Outright genre-bending singer/songwriter/rapper Jelly Roll has quietly been building a remarkable career and creative empire, under the radar — under the nose of Nashville’s Music Row and the entire music industry — and doing it on his own terms. Since his days selling his mixtapes out of his car, he has constantly been creating and releasing new music and videos, touring relentlessly, and consistently topping various iTunes charts with his deeply personal lyrics and music that blends Old-school Rap, Classic Rock, Country and Soul that is therapeutic, raw and tackles the heaviness in life.
“Son of a Sinner” written by Jelly Roll, Ernest Keith Smith (Morgan Wallen, Jake Owen, Florida Georgia Line) and David Ray Stevens was part of Jelly Roll’s successful 2021 “Ballads Of the Broken” which became a therapeutic outlet fans have come to know from Jelly, who has himself struggled with past addiction. Debuting #38 on the Billboard Country Music Chart, and currently charting #11 on the US Media Base Charts, the single has over 29 million on-demand streams.
It followed the success of his hit song “Save Me,” which ushered a new wave of musical growth for the multi-talented artist. “Save Me” is now certified Gold, with the video garnering more than 65 million YouTube views and remains his biggest song to date. To date, Jelly has more than a billion collective streams and counting and over one billion streams on YouTube alone.
Jelly Roll has recently received praise from Billboard, “his music takes those raw, unreserved verses and melds elements of country, rock, and hip-hop into his own signature style” and American Songwriter “with powerful tunes like ‘Son of a Sinner’ and ‘Sober’ it’s clear that when it comes to music, Jelly Roll’s heart is often right—singing with a profound amount of emotion and tact, the songs and their revealing lyrics soar to brilliantly uplifting heights, shining light onto some of life’s darkest circumstances.”
Born and raised in Nashville’s Antioch neighborhood, Jelly Roll found his strategy by observing the different tactics taken in different genres. “I love the way Rock n’ Roll artists tour,” he says. “Up-and-coming Rock artists do like 200 shows a year. But I hate the way they put out music. They put out an album every three years. When I was coming up, it was the mix tape era, and my favorite rappers had a new CD out every four months. So I wanted to tour like a Rock n’ Roll act, but release music like a rapper.”
In the last ten years, Jelly Roll has released a mind-blowing two dozen plus albums, including the ongoing “Waylon & Willie” collaboration projects with his best friend and running partner, Struggle Jennings. He’s also put out countless singles, EPs, and features with such artists as Tech N9ne and Yelawolf. He also averaged more than 200 shows each year—something not many of his peers are able to maintain. It’s added up to hundreds of millions of streams and a cult following of rabid fans that hang on his every word and generate millions of YouTube views with each video.