JELLY Roll has become a major player in the country music scene, garnering multiple awards and accolades, including Best New Artist of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.
In January 2024, the Grammy nominee took a break from performing at venues across the US to talk politics in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.
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Why did Jelly Roll speak at Capitol Hill?
On Thursday, January 11, 2024, Jason “Jelly Roll” DeFord testified in front of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
The hearing, titled Stopping the Flow of Fentanyl: Public Awareness and Legislative Solutions, focused on a bill drafted by South Carolina’s Republican Senator Tim Scott.
Jelly Roll urged lawmakers to pass the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, a “sanctions and anti-money laundering bill” that targets “the China-Mexico illicit fentanyl supply chain.”
During the hearing, Jelly Roll shared his past struggles with drug addiction and offered insight into his history as a former drug dealer.
“I was a part of the problem,” he stated during his opening remarks.
“I am here now, standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution,” before adding, “I brought my community down. I hurt people.”
Jelly Roll was one of three witnesses to testify during the January 11 hearing.
“I was the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about, just like these drug dealers are doing right now when they’re mixing every drug on the market with fentanyl and they’re killing the people we love,” he said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 110,000 people died from a drug overdose in the US in 2022.
“I’ve attended more funerals than I care to share with y’all,” Jelly Roll said during the hearing.
“I could sit here and cry for days about the caskets I’ve carried of people I love dearly, deeply in my soul.”
“Good people, not just drug addicts. Uncles, friends, cousins, normal people,” he added.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that six out of 10 fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills now contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.
Though he is now sober, Jelly Roll also shared how addiction is still rampant in his life, opening up about his daughter’s mother.
“Every single day, I have to wonder if me and my wife, if today will be the day that I have to tell my daughter that her mother became a part of the national statistic,” he said.
While the bill was unanimously passed by the Senate Banking Committee in June 2023, Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry, who represents North Carolina, blocked the bill from being included in the National Defense Authorization Act in December 2023.
The future of the bill remains uncertain despite public health officials’ – and the general public’s – growing concerns over the illicit, often fatal drug.
“I suggest that we stand up and do more as fast as we possibly can,” Jelly Roll said in his closing remarks.
“I stand here as a regular member of society. I am a stupid songwriter, y’all, but I have firsthand witnessed this in a way most people have not.”
“I encourage y’all to not only pass this bill, but I encourage you to bring it up where it matters at the kitchen table,” he finished, before thanking the crowd of politicians, lawmakers, and lobbyists for their time.
Who is Jelly Roll?
Jason Bradley DeFord, known by his stage name Jelly Roll, was born on December 4, 1984, in Antioch, Tennessee.
Despite winning Best New Artist at the Country Music Association Awards in 2023 – and being nominated for the same award at the 2024 Grammy Awards – Jelly Roll began his music career back in 2003.
Before transitioning into a country-rock sound, Jelly Roll first tried to make it in the hip-hop and rap scene, inspired by artists like Three 6 Mafia.
His career was routinely interrupted by multiple arrests and even a few stints in prison, usually for drug charges.
When in prison, Jelly Roll managed to earn his GED at the age of 23.
He also traded his life behind bars for one of sobriety and fatherhood.
Jelly Roll has two children, a daughter born in 2008, and a son born in 2016, from previous relationships.
In August 2016, he married Alyssa “Bunnie XO” DeFord, a podcaster, influencer, and entrepreneur.
Bunnie XO is also a budding social media star, with over 1.3 million followers on Instagram and over 4 million followers on TikTok.
On November 9, 2021, Jelly Roll made his Grand Ole Opry debut in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jelly Roll broke through the mainstream in 2022 with the release of his singles, Need A Favor and Son Of A Sinner.
On June 2, 2023, he released his seventh solo studio album, Whitsitt Chapel.
His first country album featured Lainey Wilson, Brantley Gilbert, and Yelawolf, among other artists.
“This album is about growth and gratitude happening in my life,” Jelly Roll told American Songwriter.
“I wanted to create a project that felt hopeful. I believe the worst feeling a person can have is feeling hopeless or worthless,” he added.
Jelly Roll described the album’s sound as “therapeutic music,” adding that it was “real music for real people with real problems.”
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What other causes does Jelly Roll advocate for?
Jelly Roll is a strong advocate for combatting addiction, believing it to be a mental health issue.
He regularly speaks out on gaining treatment, resources, and access to better care for those struggling with addiction.
While touring nationwide, Jelly Roll also performs charity shows, free of charge, at local prisons, jails, and rehabilitation centers.
He also pledged $1 per ticket sold on his 2023 Backroad Baptism tour, donating nearly $600,000 to at-risk and incarcerated youth.
According to American Songwriter, Jelly Roll has also donated over $250,000 to “numerous social programs in the Nashville area that advocate and serve underprivileged and incarcerated youth.”
Despite his criminal past, which prohibits him from participating in many non-profit organizations under Tennessee law, Jelly Roll has also partnered with charitable organizations when able.
He’s worked with Impact Youth Outreach to provide an undisclosed sum to the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, the same center he was placed in as a teenager.
Jelly Roll is also the owner of a food truck, Rolling With Jelly, which only employs former prisoners who couldn’t find work because of their felony convictions.
