Jelly Roll Reveals His Dream Super Bowl Halftime Show Lineup
Written by djfrosty on March 5, 2025
Antioch, Tenn., native and Billboard 200 chart-topping artist Jelly Roll has some specific artists in mind when it comes to dreaming up his ideal potential Super Bowl Halftime Show.
During an appearance on the podcast Bussin’ With the Boys alongside his friend and fellow singer-songwriter Ernest, Jelly Roll discussed how, if the Super Bowl were to be held in his hometown of Nashville, he would love to see a country music-focused, multi-generational Super Bowl Halftime Show.
“You know what my dream would be?” Jelly Roll said. “When it comes to Nashville, they do a country music Super Bowl. And it’s not even about an artist — like it cuts to Garth [Brooks] on one stage, and he’s doing ‘[Friends in Low Places],’ then it cuts to Reba [McEntire] and then Lainey [Wilson], and then me and then Morgan [Wallen]. It’s like, 18 minutes.”
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“The whole landscape,” adds Ernest.
Notably, country artists have been well-represented in singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, thanks to performances over the years from Brooks, McEntire, Charley Pride, Chris Stapleton, Mickey Guyton and more. But Super Bowl Halftime Show performances from country artists have been rare. In 1994, the Rockin’ Country Sunday Super Bowl Halftime Show was led by Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt and The Judds. In 2003, Shania Twain was on the halftime show bill alongside Sting and No Doubt.
During the Jelly Roll/Ernest episode of Bussin’ With the Boys, they also discussed the artists they feel are going to be huge in country music over the next few years, naming artists including Ernest’s Big Loud labelmate Jake Worthington (on Big Loud Texas), Leo33 artist and “I Never Lie” hitmaker Zach Top and newcomer Chandler Walters. (Worthington and Top spearheaded a country music revival at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium recently.)
Asked how important it might be for modern-day country artists to appreciate the history of the genre, Jelly Roll and Ernest noted how they are drawn to artists who respect the genre’s rich canon of enduring songs and artists.
“In the grand scheme of things, I guess it doesn’t matter, but it’s something that matters to me,” Ernest said.
“It matters to me,” Jelly Roll agreed.
“I appreciate and gravitate towards the people it does matter to, and I feel like it is our responsibility to –I like doing covers of old records to keep those songs alive,” Ernest continued. “Jamey Johnson said it, too, he said, ‘As country singers, it is our responsibility to keep the spirit of those before us alive through songs’ — whether it be writing in that spirit, or covering those songs. Those songs are meant to be sung. Merle Haggard died, that doesn’t mean you can’t go cut his songs. The lifespan of a song has no cap on it. It’s gonna outlive all of us, either way.”
“My second Grand Ole Opry performance, I sung [a song by] Waylon [Jennings],” Jelly Roll added. “It was important to me. One, when I did it the first time … I thought this is a once-around-the-sun for me. When they brought me back [for a second Opry performance], I was doubling down, because I believe, like he said, that probably in the grand scheme it don’t matter, but to the community, it matters to some. I just love country music. Always have, so I just naturally … we flock towards the people [who love country music] … Dude, you’ve been out with me. I turn every bar into a honky tonk. As soon as I get into a bar, hook up my phone or show me where the TouchTunes is. I’m fixin’ to put $100 in this thing and run the gauntlet on y’all for the next two hours.”
Ernest added, “We’ll sit on the front porch at [Nashville venue] Losers [Bar & Grill] ’til four in the morning, hooked up to Bluetooth, playing old Hank Williams songs.”
Watch the full episode of Bussin’ With the Boys below: