It’s ironic that the song that saved Jelly Roll’s music career is called “Save Me.”
The ballad, steeped in despair, is getting a second life on Jelly Roll’s new album, “Whitsitt Chapel,” as a duet with Lainey Wilson. The man born Jason DeFord debuted a stark acoustic version on his 2020 independently released album, “Self Medicated.”
“I had built a pretty good career. Keep in mind I had a billion views on my YouTube show,” Jelly Roll, 38, said in a mid-July phone interview. But “I was missing that one song that made people go, ‘Oh, OK, this guy can do it all.’ ”
Jelly Roll, an award-winning country star and rapper, is bringing his Backroad Baptism Tour to Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach Saturday.
“Save Me” got him signed to BMG Nashville, but it wasn’t the only song that put him on the radar of country and rock audiences.
“Dead Man Walking,” a robust rocker from his 2021 album, “Ballads of the Broken,” topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. “Son of a Sinner,” a rootsy acoustic ballad from the album, topped the magazine’s Country Airplay chart and spent a record 28 weeks atop the Emerging Artists chart, which tracks developing artists across all genres.
“Whitsitt Chapel” now has him headlining outdoor amphitheaters.
“Knowing we have a chance to touch so many people, we’ve spared no expense,” he said. “Our goal is to kind of bring a mixture of a hip-hop show, a rock show, a country show and a little bit of a backroad tent revival.”
It’s quite a turn of fortune for the Nashville native who did drugs and spent parts of his teens and 20s in jail for offenses ranging from robbery to drug dealing. It was while in jail that he learned he had become a father. He wanted to make something of himself. Having made mixtapes in his teens, he decided music was his ticket.
Around 2009, Jelly Roll began releasing indie albums, mixtapes and singles. His early music was predominantly rap and hip-hop, but he soon broadened his sound. “Ballads of the Broken” spans country, rock, pop and hip-hop. “Whitsitt Chapel” offers a similar cross-genre appeal as it touches on country (“Save Me,” “Nail Me” and “Church”), muscular rock (“Halfway to Hell” and “The Lost”), hip-hop (“Unlive”) and songs that blend those styles (“Need A Favor,” which is climbing country charts) with raw and emotional lyrics that touch on his struggles and hint at his redemption.
It took some time to find the direction of the album, and he set aside many songs after he realized that only two – “Church” and “Hungover in a Church Pew” — were calling to him.
“I started thinking how God had kind of brought me to these two songs out of 70, the two I kept thinking of. And I was like ‘That’s it. I’m going to write an album called ‘Going to Church.’”
Producer Zach Crowell asked Jelly Roll the name of the church he went to. Jelly Roll had been baptized as a teen at Whitsitt Chapel. Crowell said anyone could have an album called “Going to Church” but only one person in town could have one called “Whitsitt Chapel.”
“Me and Zach Crowell scratched everything but those two songs and started from there.”
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If you go
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater, 3550 Cellar Door Way, Virginia Beach
Tickets: Start at $60
Details: 800-653-8000, livenation.com
Source: pilotonline.com