Jelly Roll Has Worked Hard To Create A Better Life After A Troubled Past
Jelly Roll has never tried to hide the fact that he has felonies on his record. In fact, the “Save Me” singer has been incredibly open about his troubled past.
Born Jason Bradley DeFord, Jelly Roll was arrested for the first time at the age of 14. In total, he’s been to jail about 40 times on various drug-related charges.
Two years after his first arrest, Jelly Roll was arrested for aggravated robbery and charged as an adult. He served over a year in prison and an additional seven years of probation.
At age 39, Jelly Roll is now one of country music’s biggest stars. He reached this level after putting in years of hard work toward bettering himself.
“I stopped searching for purpose and started searching to be useful,” he once said when speaking about how far he’s come since he was in prison. “And that’s when everything changed for me. I want to be a man of service, I want to help people, I want to lead people in the right direction. And I know that when this is all said and done, the jokes we make will come and go, the two things that will stand is how we make people feel and what music was made.“
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Jelly Roll Explains The Reason Why He Hasn’t Toured Outside Of The U.S. – It Has To Do With His Felonies
However, Jelly Roll’s past felonies have kept him from sharing his music with fans outside of the U.S. He told Jon Bon Jovi during a talk for Interview Magazine that he’s working on “the final pieces of some legal puzzles” to book his first international tour.
“It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies,” he said. “We’re working on that. I think it’s going to work in my favor.”
But Jelly Roll isn’t letting the situation bother him too much. He joked, “For the record, I’m a kid from Antioch, Tennessee, whose father never left the southeastern region until he was in his 50s.”
For now, Jelly Roll’s U.S. fans have plenty of opportunities to catch one of his shows. The singer is currently on his Beautifully Broken Tour until November 15.
Hopefully, one day in the near future, Jelly Roll’s international fans will get the chance to watch him sing songs like “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor” live!