Jelly Roll Opens Up About His Journey From Prison to Top of Billboard’s Country Chart | Billboard Cover

Country star Jelly Roll opens up about his journey from his life in prison to becoming one of the most exciting and interesting rising stars in country music.

“I want to make people feel the way this makes me feel because this is like it go back my childhood really, like this is the same way that music made my mother feel, you know. And I’ve just always been hyper focused on the feeling,” he says.

“I had got released from jail, and it would it would end up being the last time I was ever in jail, which I’m super proud of. And I came here because Craig Morgan had this song called ‘Almost Home,’ and I would listen to it in my jail cell. And the song was about a homeless man that was sleeping in the snow. And they were going to wake him up. And they thought that the old man was dead and they shook him and he said, ‘Dude, I was I was, you know, I was coming around the barn, I was smelling mama’s [cobbler], I was having the best day ever before you woke me up.’ And me and my cell mates used to compare that to jail. You know, like in this horrible circumstance, but kind of mentally you know, you can always almost home. So I came home and here I am with an ankle bracelet. And here I am looking googling on the computer back then Craig Morgan concert, Grand Ole Opry. I get tickets, spend my last little bit of money or whatever I had. I go sit down, and I’m watching Craig Morgan. And he’s like, I didn’t realize I’d forgotten the structure that he would only sing three or four songs, you know? And he sang two songs, and I realized, oh, no, he’s not gonna sing it. And then he sang it and I just cried.”

Watch the full video above.