By now, almost everyone knows Jelly Roll’s story. Born Jason DeFord into a home with few resources and a mother who battled mental illness, Jelly Roll spent much of his teen and early adult years in and out of prison. When he was finally released in 2009, he was determined to make a change, both for himself and his daughter, Bailee Ann, who was born while he was incarcerated.
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In 2012, Jelly Roll dropped The Big Sal Story, the first of several independent albums he released. He was known for his own style of music, combining rap, country, and rock. At the time, Jelly Roll was hoping to just make enough money to pay his bills and support Bailee Ann.
In 2020, Jelly Roll released “Save Me“. The song, on his Self Medicated album, was inspired by Jelly Roll’s desire that he wanted more out of life.
“I was in the thick of it. I knew the lifestyle I was living at that moment wasn’t one that could be sustained,” he tells Billboard. He adds that he also knew he needed to make changes.
“It was my personal cry for help,” he adds. “Thankfully, now I can say I’ve made a lot of positive changes, but I’m still a work in progress.”
When he released “Save Me”, Jelly Roll admitted it was a departure for him.
“This one is a little bit of a curveball for me,” he said at the time. “I don’t usually do these stripped down acoustic videos, but writing this song made me feel something and I felt y’all needed some insight into the more vulnerable side of the music business.”
Jelly Roll Releases “Save Me” With Lainey Wilson
Jelly Roll immediately started to get noticed, thanks in large part to “Save Me”. He signed a record deal with BBR Music Group, releasing Ballads Of The Broken in 2021. In 2023, Jelly Roll released his sophomore Whitsitt Chapel record. On that project, he returned to “Save Me”. This time, he sang it as a duet with his good friend, Lainey Wilson.
Their collaboration earned the pair an ACM Award for Music Event of the Year, along with a Grammy nomination. It not only became his third consecutive No. 1 single, after “Son Of A Sinner” and “Need A Favor”, but it also gave the song an even bigger audience.
“Jelly has done a beautiful job of not only shedding light on his journey but giving fans a safe space within his music,” Wilson boasts. “Being able to reach beyond genres is a true testament to how many folks this song speaks to.”
The success of “Save Me” also gave Jelly Roll the courage to make massive changes in his own life as well.
“Seeing how the song impacted the lives of so many people almost immediately, it helped me find the strength to make the lifestyle changes I needed to make,” he explains. “‘Save Me’ truly changed my life in more ways than one.”
Photo by Marc Grimwade/WireImage
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