How Trusting Jelly Roll Was Key to the Cross-Genre Success of ‘Whitsitt Chapel’
Written by djfrosty on June 16, 2023
As Jelly Roll himself told it in his recent Billboard cover story, it was attending church with his daughter that inspired the raw, career-defining record Whitsitt Chapel. The rising Tennessee artist has become a sensation over the past two years building up to this release, with a number of accolades that have burgeoned his career and his story.
But this record was that final piece of the puzzle, and its artistic merits were matched by its commercial performance: The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums and, with 90,000 equivalent album units, became the largest week for an initial entry on Top Country Albums since the chart transitioned to a consumption-based methodology in February 2017.
As BMG Nashville president Jon Loba puts it, that’s down to Jelly Roll and the work he put into the music. But the success nonetheless earns Loba the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Loba talks about the build-up to the album, the strategies the label used to maximize its impact and where they can go from here in building Jelly Roll’s career. “Going forward we will continue giving Jelly his creative and artistic freedom, while we continue to work on building the connection to new audiences and nurture the connection with his existing audience,” Loba says. “It’s really that simple. When you have your first experience or interaction with Jelly, you have a strong desire to go deeper — and tell others about him.”
This week, Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and topped both the Rock & Alternative and Country Albums charts. What key decision did you make to help make this happen?
It of course all starts with the music. Jelly turned in an absolutely epic record that we have no doubt will stand the test of time. I think we will look back two decades from now and see this as the album that fully revealed the depth, texture, intellect and heart of Jelly Roll. The biggest decision I made was getting out of Jelly’s way and trusting him to turn in such a masterpiece. Initially, we had a collection of absolute slam dunk, commercial country hits Jelly wrote and was ready to record. After he attended his daughter’s church one Sunday, however, he called me up to say he felt the deep need to scrap all those songs and go on a musical and spiritual journey with his next record. We knew we had hit singles lined up, but I heard the conviction in his heart about this alternate path. His manager John Meneilly and I always say, “When in doubt, trust Jelly,” and that’s what we did. We didn’t know what this album would be, but we wanted to support him and his creativity. It turned out to be not only the right thing artistically but the right thing commercially.
The album had the biggest opening week for a first entry on the Top Country Albums chart since it went to a consumption-based methodology in 2017, almost tripling the previous record. How did you build the momentum leading up to this release?
Once you meet him, you are a fan for life. The buzz on Jelly started with “Save Me” and grew with “Dead Man Walking” and “Son of a Sinner,” so the commercial credibility was there to begin with. Our partners were really interested in his music and curious about him as we communicated how special he was. Once they met him one on one, it was a game changer. When you spend time with Jelly, you immediately root for him and want to create opportunities, which they did. Importantly, when they created those opportunities, Jelly always delivered for them and, in turn, [they] wanted to create more. Ultimately, the opportunities for his singles grew organically into opportunities for his album release.
What was your sales approach for this record?
First and foremost, making sure our partners heard the entire project well in advance. We knew the music would speak for itself and afterward our partners immediately came back to us with new creative opportunities for exposure. Wherever possible, we wanted Jelly to present it first-hand, to talk about his motivation and journey in creating Whitsitt Chapel. We also know Jelly has a passionate and committed fan base, so we wanted to be sure we had a strong focus on physical, as they are collectors… more so than most country consumers.
Jelly Roll’s music crosses several different genres, and Whitsitt Chapel is the latest in a line of albums that have reached the top echelon of both the Country radio charts and the Rock & Alternative radio charts. How do you work the same songs differently at different formats?
We don’t work them much differently. When Jelly and I first met, he had many questions about where his music would fit. He had a strong desire to have his music heard and accepted in the country genre, but he also wondered if some of it could work in rock and top 40. I was really firm in telling him not to worry about genres. All he needed to do was keep making music that connected with hearts and minds — music that saves and changes lives. You see examples of that at every Jelly show as you talk to his fans. He has this ability to connect with a wide variety of audiences because of his truth and willingness to be extremely open and share it. I said it in that first meeting, and I feel it even more strongly now: Jelly transcends genres. He is on the path to becoming a cultural icon.
Jelly Roll’s success has been considered one of the best examples of artist development in recent years. How do you continue to build on that in his career going forward?
We would love to take credit for Jelly’s artist development, but that wouldn’t be honest — Jelly is responsible for his artist development over the years of making music, touring and speaking his truth. We were fortunate that before us, there had not been a full team out there strategically telling his story, introducing him to partners and passionately laying down in the road for him as we asked for exposure opportunities. Going forward we will continue giving Jelly his creative and artistic freedom, while we continue to work on building the connection to new audiences and nurture the connection with his existing audience. It’s really that simple. When you have your first experience or interaction with Jelly, you have a strong desire to go deeper — and tell others about him.