The Heartwarming Reason Jelly Roll Walked off Stage in the Middle of a Dan + Shay Performance

The 27th Annual K92.3 All-Star Jam in September 2022 featured a stacked lineup of country stars, from Dan + Shay to Niko Moon to Jelly Roll…that is until Jelly Roll walked off stage without a word as Dan + Shay began their last song of the night. Depending on where you were sitting that night, Jelly Roll’s exit might have seemed like an abrupt, quiet surprise.

However, anyone with a view into the wings knew exactly why the “Save Me” singer high-tailed it off stage.

Why Jelly Roll Walked Off Stage During Dan + Shay’s Performance

As the first notes of Dan + Shay’s final All-Star Jam song rang out in Orlando’s Addition Financial Arena, Jelly Roll quickly turned around and walked off stage without saying anything. While it might have seemed confusing at first, his reasoning couldn’t have been sweeter: he was rushing to meet his wife, Bunnie XO, who was waiting in the wings just out of the audience’s view.

Bunnie showed her perspective of the night in a heartwarming TikTok video, explaining that “Tequila,” the song Dan + Shay were performing, was an important song to her and Jelly Roll. “We split in 2018 and met in Colorado to talk and figure out if we were going to make things work,” she wrote in a video caption. “This song was our song for that entire reunion trip.”

“We ended up getting back together and being stronger than ever,” the text continued over footage of the now-happily married couple swaying and kissing as Dan + Shay sang to the attentive audience, who was singing along with the country duo. “This song til this day still makes us extremely emotional and happy. What an extremely surreal full circle moment for us as a couple.”

A Touching Full Circle Moment

Although they’ve become one of the most endearing couples in the country music industry, things weren’t always so easy for Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO. Both struggled with addiction as they forged their respective careers in music and brand building. However, the love and respect these artists have for one another is apparent.

In an April 2023 Instagram post, Bunnie described her husband as “a man that was told no every corner he turned only to hit ‘em with that Nashville shuck & come out on top every time. I always tell you you have a horseshoe stuck up your a**, but that isn’t it baby. This is sheer will to spread light, to move mountains, to touch broken souls with your voice, to break generational traumas & set examples for the future. You were sent here to destroy stereotypes & blaze the trail for all the have nots.”

Jelly Roll has shared similar sentiments on his social media, too. Three months after Bunnie shared her tribute to her husband, Jelly Roll did the same for her, writing, “To watch what this woman has overcame and her passion and determination to be something better has inspired me from the moment I met her. She saved me in one of the darkest times of my life.”

Sweet online tributes are one thing, but seeing the love these two share backstage during Dan + Shay’s performance of “Tequila” is another, proving that true love does exist, and this lucky couple found it.

Photo by Daniel DeSlover/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock