Giving back to his community.
Since becoming a massive superstar, Jelly Roll has always done his best to never forget where he came from and give back as much as he can. And a big part of that is supporting youth in juvenile detention facilities – including the one that he was locked up in himself.
After first entering the juvenile system at the age of 14, he spent his late teenage years and his early 20s in and out of jail before discovering music and turning his life around, a story that’s led him to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, a CMA Award for Best New Artist, and two Grammy nominations.
And after discovering the impact that music can have on someone’s life, he’s doing his best to help give others who are locked up the same opportunity to turn things around that he had.
Back in 2022, Jelly Roll performed a sold-out show at his hometown Bridgestone Arena, and donated all of the proceeds from the show to the Youth Impact Outreach organization, where it would go to help kids who were locked up in the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center.
And part of that money went to fund a music studio in the same facility that Jelly Roll himself was locked up in when he was younger.
According to ET, Jelly Roll recently performed at an opening event for the new studio, alongside his friend and frequent collaborator ERNEST and several others in the music community who will be helping out with the new program.
“This collaboration, featuring music luminaries Jeffrey Steele and ERNEST, alongside 35 pro/hit songwriters who helped kick off the program launch, embodies the belief in music’s role in personal growth and redemption, showcasing the journey from juvenile detention to success.”
In fact, Jelly Roll even recently missed an awards show because he was busy working with juveniles in the facility:
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there. Here’s the truth: I’m actually standing in the juvenile courthouse right now, I just walked out of the juvenile facility. We partnered with the Beat of Life to bring a music program to the kids.
This has been on my calendar for a long time. I promised these kids I was coming. I know whenever I was a kid in here I got let down a lot. I didn’t want to be one of the people letting these kids down. I had to honor my word.
I hate I wasn’t there, but don’t take me not being there as a sign of anything other than love and respect and me trying to do better for my community, baby.
Anyways, these kids wrote some big songs today, man. We’re going to work something out where y’all can start hearing what we’re working on in this juvenile, but the Jelly studio is running.”
And he also spoke with ET about what it means to him to be able to give back to his community:
“There’s no amount of celebrity or money that will ever mean more than the lady I just saw in the parking lot that’s from Antioch, Tennessee, and asking if she takes a picture and just told me her brief piece of her story and what she’s overcome in life and how I inspired that.
You could throw billions of dollars at me, it’ll never have the effect that I get, that feeling, when fans tell me the music helped them.”
It’s great to see Jelly spending time with juveniles who find themselves in the same place he was not that long ago.
Before I decided to make a career change, I actually started out as a public defender, and many of my clients were juveniles. I’ve visited kids in the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, and I know the stories of the lives that some of these kids are forced to deal with.
These are kids who often come from broken homes with no direction and no role model, and definitely not anybody who’s genuinely had their best interests at heart. So for someone like Jelly Roll to not only give his money to open a music studio but also his time to spend with them when they desperately need a good influence in their life is something that’s going to have an immeasurable impact on these kids.
Regardless of how you feel about his music, Jelly Roll is an artist who’s going to have a positive impact on the world for generations to come.
You love to see it.
