Jelly Roll: There’s ‘No Excuse’ For His Drug-Dealing Past

Jelly Roll did a new interview with The New York Times and admitted that to get started in the Nashville music business, he needed money, and selling drugs was the way he earned it.

Jelly said, "I want to be open about it — I thought it was my only choice. I lived in a decently middle-class neighborhood, but I didn't know one person on my street with a career. Everybody did drugs."

He added, "I just was like, I know it's going to take money to get out of here. And the most obvious way to make money was what was happening in the neighborhood. And it's no excuse."

Jelly also told The Times that he has not changed after his recent GRAMMY nominations. He said he is still "me" and that whatever's actually happening in his life is the music he's putting out. Jelly said he called his mother when he learned of his GRAMMY nominations. He noted that he was "getting to call a woman I've called from jail" to tell her about the GRAMMYS. He said that was "the craziest call" you can make.

Jelly talked about the importance of therapy in a recent interview on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Jelly described himself as an "old-school Southern man." He noted that his relationship with God and faith are also key to his evolution.

Jelly added that he believes in "God and therapy." He said he is "extremely open-minded" in his "old age." Jelly offered, "I quit searching to be happy, and I started searching to be useful." That's when everything changed for him, and he strives to "be a man of service" and to help people.

In the same interview, Jelly also talked about his close family. He said, "I want to anchor myself in family. I think it's the root of everything we do. We're a little tribe, and they're my best friends." He said his "favorite human on Earth" is his wife, adding how much he loves his daughter and even the family dogs.

Jelly Roll has become a country music sensation, topping the country charts, winning his first CMA award, and being nominated for a couple of GRAMMY Awards, one in the all-genre New Artist category and the other in the Best Country Duo/Group for his collaboration "Save Me" with Lainey Wilson.

Everyone, including his fellow country stars, is talking about him. Luke Bryan told us his thoughts on Jelly when we interviewed him recently. He said, "Jelly Roll and I have been at some events together. We hung out at a backstage festival a month and a half ago briefly. I think what Jelly Roll embodies and represents is something really, really special. When I'm around him, the way he holds himself. You are just drawn to him. He's such a star in that role."

Bryan added, "Every time I'm around the guy, he's just so intriguing and interesting. I think his form of country music speaks to a potentially forgotten box of people in country music, and he's able to really speak to that crowd."

He continued, "What makes him special is, as a fan, you get to see into his world, which is a world of a lot of people, and I think that's what you have to do to rise where he has risen. To speak to people and tell your story honestly. He tells his story the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I think that's what people love about him. You know, life's journey is not all squeaky, clean, and beautiful, with no bumps in the road. I think he lets a lot of people not feel alone."

It's been a whirlwind of a year for the native Nashvillian. Jelly took fan questions on his Insta Stories not long ago and touched on several subjects, including his mental health, after wrapping his headlining "Backroad Baptism Tour" and why he is going without his phone through the end of the year.

When a fan asked about his mental health, Jelly replied, "This is probably too honest, but exhausted and unstable. Definitely when I get through the holidays, and I've got a lot of stuff to do between now and the holidays, but when I get through the holidays, I really need to take some personal time."

Jelly Roll talked about the importance of therapy in a recent interview on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Jelly described himself as an "old-school Southern man." He noted that his relationship with God and faith are also key parts of his evolution.

Jelly added that he believes in "God and therapy." He said he is "extremely open-minded" in his "old age." Jelly offered, "I quit searching to be happy, and I started searching to be useful." That's when everything changed for him, and he strives to "be a man of service" and to help people.

We all know his country hit songs like "Son of A Sinner," "Need A Favor," and the duet remix of his song "Save Me" with Lainey Wilson. As we continued celebrating this unique and gracious artist, we thought we would get familiar with some of his songs before he made such a significant mark in country music.

This hard rock song was released two years ago from his Ballads of the Broken album. That album is the first major-label album by Jelly Roll. "Dead Man Walking," released as a single, reached number one on the US Mainstream Rock chart. The album also included "Son of a Sinner," his first country chart-topper.

See that video here.

This song comes from his 2015 album, Therapeutic Music 5. The song talks about smoking weed and being in jail. In the song, Jelly does a lot of rapping along with singing the chorus, which includes the lyrics, "I hope that Heaven has a smoking section/ I hope that Heaven has a smoking section/ When it's said and done and we're all gone/ I hope they got a place that we can blow / I hope that Heaven has a smoking section." Jelly's mom appears in the music video.

This song came off of Jelly's 2017 album, "Addiction Kills." The music video for the song has over 53 million views and features his wife, Bunnie Xo. The couple were married in 2016. The song and video include a lot of swear words, sexual situations, and guns.

See that video here.

This song also comes from his album, Addiction Kills. The music video for the song starts with Jelly in a chair getting his hair cut and shaved. Much of the music video was filmed in Sally's Famous Kitchen in Jelly's home neighborhood, a suburb of Nashville: Antioch.

See that video here.