What a story Jelly Roll continues to be. Overcoming substance abuse and legal troubles to explode into a country music superstar is quite the life arc for anyone, but he’s not letting any of it go to his head.
You have to admire Jelly Roll for always keeping in touch with his roots and not forgetting where he came from despite all the newfound fame and success he’s enjoyed of late. He’s also fully aware that what he’s achieved wouldn’t be possible without such widespread support and all his fans, so having just accomplished another meaningful milestone, he made a point to share more of his story and thank everyone for making his wildest dreams come true.
With how busy he’s been on his current Beautifully Broken tour, Jelly Roll didn’t have time to visit a plot of land spanning over 500 acres since he and his wife closed on it, until an off day presented itself between shows in St. Louis and Friday’s gig in Knoxville.
Buying land is a historically sound investment if you do it right, but there were more layers that motivated Jelly Roll’s massive purchase, which he shared with his many social media followers in a heartfelt video. He had to stop and start multiple times after being overcome with emotions.
Jelly spoke about his father and uncle being “tight as a squirrel’s butt” yet radically different in how they approached their lives. One notable contrast: Whereas Jelly Roll lived in a house in Antioch, Tennessee, his uncle had a farm that he still owns. Jelly Roll’s visits to the farm, which he referred to as a “safe place” for his whole family, made a lasting impression to say the least.
“I’ll never forget that farm, because when I was a kid, my daddy took me there. I drove my first four-wheeler, shot my first gun. It was just kind of all that core, traditional Southern values I gained there. […] I’ll never forget, we left there when I was probably 12 years old, and I talked to my father about it. Said how come we never got a farm? He said son, that’s probably one of the mistakes I regret the most, is that I didn’t buy dirt. He said they’re never going to make no more of it, and if you don’t listen to no advice from me, buy dirt. Go get you some land.
Y’all know the story. My father passed away, and we were really close. Anyways, today I had an off day between St. Louis and Knoxville, and I came home for the first time in a long time. […] My wife and I, we purchased over 500 acres, and we closed on it while we were gone. And I have not been able to come to this land since we owned it, y’all. This is my first time standing on this property as the owner of it.”
Quite the moment of pride. Jelly Roll was able to deploy his late father’s biggest piece of advice, and take a big step toward building a great future for his own family for generations. But as mentioned before, this went above and beyond Jelly Roll’s family, and extended out to those who’ve been moved by his music and supported him in his country music career.
“I came here today to pray over it. I came here today to vision cast in it. I came here today to just walk barefooted in it, and most important, I came here today to pull this phone out of my pocket, look you in the eyes and thank you, man. I never would have dreamed that this could have been anything about my story.
[…] Thank you all for the success of Beautifully Broken. Thank you all for just changing my life, man. Generational curses were broken because of y’all. I’m standing on it. I am standing here breaking a generational curse right now, and I hope that inspires one of y’all to do the same thing. I love y’all.”
All of this coincides with his new album’s release, which Jelly Roll refers to in the video, titled Beautifully Broken. Two weeks out from its launch, the epic new LP is No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The physical version of the album featured 14 tracks, but the digital edition contains a total of 22 songs, while the deluxe goes all the way to 28 tracks. Quite the prolific output for an artist who’d already cut nine studio albums before this one.
I get that there might be a certain degree of Jelly Roll fatigue these days, but really you can’t say enough about how the man has done a whole 180 with his life. He’s obviously put himself through the wringer and survived through a lot to get to where he is today. His story provides a beacon of hope for people out there who are struggling. That sort of redemptive arc and silver lining outlook is only amplified by the music he puts out, too. There’s a raw intensity and unabashed vulnerability Jelly Roll expresses in his creativity that’s hard to find in any art form, much less other genres of music.
“Past Yesterday” featuring Skylar Grey is one of the standout songs from Beautifully Broken‘s deluxe edition, and it was inspired by Jelly Roll’s wife, Bunnie XO, and her own life struggles. It thematically ties into a lot of the issues Jelly Roll has had throughout his life, and how he’s managed to overcome them and cling to a little bit of hope even in hopeless situations. All that has culminated in stunning musical success, and afforded him the chance to honor his family with over 500 acres of land. Pretty awesome to see him stay so grounded and seemingly down to Earth through it all.