Country Artist Jelly Roll Plans to Spend More Time with Family in 2024
By Movieguide® Contributor
After Jelly Roll’s busy year with two Grammy nominations and winning three CMT awards, the rapper/singer plans to spend time catching up with family and giving back to his community.
“One of the costs of having a stellar year was sacrificing a little bit of personal time with the family, and I’m just spread so thin,” Jelly Roll said on Audacy’s “Katie & Company’s Power Hour” podcast. “I want to make sure that I can get back to getting in the bunker with them.”
Jelly Roll, born Jason DeFord, has been open about his past struggle with drug addiction and how the birth of his daughter Bailee, 15, in 2008, was a turning point in his life. DeFord was serving time in prison for drug dealing when he heard about her birth.
“A guard knocks on my cell door midafternoon during lockdown. He goes, ‘You had a kid today,’” DeFord told BILLBOARD. “I’ve never had nothing in life that urged me in the moment to know that I had to do something different. I have to figure this out right now.”
The “Save Me” singer and current wife Bunnie XO were granted full custody of Bailee due to her mom Felicia’s struggle with drug addiction. DeFord also has a son, Noah Buddy, 7, from a previous relationship, whom he keeps out of the limelight for the sake of the privacy of his son and his mother, Melisa, who has custody of Noah.
“With Bailee, I’m the full-time parent, I’m the judge, the jury and the executioner, when it comes to decisions with her,” Jelly Roll said. “I try not to get in the way of what she [Melisa] is building over there, and I never want to step on her toes, with what she’s doing with him, that I want to just respect that boundary.”
Movieguide® previously reported on his win at the CMAs and the impact family has had on him:
I’m very anchored in my family,” he expressed. “Being a father is so important to me. The single most impactful event of my entire life was having my daughter. It changed everything.”
Fox News reported that he compares her birth to “the Christian scripture of when Saul turned into Paul on the Damascus Road. It was kind of that moment for me.”
Jelly Roll admits he isn’t perfect, but just like the rest of us, he is a work in progress.
“I’m a man that’s figuring it out,” he explained. “A man that comes from a place nobody figured it out.”
“ I’ve made a lot of peace with my past. I mean, it still haunts me like the ghosts I know, but I tell you what, I don’t think about doing no drugs today,” he continued. “As far as today goes, I don’t know about tomorrow, but I can tell you, today, right now, I’m happy.”
Jelly Roll recently won the New Artist of the Year award at the 2023 Country Music Awards. In his acceptance speech, he encouraged fans to keep fighting despite the hardships.
“I got a thousand people to thank, but most importantly, my Lord and my wife,” Jelly Roll began.
In addition to spending quality time with family and working on follow-up music to his hit album “Whittsitt Chapel,” the Nashville native shared he wants to focus on serving others.
Jelly Roll has visited different rehabilitation and juvenile detention centers, playing music and serving meals. Last year, he partnered with Walmart, Hasboro and other brands for a toy drive in Nashville.
“The fact that just me showing up places can make people happy is such a gift, and I feel like if God gave me that gift, I should show up,” he said.
He shared a quote that gave him a new perspective on purpose, a driving force behind his philanthropy.
“‘It is mighty narcissistic of us to think the purpose of life is to be happy. The purpose of life is to be useful.’” DeFord recalled. “And when I heard that it really really resonated with me and gave me a lot of perspective on what I was seeking, I just want to be a man of service more than anything.”
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