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Jelly Roll Is Ready For ACM Performance

Jelly Roll is ready for his ACM performance as a multiple nominee at tonight’s (5/16) 59th ACM Awards, which will be handed out in Texas and airing live on Prime…

Jelly Roll performing on stage in black at the ACM awards in 2023.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Jelly Roll is ready for his ACM performance as a multiple nominee at tonight's (5/16) 59th ACM Awards, which will be handed out in Texas and airing live on Prime Video. 

Jelly has already rehearsed for his much-talked-about performance tonight and posted a clip of his rehearsal on Instagram. He captioned the clip, featuring heavy rock-sounding guitars, " I just finished rehearsing for the @ACMawards and can't wait for you to see this performance! THURSDAY at 8e|5p on @PrimeVideo FREE to stream LIVE at amazon.com/ACMawards #ACMawards."

Fans React

Many of his almost 3 million followers reacted to the post, including one who said, "Love me some Jelly Roll." Another fan commented, "Such a wholesome person." One more fan wrote, "Still get goosebumps every time I see you on shows, TV, etc. I will forever support you! You deserve everything you're getting in life! #Cashvilleshawty."

Jelly is a first-time ACM Award nominee, receiving four nominations, including Entertainer of the Year. The last artist to be nominated for Entertainer of the Year as part of his first set of nominations was Billy Ray Cyrus in 1992, the same year he gained fame for his smash hit "Achy Breaky Heart." 

Jelly and Cody Johnson are good buddies and have a song together on Cody's latest album, Leather, called "Whiskey Bent."

Jelly's Good Buddy

Johnson told us in a recent interview that he and Jelly are close and have some real similarities. He said, "I've said this in a few interviews over the last six months: Jelly's Roll face tattoos are as authentic as this cowboy hat. That's him unapologetic."

He continued, "One of the first times I came to Nashville, they said I could have a record deal if I ditched the cowboy hat; that's something I live in every day. Last night, we were on the ranch breaking new cattle and training. I mean, it's something that I do."

Something Jelly Roll told Cody when they met, sticks with him. He told us, "Jelly Roll wears his walk on his face for everyone to see, and I wear this hat unapologetically. When we met, we just hit it off, and we both recognized what was real. He told me one of the very first times that I met him, 'I modeled my career after you.' He said, 'I wanted to stay indecent because I wanted to be myself. I didn't want anybody to change me.' He said, 'I wanted to go through the ups and downs and the hardships of trying to do it on your own the way you did it.' He said, 'Because I feel like it instills more of an appreciation.'"

Johnson added, "I'm not knocking anybody, but I didn't come off of TikTok and get a record deal and go straight to stadiums and play. I know what it's like to starve, and so does he."

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.

"Dead Man Walking" (2021)

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.

"Smoking Section" (2015)

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.

"Wheels Fall Off" (2017)

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.

"Hate Goes On" - (2017)

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.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.