The name Jelly Roll is now synonymous with rap and country music. Born and raised in Nashville, Jelly Roll has defied the odds from his life in prison to become one of music’s fastest-rising superstars. Though he was bred in Nashville’s rap scene, Jelly Roll is not intimidated by mixing genres, a fact he’s proven through his many collaborations. Check out three songs you didn’t know featured Jelly Roll below.
Videos by American Songwriter
1. “Son of the Dirty South” by Brantley Gilbert
Not long after he was the “Son of a Sinner,” Jelly Roll was a “Son of the Dirty South” with Brantley Gilbert. Featured on Gilbert’s 2022 album, So Help Me God, “Dirty South” is a raucous rock-meets-country-meets-rap song. Jelly Roll goes wild as he opens the song rapping, My roots are blue-collar/Them boys from the holler/Do anything that they can just for a dollar, and is soon joined by Gilbert as he wails in the chorus, Tatted up, I’m gassed up/I’m throwed off and I’m buck wild/Loud and rowdy/I’m a son of the dirty South.
“Son of the Dirty South” is merely a teaser of what’s to come. Gilbert told American Songwriter in 2023 that he and Jelly Roll are working on a collaborative project together that will likely be released in 2024. “We’ll be releasing something together,” Gilbert confirmed. “We actually went in for about a week and basically moved into a studio, just lived there and wrote songs and recorded. So I think what we’re trying to figure out right now is whether it’s an EP or a full album.”
2. “Country as Shit” by Tyler Farr
Tyler Farr and Jelly Roll proclaimed they were “Country as Shit” off this track on Farr’s 2023 EP, Rednecks Like Me. Here, the two celebrate their Midwestern and Southern roots (Farr is from Missouri and Jelly Roll is a native of Tennessee), where the trucks stay muddy and the coolers are full of cold beer. The song blends Farr’s twangy voice and Jelly Roll’s rap skills as they sing in the chorus, What you see is what you get and/What you get is what it is/Livin’ like Willie and Waylon and No Show did/Keepin’ it country as shit.
“He’s a super talented guy, but I like his heart and I’ve always thought he’s just a good dude,” Farr told American Songwriter about working with the rapper and country singer. “He’s a likable person and he’s genuine and sincere. Just a good-hearted person.”
[RELATED: Tyler Farr on His New EP, Rednecks Like Me]
3. “House of Mirrors” by Hollywood Undead
Jelly Roll is no stranger to mixing rap and rock music, something he got to flex when he teamed up with Los Angeles-based rock-rap group Hollywood Undead. “House of Mirrors” is the seventh single off the band’s 2022 album, Hotel Kalifornia. The song features a blistering rock melody that’s balanced by vulnerable lyrics about a man haunted by his past. My reflection don’t reflect my past/We can’t hide in a house of mirrors/Unless you break the glass, Jelly Roll sings passionately.
“I’ve been a fan of Hollywood Undead for a long time — it was surreal to get to work with them,” Jelly Roll said in a press release about the collaboration. “Everything just clicked in the studio that day the record is a perfect representation of where we all were at that point in our lives.”
Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for CMA
