January 4, 2023 • 22 mins
Jelly Roll will be returning to the studio tomorrow so we wanted to revisit his original interview. He came by in May 2022 to share his life. Jelly Roll has a very inspiring story that he loves to share in hopes of connecting with people. He comes from a middle lower class community where he was the youngest child of 4. His dad was a meat salesman for his own family company called DeFord Wholesale Meats, and his mom struggled with addiction and mental health. He spent about 12 years in and out of the jail system until he had an awakening moment sitting in his jail cell. A guard knocked on his cell door to tell him that he had a daughter. Check out the full interview!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have jelly Roll on the show tomorrow. He'll be performing,
so I'll be sure to check out to YouTube. But
so many people have messaged us about this interview, so
before he comes in as like a second interview tomorrow,
we wanted to play this in case you missed it
from a few months ago. This is jelly Roll and
his first appearance ever here on the Bobby Bones Show.
I hope you like it. I saw that you have
posted announcement Senior coming on the show and that The
(00:22):
Rock had liked it. Yes, sir on your Instagram. Yes,
how do you know the rock? Dude? It's kind of weird.
So you know, the Rock has real Nashville roots, like
super Nashville roots. So he was like, I think it
went to mcgaviick. So he just keeps his finger on
the pulse of Nashville like he's just like engulfed in
the culture. And I think, like a song on my
random he came up on his play. It's like the
(00:43):
most random occurrence ever. And somebody reached sounds like, Yo,
the Rock's gonna post saw a video with one of
your songs. I was like, please don't play with me.
It's like, don't do that to me. It was like,
I swear to God, this was like four or five
years six years ago, and he sure did. And ever
since then we stayed in touch. Man, he was the
first person to congratulate me whenever I got invited to
the Grand Old Library and he congratulated you. How he
(01:05):
sent me a voice He sends like the voice memos.
That's like his thing. You know, He'll like, you got
a voice memo from the Rock Yeah, yeah, for sure,
I want to play it, but I don't want to
be that guy. Yeah. I mean I said, I listened
to it every now and then myself. It's like it's
like my pre workout before I go get drunk, because
I don't work out, so right before I go to
a bar, I'll listen to like a voice memo from
the Rocket Black. Let's go jelly rolls with us. Let's
(01:30):
talk about for the audience that hasn't come across your
music yet or who you are, Like, what's up with
the name jelly roll? So I'm obviously looked a part
And my mother named me that whenever I was a
little chubby kid, been fat my whole life, and she
tried to calling me jelly Roll when I was young,
and I spent the next thirty years trying to grow
into the name. I think I've done it, and yeah,
(01:53):
just stuck. And then I had a guy in high
school that jokingly called me jelly Roll. He didn't know
that was my house name. And his name was one
arm Clay and you won't believe it that he had
one arm and uh, one arm Clay was like, we
should call you jelly Roll. I'm one arm Clay and
you'll be jelly I was like, my mama calls me
jelly Roll. And then once the high school starts calling
you something, you know that's that's the kid in kaboodle.
And so when did you start doing music? I started
(02:14):
writing songs whenever I was like seven or eight. In
the words of Brantley Gilbert, I didn't know I could sing,
but I knew I could talk fast, So I wrote
a lot of raps. What did it for me was
my mother stroll. First of all, my mother follows this
show and she only follows like six people, and I
don't even think I'm one of them. I think it's
like my three aunts, some dude that she shouldn't be
following that has a six pack in the Bobby Bones Show.
(02:35):
So if you want to put me on y'all's Instagram,
that'd be fine. But uh yeah, just kind of just
kind of came that way. So I do want to
play some of the song because it's such a good song.
This is called Son of a Singer, and I'm gonna
play it for you now from jelly roll. So it's
(03:08):
kind of a different approach from you from what I've heard,
Like this is very emotional you're singing it's I mean,
it's a country song, Like why create this song in
this way? Well, I had a record. I've always wrote
very cathartic music. My mother struggled with addictions and mental
health issues when I was younger. She's a totally different
(03:28):
woman now. But Bobby, she would listen to music and
it would change everything. You know. She'd put old records
on it, smoked cigarettes and that old mumu and sit
at the kitchen table and just white trashes could be
just singing along to Bob Seeg or Wayland Jennens, and
I just remember thinking, man, I want to make music
that makes people feel like this music makes my mother feel,
you know. Had my mother had help from a doctor
(03:49):
I might have been a surgeon and had a six
pack and been called slim totem or something, but it's
it just turned out the other way. So I've always
kind of wrote real songs for real People's been my goal,
and the country thing was just kind of me leaning
into my roots. I was born and raised right here
in Nashville. You know, it's every kid's dream in Nashville
to some sort to be a country music artist. And
it just kind of happened organically. Men Ernest were in
(04:10):
the studio about as high as a hippie, about three
sheets gone, and picked up a guitar, and there it went.
When you played the opera, I think it was in
the last year twenty one, right, that'd be a special moment,
especially growing up here in Nashville. Yeah, it's like not
only the historic side of country music, but it's the
side of like driving by there my whole life, dude.
(04:32):
I remember the grand old Opry House from the Screaming
Delta Demon at Opery Land at his old school Nashville Talk.
Before that Whack Mall was at Mall Sucks. Before that
mall was there, it was a theme park, you know
what I mean. So we would watch it from the
theme park. Dude. It was like I just remember as
a kid, just thinking, man, and yeah, it was just
like a dream come true on all fronts. Did your
family think it was super cool that you were performing
(04:54):
in that circle? Oh yeah, dude. My mother came, My
whole family came. It was a white trash bash. Dude.
We were all there. Everybody wore their son best man.
You should have seen. I bought a sports coat. It
was big, dude. It's a big deal. Man. My daughter
got dressed up. It was huge for us. We don't
dress up like that for funerals or weddings. I mean,
it was that big of a deal. Were you nervous?
I'm nervous now. This whole thing is unreal. Do you
got a real I'm a kid that was spent most
(05:15):
of his juvenile life in jail. Dude, you are the
Joe Rogan of country music. I am sitting on this
is I am here? You know what I mean? It's
like I was. Do you think I'm nervous of all this?
You know, I don't want to cuss, but yeah, this
is all My nervousness makes me want to start spouting
out of the mouth. What is it about now that
I mean, because you're I'll just say, you're kind of
blowing up more mainstream than ever. Like, what is it
(05:37):
about this chapter of your life that is creating this
for you now? I think it's the ten year overnight
success tore right, It's the kid that slept in a
van and did two hundred and thirty shows a year
for one hundred dollars a show. Dude, I used to
open up for a pack of bubble gum and a
bag of bud, you know what I mean. So it's like,
(05:58):
I think it's just years of writing a foul and
songs and thousands of songs and just kind of coming here.
And I don't know, I think it's getting the opportunity
to sit in places like this and tell my story.
That's probably helping the most, because when you look at me,
you probably don't expect to hear from me what you hear,
you know, So what is your story? I mean, if
someone said, hey, man, we're thinking about doing a book
with you, right, are you considering it? I well, let's
(06:19):
let's hear your stories. What is and you know you
can tight it up a bit, but what is your
story that you think inspire so many people. I want
y'all to be clear, Bobby Bonele'll just signed me to
a book publishing deal on this show, y'all. So in
a nutshell, I'm from Antiock, Tennessee. I grew up in
a middle, lower class community. My father was a hard
working meat salesman. He ran a meat company called d
Ford Sausage and DFTO Sale meets. It's our family name
(06:42):
on the Saddy book bets. My mother struggle with addiction.
I was the youngest of four. I never controlled the radio.
That's the reason that I make the kind of music
I make now. And at about the age of fourteen,
I started making a decision, series of decisions that would
lead to what we call the revolving door of the
judicial system. And I spent probably twelve years in and
(07:04):
out of that system, probably nine years in, three years out,
you know, the old due a year in three months home,
two years in four months home kind of thing. And
I won't even talk about the crimes because I don't
think there's no glory in them, and I'm not proud
of them, but it is a part of my story,
and it's also too many to list on this show.
But yeah, man, I had a Damascus Road experience in
(07:27):
the old Baptist term. On May twenty second, two thousand
and eight, I was at CS on Harden Place, right
down the street from here. I was in sail two
twenty three, and a guard knocked on my door and
had told me that I had had a daughter. And
I knew that I had heard that I had got
a young woman pregnant during one of my outs or ends,
I guess in that case, but I had. But when
(07:50):
I was back in jail, the baby was born, and
I just remember thinking, man, you know, I had a
good father. He was a hustler, but he was a
really good man. And I was like, I want to
be a good father, you know. And I didn't. I
didn't have any skill sets. I'd never had a job.
I'm still to this day not qualified to do much
more than talk to you and sing. And I was like, well,
I know I can do music. So I came home
and started selling CDs off of spindles and mix tapes
(08:13):
out of trunks and doing shows and you know, selling
a little bag of bud here and there when I
had to. But I've got away from real criminal, nefarious activities,
and uh yeah, I just kind of led to here,
and now I'm sitting here at the Bobby Bone show,
you know, ready to talk to lunchbox about drinking tequila?
Are you a big tequila drinker? Oh? Good? Is that
the drink boy? Listen, It's like when you blow the
(08:34):
whistle of the dog. Here's and he's the only one
of the room that hears it. Can we are we
shooting something? You got something? Not this? I thought this
is where you bust out the bottle like well, coincidentally,
the Rocks sent us some terra mind. I was gonna
be like, yes, you have a lot of face tattoos,
have many on your face? I never counted. Well, if
(08:57):
I'm guessing, well, some of them connect, right, And you
have to commit to your first face tattoo. Is that
a big decision? I was too young to commit to
anything when I did that. For what it's worth, what
was the first one? I think I had the cross
in the tear drop at the same time when I
was one of my stints on a state funded vacation.
Oh you had him done in prison? Oh yeah, I
doesn't seem safe, no, no, no, But it's that it's
(09:18):
the safest thing there. You think that's not safe. You
see the stuff that happens imprisoning that right there is
great a safety, buddy. Let me tell you that that
would pass the commission to CDC, would have proved compared
to the other stuff happening in there. Well, you have
a rose up near your I do, above your left eye.
It connects down to what is that? It's a heart
would a locket And at this point you've seen it
(09:40):
so many times it's probably just your face right. Well,
I see it backwards too, So you know, you gotta
think when you're telling me something's on, I don't know
what side what's on? You have one that goes down
Bobby Bones is reading man, Listen, I'm being real. I
wanted to describe. He also has one that's like a
straight line going down into his left eye. It comes
down below always the clown. Yeah, what's the word above
(10:01):
the eyebrow? Son? Noah, okay, yeah. And this is ignorance
on my part. But we've always heard the teardrops, Like,
if you have a teardrop and it's not filled in, well,
I'm just asking, I don't know ignorance. You can teach
me if it's not filled in. You attempted to kill
someone and unsuccessful. If it's filled in, it was a success.
(10:22):
No comment, that's why you don't. I'm minor for the tears,
would never forget. We shared see powerful jelly rolls in studio,
by the way is which By the way, dead Man
Walking number one rock song as of today. I thought,
(10:44):
that's why we're shooting to Kaylan. You you muff the
punt most added dead Man Walking number one on the
rock chart. Do we have a clip at that ray
same album? Here it is and you would you consider
yourself first and foremost a hip hop artist? No, no, no, dude,
(11:07):
I consider myself a singer songwriter. I guess I just
knew you from doing hip hop first stuff. I know,
ain't that crazy, and it's you being a hip hop
artist and then the rock stuff and now the country stuff.
But I think that's that's the attitude, like you're just
creating based on what you feel. Just make just make
real music for real people. I call a therapeutic music
by it. It's just important. Some music's meant to be
heard and some music's meant to be felt, and I
(11:28):
hyper focus on making music to people can feel, you know,
it's kind of the Willie Nelson effect. I'm a he
wasn't big, but I'm a big, jovial guy in real life,
you know, kind of a hippie. But Willie wrote the
saddest songs, and I feel like that's kind of where
when I get in that studio, my wife calls it
my uh confessional booth. It's kind of my therapy. Do
you ever confessed something? And she's like, I didn't know that. No, no, no, dude,
(11:48):
we're best friends. Dude, I can't surprise that one with anything.
I wish I could surprise her. We've lost all surprise.
She helps me find bulls on my butt. I mean,
we're as close as you could be. Boils on his butt,
Like they're so close, she'll look to find them. The watch,
the watch a screaming at me. Why thank you? Like
that I was hoping it would. Is that's that real? Yes, sir,
(12:12):
well no, in casebody wants to hit me in the
head later, It depends on who's as. I mean, that
is a watch and it looks loaded with diamonds. Yes, sir,
like that is. My wife bought me this back to
her shout out to my wife, Bunny. I love her
to death. And your wife's name is Bunny Bun and
I e and is that is like jelly roll Bunny?
Or is her name really Bunny? Her name is Bunny. Yeah,
she was Bunny before me. So you ever think about
(12:34):
changing your name officially to jelly Roll so it could
be your legal name. I've thought about it, but I
just I don't. You know, I don't like going, I
don't like paperwork. You probably could imagine. Yeah, I've considered
making Bones my real middle name so I can use
it or if I run for office and I can
officially use it when you run for office? Can I
be your running mate? Can? Did I get a book deal?
And as a running mate show? I'm blown away by this.
(12:56):
This is more than I ever expected. What are your
life shows like? Like? Incredible? Okay, let me brag for
a second. And I'm a humble guy, but man, we
turn that thing upside down. It is The live shows
cover everything from old classic rock to hip hop to country,
the soul. We do a little motown in there. I mean,
it is an incredible show. It's a live band, two guitars,
(13:18):
bass DJ to keep the old school hip hop element
alive and well more of an MC than a DJ.
But he'll still scratch a little bit here and there drums.
We do it right. Adding a steel player this year,
it's gonna be fire. You're adding a steel player. We are.
That's awesome. We got a full blown country album in
the works. Baby, This wasn't this, you know, make no mistake.
It looks like a toe tap. But I'm gonna do
a cannonball in the country music bubba. I'm on the way.
(13:40):
I'm belly flopping. I saw that you and Branley are
doing some shows together. One of my favorite dudes on earth.
So how did Branley Gilbert? I guess he got in
touch with you and said, hey, come do some shows
with me. Yeah. He called me one night, which was
like the craziest call ever. But I kept hearing around town,
Hey man, you need to meet Branley Gilbert. Man, y'all
look like y'all get in trouble and I love people
all get in trouble with And everybody kept telling him, hey,
(14:02):
have you met Jelly Roll? Y'all should meet, And he finally,
you know, I guess where A traveled. He called and say, hey,
I want to do some shows next summer. And what's
crazy is I had done a podcast with my wife
a couple of years earlier, and I was like, when
it comes to doing shows, I think artists missed the
old school approach of like doing it for people and
doing it for the exposure. So I was like, if
(14:23):
this was two years ago, my wife's podcast, three years ago,
I said, if Brantley Gilbert kid Rockers Shined Down called me,
I would not even ask what the amount of money was.
I'd say, yes, I want to go on tour with them.
And I'm literally doing thirty dates with Shine Down this
year in like ten dates with Brandley Gilbert. That's cool. Yeah,
it was just a complete manifestation. So I'm looking at
you and you're in black and you got the chains
(14:45):
on and the face tattoos and the Blaine. Do you
know we've met before? Oh yeah, no, I see you. Listen.
I tried to make them turn the golf cart around
and chase you, but we've met and I didn't want to.
I've met Jelly Well playing golf before. Yeah. I was
texting to say, this is the most memory I have
was I was with Steve Hodges from Sony right, and
he's like playing golf on a nice course. Yeah yeah,
(15:07):
I didn't want to blogs fine, like I've seen Jelly
role playing in a nice golf course. Oh yeah, So
are you Are you a big golfer? Well, I'm I'm
big in golf, but I am not a big golfer.
I'm not a good golfer. But I really I enjoy
anything that you can have a cocktail at nine am
and people don't judge you. And golf is that sport.
We've all been out there with an old man that
ordered a jack and coke at eight fifteen in the morning.
(15:29):
Nobody says nothing that old man except that's awesome, right.
That only happens on tour and a golf course. You know,
when I saw you with a big record guy, what
are you guys talking about this project now? Or no,
we're just having life. No, I was already I'd already
signed with Broken Boat at that time, and we were
just you know, I love hig just man. He's a
good dude, and you know I've got a you know,
just good dude man. He's fine to golf with. We
(15:50):
played good together. And I'll also gas him and get
him drunk on that back nine, and I think people
intentionally bring me out on days when they want to
get loose. Whenever you have to go to the golf course,
though you know it's talked in you get you because
I saw you looking like a golfer, Yes, sir, does
that feel foreign with the collared shirt? Oh? Yeah, I'd
never look goof here. Yeah, I've never looked goof here. Man.
I'm telling you, I don't wear collared church for nothing,
(16:11):
but the opera. I didn't even wear them the court.
How many times do you think you've been the court? Oh? Fifty, easy,
one hundred. I couldn't even imagine. If we get serious
for a second, what would you say to a kid
now that's listening to this at fourteen fifteen years old,
that maybe is not growing up in the most ideal
situation and has to make some tough choices right now
like you did. Man, it's if we can get serious
(16:31):
about that subject. We're doing a show later in Nashville
this year, big show, and I'm donating one hundred percent
of the money from the show to help build a
music program in the juvenile here in Davidson County. And
I'm matching it with my own money. Dollar for dollar,
So you're raising money and then matching the money you raise. Yes, sir,
I believe artists need to start stroking a check man.
I hate when artists just want to fundraise and they
(16:52):
don't want to reach in their old, precious bank account.
Put your money where your mouth is, you know. And
why is that important to you? Because I think these kids.
When I was in juvenile, Bobby, nobody ever came to
talk to me that I understood, right, God bless them.
The Gideons would come and they'd slide a Bible under
the door, and I appreciate that because I read that
Bible a thousand times and they go, God bless you,
young man. But you know, it was an eighty year
(17:13):
old dude with a suit and tie that was disconnected
by a door. Nobody comes to and gives these kids hope.
And I've been to the adult prison and I've been
to the juvenile prison. The adult prison is full of
a bunch of grown mens who need to figure out
a way to break a cycle. The juvenile is full
of a bunch of young kids that don't think they
know any better. They don't know any better, you know.
And I'm a big advocate for justice reform because when
(17:33):
I was sixteen, I made a decision that I'm not
proud of, but ended up getting charged as an adult.
And here I stand in front of you, twenty years
removed from that decision. I'm not allowed to carry a firearm.
I'm not allowed to vote. I just had to fight
tooth and nail to get a passport. I'm missing millions
of dollars in Canada that I'll never be able to
go get because of a decision I made twenty years ago.
(17:53):
I was sixteen years old, dude. I mean, I don't
know if I can say this, but I hadn't even
started sprouting hair down there, you know, and here I
was being charged as a full blown act. I couldn't
buy a pack of cigarettes, but you justified my criminal
act is enough to charge me as an adult. I'm
super passionate about that. These kids need chances, they need
to see outside of their environment. I have people right
(18:15):
now barby that are from my neighborhood that never left
my neighborhood. They watched the Tennessee Titans on TV, and
I call them Now that I'm successful, I'm like, I'll
take you to a game they're like, no, I'm cool.
I'm like, you know that stadium's eleven minutes from your house,
never seen it? They don't know anything past that environment.
Nobody ever comes through and tries to help these kids, man,
And that's what I'm the most passionate about, and that's
(18:36):
what i want to help with the most. And I'm
gonna put my money where my mouth is when it
comes to it. What about your kids? How do you
plan to be a good dad and use what you've
been through as an example to your kids. My daughter
is almost will be fourteen this month, and her mother
had got into about with heroin and had a rough
(18:57):
addiction and we ended up getting custoed of her. Her
ma I wife eight or nine years ago. I have
my daughter all the time. She flies out on weekends.
I mean, I've seen her this morning on the way
to school. I'll be the first thing she sees when
she comes home from school. And to me, parenting is
just about honesty, you know, It's just about being really
honest and having an open dialogue. These kids are exposed
(19:19):
to stuff so much faster than we were because of
the Internet. Dude, back whenever I wanted to get a
little risky. I had to go put together pieces of magazines, right,
you know, I had to go find them in various spots.
You know, these kids are exposed to so much stuff,
and to me, it's just about being honest and having
a dialogue. My daughter is like I called her my
little road dog. That's my little homie, you know, that's
(19:40):
my little best friend. And we talked like that, and
every now and then, you gotta be dad, you gotta
growl and show your teeth. But ultimately it's just about
bringing her along the way and keeping as close as
you can, just kind of watching it grow. Sounds like
honesty is a massive part of who you are. Yeah,
but you know I lunchboxes met me outside of here.
The same guy that's sitting here, The same guy was there.
You know where you guys meet. Well, softball. We played
(20:01):
softball together and we drank a lot. We did it,
so I was I was excited to bring this up.
Do you think you play softball? You play golf? Yea,
Where are you doing the equestrian, dude, I'm an oversize Listen,
I am an athlete in an alcoholic's body. Bobby, I'm
trying to tell you man, I have I had a bomb,
(20:22):
didn't I had a stayer, Dude, I had the most
famous base hit in celebrity softball history. I was one
of the celebrity games. Yeah that's you. Guys are like
a secret league or something on Tuesday nights. Yeah. Yeah,
then we bowled on Wednesdays. Come hang out, we'll talk
about that book. Jelly rolls here with us again. Congratulations,
like i'd been walking. Thank you. Number one song, it's great,
(20:43):
Son of a Center again, most added at country radio.
And you have a whole country album coming out. I do. Yeah.
Me and Branley have been writing a lot. Me in earnest.
I got some stuff in the kettle pot. Man, I'm cooking. Baby.
We're gonna play a Son of a Center now. But man,
just appreciate you coming in. You know, I think you
gotta you have a great message. I think you can
speak to the people that you want to speak to.
And again, you're probably one of the only people that can,
(21:06):
you know, because unless you come from something, you almost
don't want to listen to people lecture you. You know,
I'm from a very small town in Arkansas, and it's
like people don't understand unless they've experienced it, right, So
I appreciate your message, and I think you're probably reaching
a lot of people when others can't so, and you
have to go through a lot to actually get that
message and gather those tools. But man, it's good to
see you here. I feel good, dude. I'm a huge
(21:27):
fan of the show. My mom is a fan of
the show. We're all like, this is a big deal. Man.
We're keeping up with the big acting debut and I'm
looking forward to drinking with Lunchbox again. I'm totally in
the know of this show. This isn't I didn't do
research on the way in. I literally I've seen Luke
Combs sit in his seat and I was like, we're
getting close. I'm bigger than Luke, but it looks like
he's comfortable in it. So now that I'm in it,
(21:48):
I feel great and I'd love to come back and
talk a ken. And one thing you're always going to
get from me, Bobby, for better or worse, it's honest
and real. And I do want to be a voice
for the voiceless. I do want to help the people
that know the music's here to help, and I think
that's what music did for me to this day, music
helps me through my darkest moments. We got three minutes
of songwriters to change the way people feel, or to
(22:10):
ride with them in the darkest moment or the best
moment of their life. And I take those three minutes
more than I more serious and I take anything else
in my life. I appreciate that. And at jelly roll
six one five if you want to follow him,
We have jelly Roll on the show tomorrow. He'll be performing,
so I'll be sure to check out to YouTube. But
so many people have messaged us about this interview, so
before he comes in as like a second interview tomorrow,
we wanted to play this in case you missed it
from a few months ago. This is jelly Roll and
his first appearance ever here on the Bobby Bones Show.
I hope you like it. I saw that you have
posted announcement Senior coming on the show and that The
(00:22):
Rock had liked it. Yes, sir on your Instagram. Yes,
how do you know the rock? Dude? It's kind of weird.
So you know, the Rock has real Nashville roots, like
super Nashville roots. So he was like, I think it
went to mcgaviick. So he just keeps his finger on
the pulse of Nashville like he's just like engulfed in
the culture. And I think, like a song on my
random he came up on his play. It's like the
(00:43):
most random occurrence ever. And somebody reached sounds like, Yo,
the Rock's gonna post saw a video with one of
your songs. I was like, please don't play with me.
It's like, don't do that to me. It was like,
I swear to God, this was like four or five
years six years ago, and he sure did. And ever
since then we stayed in touch. Man, he was the
first person to congratulate me whenever I got invited to
the Grand Old Library and he congratulated you. How he
(01:05):
sent me a voice He sends like the voice memos.
That's like his thing. You know, He'll like, you got
a voice memo from the Rock Yeah, yeah, for sure,
I want to play it, but I don't want to
be that guy. Yeah. I mean I said, I listened
to it every now and then myself. It's like it's
like my pre workout before I go get drunk, because
I don't work out, so right before I go to
a bar, I'll listen to like a voice memo from
the Rocket Black. Let's go jelly rolls with us. Let's
(01:30):
talk about for the audience that hasn't come across your
music yet or who you are, Like, what's up with
the name jelly roll? So I'm obviously looked a part
And my mother named me that whenever I was a
little chubby kid, been fat my whole life, and she
tried to calling me jelly Roll when I was young,
and I spent the next thirty years trying to grow
into the name. I think I've done it, and yeah,
(01:53):
just stuck. And then I had a guy in high
school that jokingly called me jelly Roll. He didn't know
that was my house name. And his name was one
arm Clay and you won't believe it that he had
one arm and uh, one arm Clay was like, we
should call you jelly Roll. I'm one arm Clay and
you'll be jelly I was like, my mama calls me
jelly Roll. And then once the high school starts calling
you something, you know that's that's the kid in kaboodle.
And so when did you start doing music? I started
(02:14):
writing songs whenever I was like seven or eight. In
the words of Brantley Gilbert, I didn't know I could sing,
but I knew I could talk fast, So I wrote
a lot of raps. What did it for me was
my mother stroll. First of all, my mother follows this
show and she only follows like six people, and I
don't even think I'm one of them. I think it's
like my three aunts, some dude that she shouldn't be
following that has a six pack in the Bobby Bones Show.
(02:35):
So if you want to put me on y'all's Instagram,
that'd be fine. But uh yeah, just kind of just
kind of came that way. So I do want to
play some of the song because it's such a good song.
This is called Son of a Singer, and I'm gonna
play it for you now from jelly roll. So it's
(03:08):
kind of a different approach from you from what I've heard,
Like this is very emotional you're singing it's I mean,
it's a country song, Like why create this song in
this way? Well, I had a record. I've always wrote
very cathartic music. My mother struggled with addictions and mental
health issues when I was younger. She's a totally different
(03:28):
woman now. But Bobby, she would listen to music and
it would change everything. You know. She'd put old records
on it, smoked cigarettes and that old mumu and sit
at the kitchen table and just white trashes could be
just singing along to Bob Seeg or Wayland Jennens, and
I just remember thinking, man, I want to make music
that makes people feel like this music makes my mother feel,
you know. Had my mother had help from a doctor
(03:49):
I might have been a surgeon and had a six
pack and been called slim totem or something, but it's
it just turned out the other way. So I've always
kind of wrote real songs for real People's been my goal,
and the country thing was just kind of me leaning
into my roots. I was born and raised right here
in Nashville. You know, it's every kid's dream in Nashville
to some sort to be a country music artist. And
it just kind of happened organically. Men Ernest were in
(04:10):
the studio about as high as a hippie, about three
sheets gone, and picked up a guitar, and there it went.
When you played the opera, I think it was in
the last year twenty one, right, that'd be a special moment,
especially growing up here in Nashville. Yeah, it's like not
only the historic side of country music, but it's the
side of like driving by there my whole life, dude.
(04:32):
I remember the grand old Opry House from the Screaming
Delta Demon at Opery Land at his old school Nashville Talk.
Before that Whack Mall was at Mall Sucks. Before that
mall was there, it was a theme park, you know
what I mean. So we would watch it from the
theme park. Dude. It was like I just remember as
a kid, just thinking, man, and yeah, it was just
like a dream come true on all fronts. Did your
family think it was super cool that you were performing
(04:54):
in that circle? Oh yeah, dude. My mother came, My
whole family came. It was a white trash bash. Dude.
We were all there. Everybody wore their son best man.
You should have seen. I bought a sports coat. It
was big, dude. It's a big deal. Man. My daughter
got dressed up. It was huge for us. We don't
dress up like that for funerals or weddings. I mean,
it was that big of a deal. Were you nervous?
I'm nervous now. This whole thing is unreal. Do you
got a real I'm a kid that was spent most
(05:15):
of his juvenile life in jail. Dude, you are the
Joe Rogan of country music. I am sitting on this
is I am here? You know what I mean? It's
like I was. Do you think I'm nervous of all this?
You know, I don't want to cuss, but yeah, this
is all My nervousness makes me want to start spouting
out of the mouth. What is it about now that
I mean, because you're I'll just say, you're kind of
blowing up more mainstream than ever. Like, what is it
(05:37):
about this chapter of your life that is creating this
for you now? I think it's the ten year overnight
success tore right, It's the kid that slept in a
van and did two hundred and thirty shows a year
for one hundred dollars a show. Dude, I used to
open up for a pack of bubble gum and a
bag of bud, you know what I mean. So it's like,
(05:58):
I think it's just years of writing a foul and
songs and thousands of songs and just kind of coming here.
And I don't know, I think it's getting the opportunity
to sit in places like this and tell my story.
That's probably helping the most, because when you look at me,
you probably don't expect to hear from me what you hear,
you know, So what is your story? I mean, if
someone said, hey, man, we're thinking about doing a book
with you, right, are you considering it? I well, let's
(06:19):
let's hear your stories. What is and you know you
can tight it up a bit, but what is your
story that you think inspire so many people. I want
y'all to be clear, Bobby Bonele'll just signed me to
a book publishing deal on this show, y'all. So in
a nutshell, I'm from Antiock, Tennessee. I grew up in
a middle, lower class community. My father was a hard
working meat salesman. He ran a meat company called d
Ford Sausage and DFTO Sale meets. It's our family name
(06:42):
on the Saddy book bets. My mother struggle with addiction.
I was the youngest of four. I never controlled the radio.
That's the reason that I make the kind of music
I make now. And at about the age of fourteen,
I started making a decision, series of decisions that would
lead to what we call the revolving door of the
judicial system. And I spent probably twelve years in and
(07:04):
out of that system, probably nine years in, three years out,
you know, the old due a year in three months home,
two years in four months home kind of thing. And
I won't even talk about the crimes because I don't
think there's no glory in them, and I'm not proud
of them, but it is a part of my story,
and it's also too many to list on this show.
But yeah, man, I had a Damascus Road experience in
(07:27):
the old Baptist term. On May twenty second, two thousand
and eight, I was at CS on Harden Place, right
down the street from here. I was in sail two
twenty three, and a guard knocked on my door and
had told me that I had had a daughter. And
I knew that I had heard that I had got
a young woman pregnant during one of my outs or ends,
I guess in that case, but I had. But when
(07:50):
I was back in jail, the baby was born, and
I just remember thinking, man, you know, I had a
good father. He was a hustler, but he was a
really good man. And I was like, I want to
be a good father, you know. And I didn't. I
didn't have any skill sets. I'd never had a job.
I'm still to this day not qualified to do much
more than talk to you and sing. And I was like, well,
I know I can do music. So I came home
and started selling CDs off of spindles and mix tapes
(08:13):
out of trunks and doing shows and you know, selling
a little bag of bud here and there when I
had to. But I've got away from real criminal, nefarious activities,
and uh yeah, I just kind of led to here,
and now I'm sitting here at the Bobby Bone show,
you know, ready to talk to lunchbox about drinking tequila?
Are you a big tequila drinker? Oh? Good? Is that
the drink boy? Listen, It's like when you blow the
(08:34):
whistle of the dog. Here's and he's the only one
of the room that hears it. Can we are we
shooting something? You got something? Not this? I thought this
is where you bust out the bottle like well, coincidentally,
the Rocks sent us some terra mind. I was gonna
be like, yes, you have a lot of face tattoos,
have many on your face? I never counted. Well, if
(08:57):
I'm guessing, well, some of them connect, right, And you
have to commit to your first face tattoo. Is that
a big decision? I was too young to commit to
anything when I did that. For what it's worth, what
was the first one? I think I had the cross
in the tear drop at the same time when I
was one of my stints on a state funded vacation.
Oh you had him done in prison? Oh yeah, I
doesn't seem safe, no, no, no, But it's that it's
(09:18):
the safest thing there. You think that's not safe. You
see the stuff that happens imprisoning that right there is
great a safety, buddy. Let me tell you that that
would pass the commission to CDC, would have proved compared
to the other stuff happening in there. Well, you have
a rose up near your I do, above your left eye.
It connects down to what is that? It's a heart
would a locket And at this point you've seen it
(09:40):
so many times it's probably just your face right. Well,
I see it backwards too, So you know, you gotta
think when you're telling me something's on, I don't know
what side what's on? You have one that goes down
Bobby Bones is reading man, Listen, I'm being real. I
wanted to describe. He also has one that's like a
straight line going down into his left eye. It comes
down below always the clown. Yeah, what's the word above
(10:01):
the eyebrow? Son? Noah, okay, yeah. And this is ignorance
on my part. But we've always heard the teardrops, Like,
if you have a teardrop and it's not filled in, well,
I'm just asking, I don't know ignorance. You can teach
me if it's not filled in. You attempted to kill
someone and unsuccessful. If it's filled in, it was a success.
(10:22):
No comment, that's why you don't. I'm minor for the tears,
would never forget. We shared see powerful jelly rolls in studio,
by the way is which By the way, dead Man
Walking number one rock song as of today. I thought,
(10:44):
that's why we're shooting to Kaylan. You you muff the
punt most added dead Man Walking number one on the
rock chart. Do we have a clip at that ray
same album? Here it is and you would you consider
yourself first and foremost a hip hop artist? No, no, no, dude,
(11:07):
I consider myself a singer songwriter. I guess I just
knew you from doing hip hop first stuff. I know,
ain't that crazy, and it's you being a hip hop
artist and then the rock stuff and now the country stuff.
But I think that's that's the attitude, like you're just
creating based on what you feel. Just make just make
real music for real people. I call a therapeutic music
by it. It's just important. Some music's meant to be
heard and some music's meant to be felt, and I
(11:28):
hyper focus on making music to people can feel, you know,
it's kind of the Willie Nelson effect. I'm a he
wasn't big, but I'm a big, jovial guy in real life,
you know, kind of a hippie. But Willie wrote the
saddest songs, and I feel like that's kind of where
when I get in that studio, my wife calls it
my uh confessional booth. It's kind of my therapy. Do
you ever confessed something? And she's like, I didn't know that. No, no, no, dude,
(11:48):
we're best friends. Dude, I can't surprise that one with anything.
I wish I could surprise her. We've lost all surprise.
She helps me find bulls on my butt. I mean,
we're as close as you could be. Boils on his butt,
Like they're so close, she'll look to find them. The watch,
the watch a screaming at me. Why thank you? Like
that I was hoping it would. Is that's that real? Yes, sir,
(12:12):
well no, in casebody wants to hit me in the
head later, It depends on who's as. I mean, that
is a watch and it looks loaded with diamonds. Yes, sir,
like that is. My wife bought me this back to
her shout out to my wife, Bunny. I love her
to death. And your wife's name is Bunny Bun and
I e and is that is like jelly roll Bunny?
Or is her name really Bunny? Her name is Bunny. Yeah,
she was Bunny before me. So you ever think about
(12:34):
changing your name officially to jelly Roll so it could
be your legal name. I've thought about it, but I
just I don't. You know, I don't like going, I
don't like paperwork. You probably could imagine. Yeah, I've considered
making Bones my real middle name so I can use
it or if I run for office and I can
officially use it when you run for office? Can I
be your running mate? Can? Did I get a book deal?
And as a running mate show? I'm blown away by this.
(12:56):
This is more than I ever expected. What are your
life shows like? Like? Incredible? Okay, let me brag for
a second. And I'm a humble guy, but man, we
turn that thing upside down. It is The live shows
cover everything from old classic rock to hip hop to country,
the soul. We do a little motown in there. I mean,
it is an incredible show. It's a live band, two guitars,
(13:18):
bass DJ to keep the old school hip hop element
alive and well more of an MC than a DJ.
But he'll still scratch a little bit here and there drums.
We do it right. Adding a steel player this year,
it's gonna be fire. You're adding a steel player. We are.
That's awesome. We got a full blown country album in
the works. Baby, This wasn't this, you know, make no mistake.
It looks like a toe tap. But I'm gonna do
a cannonball in the country music bubba. I'm on the way.
(13:40):
I'm belly flopping. I saw that you and Branley are
doing some shows together. One of my favorite dudes on earth.
So how did Branley Gilbert? I guess he got in
touch with you and said, hey, come do some shows
with me. Yeah. He called me one night, which was
like the craziest call ever. But I kept hearing around town,
Hey man, you need to meet Branley Gilbert. Man, y'all
look like y'all get in trouble and I love people
all get in trouble with And everybody kept telling him, hey,
(14:02):
have you met Jelly Roll? Y'all should meet, And he finally,
you know, I guess where A traveled. He called and say, hey,
I want to do some shows next summer. And what's
crazy is I had done a podcast with my wife
a couple of years earlier, and I was like, when
it comes to doing shows, I think artists missed the
old school approach of like doing it for people and
doing it for the exposure. So I was like, if
(14:23):
this was two years ago, my wife's podcast, three years ago,
I said, if Brantley Gilbert kid Rockers Shined Down called me,
I would not even ask what the amount of money was.
I'd say, yes, I want to go on tour with them.
And I'm literally doing thirty dates with Shine Down this
year in like ten dates with Brandley Gilbert. That's cool. Yeah,
it was just a complete manifestation. So I'm looking at
you and you're in black and you got the chains
(14:45):
on and the face tattoos and the Blaine. Do you
know we've met before? Oh yeah, no, I see you. Listen.
I tried to make them turn the golf cart around
and chase you, but we've met and I didn't want to.
I've met Jelly Well playing golf before. Yeah. I was
texting to say, this is the most memory I have
was I was with Steve Hodges from Sony right, and
he's like playing golf on a nice course. Yeah yeah,
(15:07):
I didn't want to blogs fine, like I've seen Jelly
role playing in a nice golf course. Oh yeah, So
are you Are you a big golfer? Well, I'm I'm
big in golf, but I am not a big golfer.
I'm not a good golfer. But I really I enjoy
anything that you can have a cocktail at nine am
and people don't judge you. And golf is that sport.
We've all been out there with an old man that
ordered a jack and coke at eight fifteen in the morning.
(15:29):
Nobody says nothing that old man except that's awesome, right.
That only happens on tour and a golf course. You know,
when I saw you with a big record guy, what
are you guys talking about this project now? Or no,
we're just having life. No, I was already I'd already
signed with Broken Boat at that time, and we were
just you know, I love hig just man. He's a
good dude, and you know I've got a you know,
just good dude man. He's fine to golf with. We
(15:50):
played good together. And I'll also gas him and get
him drunk on that back nine, and I think people
intentionally bring me out on days when they want to
get loose. Whenever you have to go to the golf course,
though you know it's talked in you get you because
I saw you looking like a golfer, Yes, sir, does
that feel foreign with the collared shirt? Oh? Yeah, I'd
never look goof here. Yeah, I've never looked goof here. Man.
I'm telling you, I don't wear collared church for nothing,
(16:11):
but the opera. I didn't even wear them the court.
How many times do you think you've been the court? Oh? Fifty, easy,
one hundred. I couldn't even imagine. If we get serious
for a second, what would you say to a kid
now that's listening to this at fourteen fifteen years old,
that maybe is not growing up in the most ideal
situation and has to make some tough choices right now
like you did. Man, it's if we can get serious
(16:31):
about that subject. We're doing a show later in Nashville
this year, big show, and I'm donating one hundred percent
of the money from the show to help build a
music program in the juvenile here in Davidson County. And
I'm matching it with my own money. Dollar for dollar,
So you're raising money and then matching the money you raise. Yes, sir,
I believe artists need to start stroking a check man.
I hate when artists just want to fundraise and they
(16:52):
don't want to reach in their old, precious bank account.
Put your money where your mouth is, you know. And
why is that important to you? Because I think these kids.
When I was in juvenile, Bobby, nobody ever came to
talk to me that I understood, right, God bless them.
The Gideons would come and they'd slide a Bible under
the door, and I appreciate that because I read that
Bible a thousand times and they go, God bless you,
young man. But you know, it was an eighty year
(17:13):
old dude with a suit and tie that was disconnected
by a door. Nobody comes to and gives these kids hope.
And I've been to the adult prison and I've been
to the juvenile prison. The adult prison is full of
a bunch of grown mens who need to figure out
a way to break a cycle. The juvenile is full
of a bunch of young kids that don't think they
know any better. They don't know any better, you know.
And I'm a big advocate for justice reform because when
(17:33):
I was sixteen, I made a decision that I'm not
proud of, but ended up getting charged as an adult.
And here I stand in front of you, twenty years
removed from that decision. I'm not allowed to carry a firearm.
I'm not allowed to vote. I just had to fight
tooth and nail to get a passport. I'm missing millions
of dollars in Canada that I'll never be able to
go get because of a decision I made twenty years ago.
(17:53):
I was sixteen years old, dude. I mean, I don't
know if I can say this, but I hadn't even
started sprouting hair down there, you know, and here I
was being charged as a full blown act. I couldn't
buy a pack of cigarettes, but you justified my criminal
act is enough to charge me as an adult. I'm
super passionate about that. These kids need chances, they need
to see outside of their environment. I have people right
(18:15):
now barby that are from my neighborhood that never left
my neighborhood. They watched the Tennessee Titans on TV, and
I call them Now that I'm successful, I'm like, I'll
take you to a game they're like, no, I'm cool.
I'm like, you know that stadium's eleven minutes from your house,
never seen it? They don't know anything past that environment.
Nobody ever comes through and tries to help these kids, man,
And that's what I'm the most passionate about, and that's
(18:36):
what i want to help with the most. And I'm
gonna put my money where my mouth is when it
comes to it. What about your kids? How do you
plan to be a good dad and use what you've
been through as an example to your kids. My daughter
is almost will be fourteen this month, and her mother
had got into about with heroin and had a rough
(18:57):
addiction and we ended up getting custoed of her. Her
ma I wife eight or nine years ago. I have
my daughter all the time. She flies out on weekends.
I mean, I've seen her this morning on the way
to school. I'll be the first thing she sees when
she comes home from school. And to me, parenting is
just about honesty, you know, It's just about being really
honest and having an open dialogue. These kids are exposed
(19:19):
to stuff so much faster than we were because of
the Internet. Dude, back whenever I wanted to get a
little risky. I had to go put together pieces of magazines, right,
you know, I had to go find them in various spots.
You know, these kids are exposed to so much stuff,
and to me, it's just about being honest and having
a dialogue. My daughter is like I called her my
little road dog. That's my little homie, you know, that's
(19:40):
my little best friend. And we talked like that, and
every now and then, you gotta be dad, you gotta
growl and show your teeth. But ultimately it's just about
bringing her along the way and keeping as close as
you can, just kind of watching it grow. Sounds like
honesty is a massive part of who you are. Yeah,
but you know I lunchboxes met me outside of here.
The same guy that's sitting here, The same guy was there.
You know where you guys meet. Well, softball. We played
(20:01):
softball together and we drank a lot. We did it,
so I was I was excited to bring this up.
Do you think you play softball? You play golf? Yea,
Where are you doing the equestrian, dude, I'm an oversize Listen,
I am an athlete in an alcoholic's body. Bobby, I'm
trying to tell you man, I have I had a bomb,
(20:22):
didn't I had a stayer, Dude, I had the most
famous base hit in celebrity softball history. I was one
of the celebrity games. Yeah that's you. Guys are like
a secret league or something on Tuesday nights. Yeah. Yeah,
then we bowled on Wednesdays. Come hang out, we'll talk
about that book. Jelly rolls here with us again. Congratulations,
like i'd been walking. Thank you. Number one song, it's great,
(20:43):
Son of a Center again, most added at country radio.
And you have a whole country album coming out. I do. Yeah.
Me and Branley have been writing a lot. Me in earnest.
I got some stuff in the kettle pot. Man, I'm cooking. Baby.
We're gonna play a Son of a Center now. But man,
just appreciate you coming in. You know, I think you
gotta you have a great message. I think you can
speak to the people that you want to speak to.
And again, you're probably one of the only people that can,
(21:06):
you know, because unless you come from something, you almost
don't want to listen to people lecture you. You know,
I'm from a very small town in Arkansas, and it's
like people don't understand unless they've experienced it, right, So
I appreciate your message, and I think you're probably reaching
a lot of people when others can't so, and you
have to go through a lot to actually get that
message and gather those tools. But man, it's good to
see you here. I feel good, dude. I'm a huge
(21:27):
fan of the show. My mom is a fan of
the show. We're all like, this is a big deal. Man.
We're keeping up with the big acting debut and I'm
looking forward to drinking with Lunchbox again. I'm totally in
the know of this show. This isn't I didn't do
research on the way in. I literally I've seen Luke
Combs sit in his seat and I was like, we're
getting close. I'm bigger than Luke, but it looks like
he's comfortable in it. So now that I'm in it,
(21:48):
I feel great and I'd love to come back and
talk a ken. And one thing you're always going to
get from me, Bobby, for better or worse, it's honest
and real. And I do want to be a voice
for the voiceless. I do want to help the people
that know the music's here to help, and I think
that's what music did for me to this day, music
helps me through my darkest moments. We got three minutes
of songwriters to change the way people feel, or to
(22:10):
ride with them in the darkest moment or the best
moment of their life. And I take those three minutes
more than I more serious and I take anything else
in my life. I appreciate that. And at jelly roll
six one five if you want to follow him,
Hosts And Creators
Bobby Bones
Amy Brown
Lunchbox
Eddie Garcia
Morgan Huelsman
Raymundo
Mike D
Abby Anderson
Scuba Steve
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