, and guns.

See that video here.

This song also comes from his album, Addiction Kills. The music video for the song starts with Jelly in a chair getting his hair cut and shaved. Much of the music video was filmed in Sally's Famous Kitchen in Jelly's home neighborhood, a suburb of Nashville: Antioch.

See that video here.