Before becoming a country music star, Jelly Roll served time in jail on various charges. As you can imagine, it’s not a fun or good time, and it’s easy to get in even more trouble.
In a new interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jelly Roll has revealed that he used this time to write songs.
Jelly Roll Wrote Songs In Prison
“A little bit of both,” Jelly Roll said when asked if he started writing music as a child or in jail. “I was always writing songs to kind of like connect with my mother because she loved music. But in jail is when I really started – I had a lot of time.”
“I was like maybe I should invest this time in something positive, and I wrote a bunch of songs,” he added.
Since Jelly Roll didn’t have access to any instruments behind bars, he made music using a table. In his new interview, he demonstrated this by singing freestyle while he used a desk to create his beat.
Jelly Roll Turns His Life Around
Jelly Roll went on to talk about the moment that changed his “entire life” and led him to turn everything around.
“I was incarcerated as a juvenile for some horrible decisions and I ended up in kind of that rotating door of the system for like a decade,” he said. “I had a daughter, and it changed my entire life, man. It was almost like the Damascus Road experience where Saul turned to Paul for me.”
“I was incarcerated, and they knocked on my door and told me she was born. And I just wept. It’s the first time I’d cried, and I can’t quit crying now,” he added with a laugh. “Now I cry if I just see a squirrel in the street. I’m like, ‘The little squirrel!’ Spent 30 years not crying, and now I can’t stop.”
Check out Jelly Roll’s interview:
Jelly Roll Has No Regrets
Jelly Roll has long been open about his criminal history. Though he made some serious mistakes, he has no regrets because it all led him to become the person he is now.
“I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it wasn’t for what I went through. I think it empowered me,” Jelly Roll told Fox News last year. He added that “it gave me my voice. It taught me a lot about overcoming. It taught me a lot about changing and the ability to change.”
“I was a horrible human for decades, and to just be able to turn that around and give a message in the music and help people … and just try to give back as much as I can in every way I can is very indicative of where I came from and how important it is to me to always reach back,” he continued.
Jelly Roll Still Talks To His Inmate Friends
Jelly Roll also hasn’t lost touch with people from his past. In his latest interview, he revealed that he still takes collect calls from inmates.
“I still got so many friends from my old neighborhood Antioch, Tennessee. I still collect calls from jail all the time,” he stated. “They got iPads in there now. God, they are spoiled.”
Jelly Roll then sent a message directly to his inmate friends, saying, “They are watching this, by the way. This is basic cable, I love y’all!”
We applaud Jelly Roll for never letting fame go to his head and for continuing to use his story to inspire others. If only there were more celebrities out there like him!
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