Grayson Weir
Videos by OutKick
Jason DeFord, known best as Jelly Roll, has seen an unbelievable rise in popularity over the course of the last few years, but really the last 12 months. The Antioch, Tennessee-native burst onto the country music scene with a genre-bending sound that includes heavy rap and rock influence.
He dropped his first mixtape back in 2011, but saw things really take off with the release of ‘Ballads of the Broken’ in 2021. He recently sold-out Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and his debut country song ‘Son of a Sinner’ went No. 1 earlier this month.
Prior to launching his career, however, Jelly Roll had been in and out of juvenile centers between the ages of 14 and 24. His story serves as inspiration and he never skips out on a chance to give back.
Jelly Roll spent 18 months at one particular juvenile center in the Nashville area and tries to visit once a week when he is in town. Nobody ever visited just to show the inmates some love while he was in there, which is why he goes back with hopes that his story will inspire others to turn their lives around.
His most recent visit was even more special.
Jelly Roll took the stage in front of inmates in his old cell block.
Earlier this week, alongside his good friends Brantley Gilbert and Struggle Jennings (the step-son of Waylon Jennings), Jelly Roll returned to the place he spent a year and a half behind bars. Although Gilbert didn’t say what, he revealed that they were “filming something (he) can’t wait to share with y’all…”
If that wasn’t cool enough, Jelly Roll covered Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ back in 2015.
He sang it in front of the excited inmates in the Nashville area, as Cash did in Folsom and San Quentin. It was a pretty powerful, full-circle moment.
The entire performance was documented behind-the-scenes, and it will be great to see the finished product.
Jelly Roll has lived a crazy life and is really starting to hit his stride at age 38. While returning to his old cell block was nothing new, performing for the inmates alongside Gilbert and Jennings was — and it was awesome.
