WEBVTT - Music Saved Me | Jelly Roll 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:03.680 Music Saved Me. Musicians on Call is a charity that 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:07.720 is perfectly aligned with the mission of this podcast, delivering 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:11.600 the healing power of music since nineteen ninety nine. Why 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.680 not become a volunteer or a supporter by going to 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:16.520 Musicians on Call dot ors. 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:17.959 I believe music's therapeutic. 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.040 I've always said it, and what I call what I 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:24.560 do is therapeutic music. And I think music is probably 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:26.680 the closest thing to therapy I got until I was 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.120 in my thirties. It was the closest thing to a 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:31.880 healing thing I could do in music I thought was 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:33.320 meant to I always say it this way. 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:35.639 Some music's meant to be heard and some music's meant 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:36.160 to be felt. 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.479 And when I was young, I got hyper focused on 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.640 the feeling of music and how music made people feel, 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.879 how constant president always was in our lives. 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:50.200 This podcast is called Music Saved Me, and on each episode, 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.720 we'll look at a musician, will delve into their story 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:58.880 their deep connection to music. We'll talk with their fans. Everyday, 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.760 people with their own story to tell about how music 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.759 has saved them in challenging times. I'm Lynn Hoffman, your 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.119 host for the Music Saved Me podcast. Hey, we are 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.560 so lucky to have one of music's fastest rising stars 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:17.080 on Music Saved Me. His music defies categorization, running the 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.399 gambit from rap to rock, but his big break has 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.160 come from the country music world. He was born and 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:27.760 bred in Nashville, and his name is jelly Roll. Jelly Roll, 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.440 welcome to the show. Tell everyone who you are and 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:31.920 how music has saved you. 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:34.639 Well, you know, my name is Jelly Roll. I'm Jason 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:40.520 d FDA from Nashville, Tennessee. Music saved me two or 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.959 three times over. The first time I seen music have 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.600 a real impact at all was in my household. We 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.600 none of us played music, but everybody loved music, and 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.600 music was the language of the house. So every bedroom 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:59.320 would blare different music. And my mother, who struggled with 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:01.600 drugs and struggled with a lot of mental health stuff, 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.360 she didn't leave her room very much, but when she would, 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.040 she would come down to the kitchen and she would 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.440 play records, and the whole house would just flock to 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.360 the kitchen, all six seven of us, you know, And 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:14.600 I just remember, that's the only time we've seen her 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.400 in a different light, you know, one of them, I 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:17.959 mean kind of one of the few times we've seen 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:19.040 her at all. 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:22.399 But I just remember how impactful the music. 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:24.440 Was and how much it meant back then, you know, 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.360 And I think that was the beginning of music starting 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:28.240 to save my life. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:32.959 Now, do you believe music has sort of supernatural healing powers, 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.440 you know, for mental, physical, or maybe even emotional problems. 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.120 I believe music is therapeutic. I've always said it, and 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.679 what I call what I do is therapeutic music. And 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:48.640 I think music is probably the closest thing to therapy 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.280 I got until I was in my thirties. It was 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.760 the closest thing to a healing thing I could do, 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:56.960 and music I thought was meant to I always say 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.000 it this way. Some music's meant to be heard and 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.200 some music's meant to be help. And when I was young, 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.400 I got hyper focused on the feeling of music and 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.240 how music made people feel, and how constant and president 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:10.840 it always was in our lives. 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.840 Okay, describe to me how it feels when you know 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.960 that your music is really impacting a fan. 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.640 I would think that I would hope. My mission statement 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:22.560 for my music is to hope that it helps in 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.160 some sort of way. That's how I got into music, right. 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.280 I wanted music to help people, the way it helped 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.400 my mother. I wanted to be a vessel of helping people, 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:32.600 the way I watch music help the people around me 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.440 so much, you know. And I just wanted to write 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:37.880 songs for the people that I feel like nobody write 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.400 songs for, you know. And I lived in a certain 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.760 culture drugs. There were a lot of drugs. There was 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.800 a lot of a lot of addiction, a lot of alcoholism, 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.200 a lot of poverty, a lot of real middle class 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.160 just kind of checked to check stuff. And I feel 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.960 like nobody was really writing songs for those people, My people, 0:03:59.200 --> 0:03:59.840 our people. 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.400 Right, I'm going to quote you now you've said, and 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.520 I quote, I make music for people, not money. Can 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:07.840 you please elaborate on that? 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:08.480 Yeah? 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.720 Well, the first, the biggest joke I make is if 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:11.840 I was making music for money. 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:13.440 I quit twenty years ago. You know. 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:15.920 Sure it didn't get any until it's two years ago, 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:20.279 so I had an innimate time to quit. To me, 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:24.039 music was purpose, And as long as my music's doing 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.720 something for somebody, I'll always make it. And even then 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.320 I'll probably still make it because my music's always done 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.440 something for me. My intention from day one was to 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.280 try to help people the way that music helped me. 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.640 That is such a beautiful sentiment. What is it about 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.360 music that gives people hope? Do you think? 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:46.800 I think music vocalizes what we often cannot and there's 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.599 also a thing where music makes us. 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:52.640 It's a comforting thing. It's a it's a moment of 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:54.839 not feeling alone. Right. 0:04:55.400 --> 0:05:00.000 Yeah, when Adelle said, they said time supposed to hear you, 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.479 but I ain't done much healing in the song Hello, 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:07.120 I still get goosebumps on my legs just saying that lyric. 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:10.520 I have goosebumps hearing you say that lyric. 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.680 You know, it's these moments of that you that music 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:16.520 just feels all over you. 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:18.640 Yeah, I mean I literally got goosebumps on. 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.600 My arm just thinking about lyrics. 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.919 It really is incredible. It's physical. The reaction. Now, this 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.400 is something really amazing. You've paid respects to families in 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.080 person who have family members who have passed away in 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:36.000 a tragic death. What is that experience like for you? 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:41.120 It's it's a it's a double edged sword. You know. 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:45.920 I'm very I'm an impath, so I feel I feel 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.920 the pain of people and that weighs on me at times, 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.240 but it's also a blessing because God put me in 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.480 a situation to bring a little bit of light to 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:58.680 really dark situations. And I feel like that's a great 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.120 responsibility to God giving me and I take it real 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:05.240 serious and I'll never complain. The joke I make about 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.720 the music business period is I'll never I got every 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.560 problem I ever prayed for, you know, And I love it. 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.680 So expand on this for me, How music fused with religion, 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.560 Why it's such a powerful combination. 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:24.679 Yeah, I think it's hopeful, right, absolutely, So I think 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.200 that one I think music me personally. 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.040 Music allows me an opportunity to speak about my faith 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:34.680 in a way that's more open and honest than I 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.280 probably could in a building that was labeled some sort 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:43.640 of a denominational thing. So I think that music has 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:46.000 a healing power all by itself. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.640 And when you let God in it, you know, it's undeniable. 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.560 Right when anytime you let the spirit get into the music, 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.120 and there's all there's There's a lot of people who 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.560 believe that, even in the Christian faith, that the Holy 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.559 Spirit was music driven, which is why in the early 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.480 days in Southern Baptist churches, the Holy Spirit would come 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:05.719 on when the music and the hands started clapping, you know, 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.200 that's when people would receive the spirit. 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.040 What do you feel that people really need to understand, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.000 you know, those of us who live in the real world, 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.400 about those who are serving time in prison. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:19.880 I think the biggest thing they need to understand is 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:23.520 that those people need help. I think that we get 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.880 so caught up on discipline and the idea of discipline 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.720 that we have somewhere along the way forgot the idea 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:36.320 of rehabilitation, you know, and these people in jail, they 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.360 need voices, they need encouragement, you know. I think that's 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:44.240 a reason, ironically, to go back to the Bible. Jesus's 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:48.480 commands were so simple. Love your neighbor, go visit people 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:53.040 in jail, feed the poor. Like even that far back 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.880 in time, there was an understanding of that people in 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:01.960 jail needed to be loved, you know what I mean. Yeah, 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.360 So I just try to carry that message to people 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.840 today is you know, go to the places people aren't. 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:12.200 You know, it's really easy to go to a function 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.400 and donate money, and that helps a lot, you know, 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.240 it does. But I would encourage people to go in 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.320 there and talk to some of these guys and make 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:19.920 a presence. 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.240 We live today in such a divided world. How can 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:28.920 music minimize that dividedness? Is that even a world? 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.679 I tell you this, man. Music brings everybody together. It 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.360 always has and it always will. Music is it's like dinner. 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:39.959 It's like a suffer table thing, right, It's what brings 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:40.840 everybody around. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:43.319 I have seen. 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:51.320 Hardcore conservatives and hardcore Democrats crying in each other's arms 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:56.040 at concerts. Wow, you know, it just just it's pains 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.760 and international language. And I think music speaks to pain 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.040 more than it does anything, at least my particular music. 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.560 And when you're going through something like that in life, 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.040 you start to realize how much that other shit don't matter, 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.600 you know, And it's just a real clear understanding. And 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.400 I think music brings that to a surface level with people, 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:16.760 and it goes back to the. 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:18.360 Common bond theory, you know what I mean. 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:22.000 It's a My brother's a big ut Valls fan, and 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:23.800 if you're a ut Valls fan, that's all he needs 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:25.920 to know about you to at least initially like you. 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:27.600 You know what I'm saying. You know what I mean? 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:29.839 You got a foot in the door just being a 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:31.360 Falls fan alone. 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:33.520 So it's like, I. 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.760 Think it's cool when you see cultures connect through music. 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.200 Like whenever I see a guy that I don't think 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.679 would be a dead head and he's a deadhead and it. 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.480 Just tickles me, pink, I love it, you know what. 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.880 I mean, Because I'm like really, and he's like, dude, 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.440 I went to the Chicago Dead Company show Da Da 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.480 Da last year, and you know, it's like. 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:53.280 It's awesome, man, music does it. 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:55.640 I think how many times we find those moments right 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:57.560 where you're just like, oh my god, I would have 0:09:57.679 --> 0:09:59.360 never guessed you were a Fish fan. 0:09:59.400 --> 0:09:59.960 That's so cool. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.000 Oh you know what I mean, never judge a book 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:06.040 by its cover. What would you say would be your 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.720 proudest accomplishment in music or what you're most proud of 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:12.160 that your music has done. 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:13.720 I think the thing I'm the most proud of is 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:18.800 believing that my music is helping people. Believing that the 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:24.600 music helps and the music can always be there to help. 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:26.640 I think that's something else I'm proud of is that 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:29.200 I'm proud that I was lucky enough to come in 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:33.319 the streaming era where the music will live there for infinity. 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:35.760 You know what I mean, and that I love that 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.200 I'm alive during the streaming era and I don't have 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.400 to go rebuy the Bob Seger and the Bullet Band 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:44.320 Silver Bullet Band album for the thirtieth time because I've 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.560 scratched the other twenty nine or lost them switching cars. 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.560 You know, I'm glad that I can just go listen 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.040 to Beautiful Loser whenever I want to. 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:54.640 You know that is so true. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.040 You can take it with you everywhere. Now, you don't 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:00.520 have to worry about anything. Let's hear from Jelly roles. 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:02.600 Fans certainly has a lot of them. 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.960 Jelly Rowl seems to be able to hit a lot 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:12.680 of different emotional places, and I think that he speaks 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:17.080 to the common person. Thankfully, he's as an artist has 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:21.360 really come forward and gone upward. But I think people 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:25.160 recognize that he puts his heart into it and he 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:29.520 says what he needs to say, and he's real. 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:30.920 He's genuine. 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.160 For me personally, I think it's a great collaboration of 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.760 a couple of different kinds of music and it can 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.640 reach like it touches different kinds of music that I've 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.160 liked through the years. Everything that he's been through holds 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:48.959 so many stigmas in the public eye, and opening up 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:53.280 in music is a great way for so many different 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.760 audiences and people to connect together and understand what he's 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:57.280 going through. 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.480 Now, you've got a lot of different music in your time. 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.960 Do you remember the first time you rapped? 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:04.640 Oh? 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:05.840 Absolutely. 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.800 My mother struggled with like mental health and addiction stuff, right, 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:12.560 and she'd come to the kitchen and the whole house 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:14.200 would come and we'd listen to music. And when I 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:18.200 realized that music was affecting her addiction, I was like, oh, 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:19.679 this makes mom happy. 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.160 I should go write music, right, So. 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:24.720 I went upstairs and I and I wrote a rap 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:26.200 because hip hop. 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.560 Was super influential in our culture, and. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.440 I was I went downstairs with my little sheet of paper, 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.240 and she had all of her friends at the kitchen table. 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:36.319 I called them the Golden girls, like six or seven, mother, 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:38.120 and they'd all come to the kitchen table together. They 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:42.320 just changed smoked cigarettes. And I came down. She turned 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.560 the record off and said what you got. I said, 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:46.280 listen to this, and I held my little sheet of 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.800 paper up and I was shaking the whole time, and 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:50.480 I rapped her a little rap and I was probably 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.000 twelve years old. Eleven years old, I don't like I 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.480 just remember that feeling of everybody cheering me on and 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:59.480 telling me to go write another one, and hindsight, they 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:00.480 were just trying to rid of me. 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:01.880 That's how we do kids. 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.839 Yeah, Greg, you're riding another one of those. 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.800 That is so cool. Thank you so much. This has 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:14.600 been just an amazing few minutes to spend with an 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:19.200 amazing artist and person. We have just heard the authentic 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:24.080 story of an incredible storyteller and someone who truly honors 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.040 the impact of music in all of our lives. Jelly 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:29.080 Roll is on a mission to spread the good words 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.200 of his music and make a real difference in the world, 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:34.880 and I think he's doing just that. I'm Lynn Hoffman 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.640 and thank you so much for listening to this episode 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:38.760 of Music Saved Me.