This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. You can scroll the headlines all day and still feel empty. I'm Ben Higgins, and If You Can Hear Me is where culture meets the soul. Honest conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace, faith, and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers. Most are still figuring it out. And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. In 2018, the FBI took down a ring of spies working for China's Ministry of State Security, one of the most mysterious intelligence agencies in the world. The Sixth Bureau podcast is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Music saved me. I believe music is therapeutic. I've always said it, and what I call what I do is therapeutic music. And I think music is probably the closest thing to therapy I got until I was in my 30s. It was the closest thing to a healing thing I could do. And music, I thought, was meant to—I always say it this way. Some music's meant to be heard, and some music's meant to be felt. And when I was young, I got hyper-focused on the feeling of music and how music made people feel and how constant and present it always was in our lives. This podcast is called Music Saved Me. And on each episode, we'll look at a musician. We'll delve into their story, their deep connection to music. We'll talk with their fans, everyday people with their own story to tell about how music has saved them in challenging times. I'm Lynn Hoffman, your host for the Music Saved Me podcast. Today, we are so lucky to have one of music's fastest rising stars on Music Saved Me. His music defies categorization, running the gambit from rap to rock, but his big break has come from the country music world. He was born and bred in Nashville, and his name is Jelly Roll. Jelly Roll, welcome to the show. Tell everyone who you are and how music has saved you. Well, you know, my name is Jelly Roll. I'm Jason DeFord. I'm from Nashville, Tennessee. Music saved me two or three times over. The first time I've seen music have a real impact at all was in my household. None of us played music, but everybody loved music and music was the language of the house. So every bedroom would blare different music. And my mother, who struggled with drugs and struggled with a lot of mental health stuff, She didn't leave her room very much. But when she would, she would come down to the kitchen and she would play records. And the whole house would just flock to the kitchen, all six, seven of us, you know. And I just remember that's the only time we've seen her in a different light. You know, one of the kind of one of the few times we've seen her at all. But I just remember how impactful the music was and how much it meant back then, you know. And I think that was the beginning of music starting to save my life. Now, do you believe music has sort of supernatural healing powers, you know, for mental, physical, or maybe even emotional problems? I believe music is therapeutic. I've always said it, and what I call what I do is therapeutic music. And I think music is probably the closest thing to therapy I got until I was in my 30s It was the closest thing to a healing thing I could do Music, I always say it this way, some music is meant to be heard and some music is meant to be felt. And when I was young, I got hyper-focused on the feeling of music and how music made people feel and how constant and present it always was in our lives. Okay, describe to me how it feels when you know that your music is really impacting a fan. I would think that, I would hope, my mission statement for my music is to hope that it helps in some sort of way. That's how I got into music, right? I wanted music to help people the way it helped my mother. I wanted to be a vessel of helping people the way I watch music help the people around me so much, you know? And I just wanted to write songs for the people that I feel like nobody writes songs for, you know? and I lived in a certain culture. Drugs, there were a lot of drugs. There was a lot of addiction, a lot of alcoholism, a lot of poverty, a lot of real middle class, just kind of check to check stuff. And I feel like nobody was really writing songs for those people. My people, our people. All right, I'm going to quote you now. You've said, and I quote, I make music for people, not money. Can you please elaborate on that? Yeah, well, Well, the biggest joke I make is if I was making music for money, I quit 20 years ago. You know, I sure didn't get any until two years ago. So I had an intimate time to quit. To me, music was purpose. And as long as my music's doing something for somebody, I'll always make it. And even then, I'll probably still make it because my music's always done something for me. My intention from day one was to try to help people the way that music helped me. That is such a beautiful sentiment. What is it about music that gives people hope, do you think? I think music vocalizes what we often cannot. And there's also a thing where music makes us, it's a comforting thing. It's a moment of not feeling alone, right? Yeah. When Adele said, they said, time's supposed to heal you, but I ain't done much healing. And the song, Hello. I still get goosebumps on my legs just saying that lyric. I have goosebumps hearing you say that lyric. You know, it's these moments that music just feels all over you. I mean, I literally got goosebumps on my arm just thinking about lyrics. It really is incredible. It's physical, the reaction. Now, this is something really amazing. You've paid respects to families in person who have family members who have passed away in a tragic death. What is that experience like for you? it's um it's a it's a double-edged sword you know i'm very um i'm an empath so i feel i feel the pain of people and and that that weighs on me at times but it's also a blessing because god put me in a situation to bring a little bit of light to really dark situations and i feel like that's a great responsibility that god's given me and i take it real serious And I'll never complain. The joke I make about the music business, period, is I'll never I got every problem I ever prayed for, you know, and I love it. So expand on this for me, how music fused with religion, why it's such a powerful combination. Yeah I think it hopeful right Absolutely So I think that one I think music me personally music allows me an opportunity to speak about my faith in a way that more open and honest than I probably could in a building that was labeled some sort of a denominational thing. So I think that music has a healing power all by itself. And when you let God in it, you know, it's undeniable, right? When anytime you let the Spirit get into the music. And there's a lot of people who believe that even in the Christian faith that the Holy Spirit was music-driven, which is why in the early days in Southern Baptist churches, the Holy Spirit would come on when the music and the hands started clapping. You know, that's when people would receive the Spirit. What do you feel that people really need to understand, you know, those of us who live in the real world, about those who are serving time in prison. I think the biggest thing they need to understand is that those people need help. I think that we get so caught up on discipline and the idea of discipline that we have somewhere along the way forgot the idea of rehabilitation, you know, and these people in jail, they need voices. They need encouragement. You know, I think that's a reason, And ironically, to go back to the Bible, Jesus's commands were so simple. Love your neighbor. Go visit people in jail. Feed the poor. Like even that far back in time, there was an understanding of that people in jail needed to be loved. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I just try to carry that message to people today is, you know, go to the places people are. You know, it's real easy to go to a function and donate money, and that helps a lot. You know, it does. But I would encourage people to go in there and talk to some of these guys and make a presence. We live today in such a divided world. How can music minimize that dividedness? Is that even a word? I tell you this, man. Music brings everybody together. It always has and it always will. Music is it's like dinner. It's like a supper table thing, right? It's what brings everybody around. It's a I have seen hardcore conservatives and hardcore Democrats crying in each other's arms at concerts. Wow. You know, it just just it's a pain in international language. And I think music speaks to pain more than it does anything, at least my particular music. and when you're going through something like that in life you start to realize how much that other shit don't matter you know and it's just a real clear understanding and i think music brings that to a surface level with people and it goes back to the common bond theory you know what i mean it's uh my brother's a big ut vols fan and if you're a ut vols fan that's all he needs to know about you to at least initially like you you know what i'm saying you know what i mean you got a foot in the door just being a Vols fan alone. Totally get what you're saying. So it's like, I think it's cool when you see cultures connect through music. Like whenever I see a guy that I don't think would be a deadhead and he's a deadhead and it just tickles me pink. I love it. You know what I mean? Cause I'm like, really? And he's like, dude, I went to the Chicago Den Company show last year. And you know, it's like, it's awesome, man. Music does it. Think about how many times we find those moments, right? Where you're just like, oh my God, I would have never guessed you were a Phish fan. That so cool You know what I mean Never judge a book by its cover What would you say would be your proudest accomplishment in music Or what you most proud of that your music has done I think the thing I'm the most proud of is believing that my music is helping people. Believing that the music helps. And the music can always be there to help. I think that's something else I'm proud of is that I'm proud that I was lucky enough to come in the streaming era where the musical live there for infinity. You know what I mean? And that that I love that I'm alive during the streaming era and I don't have to go rebuy the Bob Seger and the Bullet Band, Silver Bullet Band album for the 30th time because I've scratched the other 29 or lost them switching cars. You know, I'm glad that I can just go listen to Beautiful Loser whenever I want to. That is so true. You can take it with you everywhere now. You don't have to worry about anything. Let's hear from Jelly Roll's fans. Certainly has a lot of them. Jelly Roll seems to be able to hit a lot of different emotional places. And I think that he speaks to the common person. Thankfully, he, as an artist, has really come forward and gone upward. But I think people recognize that he puts his heart into it and he says what he needs to say. And he's real. He's genuine. For me personally, I think it's a great collaboration of a couple of different kinds of music and it can reach like it touches different kinds of music that I've liked through the years. Everything that he's been through holds so many stigmas in the public eye and opening up in music is a great way for so many different audiences and people to connect together and understand what he's going through. Now, you've done a lot of different music in your time. Do you remember the first time you rapped? Oh, absolutely. My mother struggled with like mental health and addiction stuff, right? And she'd come to the kitchen and the whole house would come. We'd listen to music. And when I realized that music was affecting her addiction, I was like, oh, this makes mom happy. I should go write music. Right. So I went upstairs and I and I wrote a rap because hip hop was super influential in our culture. and um and i was i went downstairs for my little sheet of paper and she had all of her friends at the kitchen table i called them the golden girls like six or seven of them they'd all come to the kitchen table together they just chain smoked cigarettes and uh i came down she turned the record off and said what you got i said listen to this and i held my little sheet of paper up and i was shaking the whole time and i wrapped her a little wrap and i was probably 12 years old 11 years old. I don't like, I just remember that feeling of everybody cheering me on and telling me to go write another one. And in hindsight, they were just trying to get rid of me. That's how we do kids. Yeah, great. Go write another one of those. That is so cool. Thank you so much. This has been just an amazing few minutes to spend with an amazing artist and person. We have just heard the authentic story of an incredible storyteller and someone who truly honors the impact of music in all of our lives. Jelly Roll is on a mission to spread the good words of his music and make a real difference in the world. And I think he's doing just that. I'm Lynn Hoffman, and thank you so much for listening to this episode of Music Saved Me.
