Former Billboard cover star Jelly Roll has become one of country music’s biggest breakthrough success stories over the past year, notching hits on Billboard charts in multiple genres. His 2021 song “Dead Man Walking” topped the Mainstream Rock chart. He followed with “Son of a Sinner,” which topped the Country Airplay chart and “Need a Favor,” which vaulted to the premier position of not only the Country Airplay chart, but also the Mainstream Rock and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
In his first year of CMA Awards nominations, Jelly Roll has earned five nods, including new artist of the year, male vocalist of the year and single of the year (“Need a Favor”), leading up to November’s ceremony. Earlier this year, he took home the most CMT Music Awards wins of the evening during the Austin, Texas-held ceremony, cinching three trophy wins.
His musical amalgam of rap, country and rock, paired with his unfiltered, megawatt personality and inspiring story of rising from an incarcerated youth to a musical hitmaker and arena headliner, has become Jelly Roll’s calling card.
Embedded in the music and his persona is a through line of connection–connection to his fans, and connection with fellow artists. Outside of his solo material, Jelly Roll has been featured on many artists’ songs, and as of late, has become one of country music’s go-to collaborator. But looking back at his previous hip-hop projects, which include work with Struggle Jennings, Lil Wyte, it’s clear that his penchant for collaborations has been steadfast.
Here, we look at 10 Jelly Roll collaborations.
This Jelly Roll-Lynch collab, written by Jessi Alexander, Hunter Phelps and Chase McGill and featured on Lynch’s Killed the Cowboy album, interpolates the instantly recognizable melody and rhythm from the Mentor Williams-written 1973 Dobie Gray hit “Drift Away,” with a newly penned set of lyrics that center on a couple’s romantic night, filled with six-packs, Brooks & Dunn music and dirt roads.
Jelly Roll and Memphis rapper Lil Wyte have long been collaborators, issuing several collaborative albums including 2011’s Year Round (with BPZ), 2013’s No Filter and 2016’s No Filter 2. A YouTube video for this 2010 song earned over 6 million views. Notably, Jelly Roll sings on this track, “I ain’t got no single/ No potential for the radio” — just over a decade later, he would prove that line wrong, with multiple No. 1 Billboard chart hits in various genres.
On Craig Morgan’s new album Enlisted, he worked with several artists, including Jelly Roll, to reimagine some of Morgan’s radio hits. One of those was Morgan’s 2002 top 10 Hot Country Songs hit “Almost Home.” The two previously performed the song last year onstage at the Grand Ole Opry.
“I love the guy to death. Love his enthusiasm, his energy, his sense of gratitude,” Morgan told Billboard of Jelly Roll. “I feel like he truly is representative of how someone can be at their lowest point in their life and they can change that through faith, hope and kindness and that’s what he’s done. When he came in the studio — and this is a guy that has 50 people around him all the time — he drove up to the studio by himself, sang, hung out with us and it was awesome.”
Jelly Roll worked with longtime friends and fellow musicians Brantley Gilbert and Struggle Jennings on this ode to the strength of ties with buddies who are in jail. The song is included on Jelly Roll’s 2023 album Whitsitt Chapel.
In early 2023, Jelly Roll was among the five artists featured as part of the Country Radio Seminar’s annual New Faces of Country Music Show. During his event-closing show, he welcomed Gilbert and Jennings onstage to perform “Behind Bars.”
Notably, Jelly Roll and Jennings have long been collaborators, issuing a quartet of albums under the title Waylon & Willie.
The Judds’ signature 1990 song of unity and compassion gets a fuller gospel infusion thanks to this joining of forces from Jelly Roll with The Fisk Jubilee Singers and singer-television personality K. Michelle. The song marks a reunion of sorts for Jelly Roll and the famed gospel choir The Fisk Jubilee Singers, as Jelly Roll previously welcomed them during his headlining concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in December 2022, to sing with him on “Need a Favor.” He later made that performance into the official music video for the song.
The song is featured on the upcoming multi-artist tribute album to the Judds, out Oct. 27.
Jelly Roll and Jessie Murph teamed up for the electronic-country track “Wild Ones,” which reached No. 1 on iTunes’ Top 200 Songs Chart. Murph co-wrote the song with Jelly Roll, Jeff Gitty and ALDAE. The song is currently at No. 49 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and at No. 8 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
“I have been so excited to drop ‘Wild Ones’ ever since I wrote it earlier this year,” Murph said in a statement when the song released. “It has been incredible to play live on tour and see the fan reaction already even though it’s just now being released! It is one of my favorite songs yet and getting to work with Jelly Roll made it that much better.”
Originally, Jelly Roll was to sing on “Jesus Loves You,” another song from Cody Johnson’s upcoming album Leather. But when he heard the message of regret and redemption in “Whiskey Bent,” he knew it was the right song.
“He asked me what else I was working on and I played him ‘Whiskey Bent,’” Johnson told Billboard. “He just started crying and was like, ‘Bro, I ain’t never heard a song like that. If I’m gonna be on a song, can it be that one?’ I gave him the entire second verse. It didn’t take him long to learn the song and he did incredibly.”
In 2022, Gilbert and Jelly Roll teamed up for this country-rock banger, which nods to growing up in the Southern part of the United States on lines like, “Mama washin’ out my dirty mouth and pickin’ switches.” Gilbert and Jelly Roll wrote the song with Andrew Bayliss. As the song surges forward, Gilbert and Jelly Roll pay tribute to Johnny Cash, Three 6 Mafia and Kid Rock, among others. The song is included on Brantley’s 2022 album So Help Me God.
Another track on Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel album, “Unlive,” features rapper Yelawolf. The song explores the lasting impact of things they’ve seen and experienced during childhood, on lyrics including “White trash roots run deeper/ I’ve done seen pain, pills turn to needles.” Jelly Roll met Yelawolf through Struggle Jennings, when Jennings was working with Yelawolf in Atlanta and the two went on to collaborate on songs including 2014’s “So Long” and 2018’s “Southern Hospitality.” Yelawolf earned his first No. 1 Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart hit in 2015, with Love Story.
These BBR Music Group labelmates teamed up for this revamped version of a song that Jelly Roll originally recorded in 2020 and included on his album Self Medicated (the Wilson-Jelly Roll version was the second single from Jelly Roll’s 2023 album Whitsitt Chapel).
Wilson recalled Jelly Roll being in the studio with her at Nashville’s Sound Emporium when she laid down her vocals on the song.
“I did a few takes and after each one, Jelly stood up behind the glass, all hype, talking about how much he loved it and pumping me up before the next take,” she told Billboard. “He has this way about him where he can encourage vulnerability and feeling just through his genuine excitement and the way he lifts you up.”
“Save Me” is nominated for musical event of the year at the upcoming CMA Awards.
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