Jelly Roll Performs Chart-Topper ‘I Am Not Okay’ at Maximum Security Facility
Jelly Roll brought down the house at Nashville’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Jan. 9 to celebrate his sixth consecutive, and eighth overall, country radio chart-topping single “I Am Not Okay.”
According to a Parade report, more than 300 inmates witnessed “a day of inspiration they’ll never forget,” according to the Tennessee Department of Correction. The institution posted a clip on X that showed the 40-year-old rapper-turned-country-artist performing for a crowd of inmates cheering and clapping behind a chain-link fence.
Inmates and staff from the correctional facility celebrated along with Jelly Roll’s co-writers Casey Brown, Ashley Gorley, and Taylor Phillips, plus producer Zach Crowell, industry members, and his label team.
The event featured a performance by Jelly Roll and a surprise appearance by Lainey Wilson. Jelly Roll performed his platinum hit and other works following a visit to the institution’s Braille program. Inmates involved in the program translate text into Braille for students at the Tennessee School for the Blind and adapt printed content for those with visual impairments.
“I know what it’s like to be behind them walls, and if we don’t have nothing else behind these walls, we have dreams, gentlemen,” Jelly Roll said in a video he shared on his Instagram account on Wednesday, Jan. 15. “And I want to tell you something: You can be thinking the wildest thing right now, but whatever you’re dreaming of could be too small still.”
“I Am Not Okay” stars as the lead single from Jelly Roll’s country album “Beautifully Broken.” His chart-topper is up for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance at the 67th Grammy Awards, set for Feb. 2.
Since its June 2024 debut, “I Am Not Okay” has hit No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has secured the top spot on Billboard Country Airplay for several weeks, along with clinching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
