Jelly Roll
Golden 1 Center, Sacramento
September 4, 2024
Photos by Paul Piazza
Jelly Roll brought a synthesis of rap, rock, and country music, along with his larger than life charisma to Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center recently. The sold-out show was a highly engaging evening that showcased the native Tennessean’s appeal to a rapidly broadening audience who enjoy his gripping narratives, transparent nature and magnetic personality.
The vocalist, who turns forty later this year, has had quite an interesting road to success.
Jelly Roll (aka Jason Bradley DeFord) hails from Antioch, Tennessee, which is located in the southeast corner of the Nashville area. After being convicted for aggravated robbery and drug possession, he found himself in a tough situation. He was incarcerated as a young man.
He decided to get his GED while locked up, but the aspiring rapper also gained inspiration from the likes of Three 6 Mafia and Eightball & MJG. He began releasing rap mix tapes in the early 2000s and selling them out of the trunk of his car after he was released. His music began gaining broader attention after he wrote a song called “Pop Another Pill” with Memphis rapper Lil Wyte.
At some point before 2020, Jelly Roll crossed over into the country pop realm and found it a good fit with his hybrid of rap, country, and rock. He participated in collaborations with Falling in Reverse, Eminem, and Post Malone and these rapidly increased his visibility.
He began to chart on country and rock charts and soon achieved the status of being Number 1 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists charts for a record 26 weeks straight. He also did collaborations with rising country female superstars Lainey Wilson and Jessie Murph, and those have become the biggest hits he has appeared on.
In 2023, he won New Artist of the Year at the 57th Annual Country Music Awards. But perhaps what makes him unique in the genre, is that his subject matter and persona are a bit different from a large section of the male artists in country music today. He’s not necessarily your conventional new country artist.
While many of the male artists in that realm seem to focus on easily digestible good times and some have even veered a bit into jingoism, Jelly Roll tackles more challenging subject matter. He has songs that delve into mental health issues, anxiety, addiction, and depression. He shares this with the audience in a manner that sounds as if delivered from the pulpit, but isn’t overly preachy. He steers clear of politics; however he did express frustration at one point during the show about the fact that weed is not legal in Tennessee.
Early on at the Golden 1 show, Jelly Roll introduced Roosevelt Collier, a master on the pedal steel guitar, as a member of his band. Collier, who grew up in the Sacred Steel tradition of the House of God Church, is widely known for performing as an artist at large with the likes of The Allman Brothers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Los Lobos, among many others. He recently was in the world music group Bokante, led by Snarky Puppy leader Michael League. Following that, he released his first record with his own “Jimi Hendrix Experience” style trio. Having an artist of this caliber onstage said a lot about the musical quality of the group.
Later in the show, Jelly Roll was joined by Papa Roach vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, who lives in Sacramento. Shaddix and Jelly Roll’s band rocked the arena with a version of Papa Roach’s “Last Resort” that spiked the energy in the room. Moments like this were the strengths of this show and also showed off the versatility of the band.
Opening the show was Warren Zeiders, who brought a rockin’ band and some good energy. The 24-year old singer/songwriter played lacrosse in college in Maryland while posting Tik-Tok videos of covers and originals he was recording. One of his original songs, “Ride the Lightning,” gained over 200 million views. He was definitely onto something and eventually received a recording contract with Warner Brothers.
Alexandra Kay, who was also an opener, releases music on her own eponymous independent label. She has also garnered legions of views in the millions on YouTube and listeners on Spotify.
As Jelly Roll continues with this massive tour and a growing legion of fans, it will be interesting to see where his path will take him as the challenges of success continue to grow with him. He is apparently an avid golfer in his spare time and it would be interesting to see if he will continue to pen songs that are about the bogies, shanks, missed putts, and mulligans in life while embracing the country club lifestyle with the rewards of the music business. So far, he is hitting his drives onto the fairway in that department.
