When Jelly Roll headlines a tour, he’s a gracious host. He makes sure to take care of the opening acts he invites on the road with him, which includes gifts.

Canadian country artist Josh Ross was a recent guest on Taste of Country Nights and talked about his time sharing a stage with Jelly Roll on the Beautifully Broken Great Northern Tour, which was in March.

Ross left with more than just memories.

“He [Jelly] brought me and the band into his green room and he got everyone a Nintendo Switch. Each one of us, which to me was like the coolest thing,” he reveals.

“He was like, ‘I know you guys travel a lot and you play tons of shows, this is what saves me when I’m in the airport waiting for four hours or I get a delay. You guys can pair them all together.’”

This tracks with what other artists have said about Jelly Roll: He is kind, thoughtful and caring, and he wants to make sure that everyone is treated with the utmost respect.

“It was cool that he did that for everybody and not just a gift for me,” Ross continues. “He thought of the band and the guys that help make my show happen, really cool.”

It has become a tradition in country music for a tour headliner to get gifts for their openers as a way of saying thanks at the end of a tour.

In the past, we have heard that Morgan Wallen bought his opener Lauren Watkins a gun, as did Hardy for Lainey Wilson. Jason Aldean purchased his opener, Corey Kent, a Rolex at the end of his tour.

Jelly Roll: 25 Stunning Facts About the ‘Save Me’ Singer

Jelly Roll is country music’s most fascinating character. His life has taken dozens of wild twists and turns, and he’s been honest about all of it. Here are 25 facts about the “Save Me” singer and his family.

Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes

Picture of Jelly Roll with a humorous graduation cap added

Matt Winkelmeyer, Getty Images

Jelly Roll is a college graduate

Jelly Roll always talked about dropping out of school before he could legally drive, so when he told Bobby Bones that not only did he get his GED in jail, he got an associates degree afterward, it was shocking. The singer has an associates in sociology from Volunteer State University. Go Pioneers!

Pictures of Jelly Roll and his mother

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Jelly Roll’s nickname is funny, but a little sad

Jelly Roll’s real name is Jason DeFord, but when he was young, his mother nicknamed him “Jelly Roll” because he was a “pudgy kid.” Sadly, he shares that all of his mental health struggles stem from obesity, making the name Jelly Roll a kind of double-edged sword.

Jelly Roll says weed kept him sober

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Jelly Roll says weed kept him sober

Talking to Taste of Country in May of 2024, Jelly Roll said smoking marijuana has kept him sober: “I think a world without weed, Jelly Roll’s drinking codeine and popping Xanax and snorting cocaine again, but a world with weed, I’ll be alright.”

Picture of Jelly Roll, with golf attire added

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Jelly Roll golfs!

It’s not clear how sharp Jelly Roll is on the golf course, but he’s confirmed that he plays.

Picture of Jelly Roll and the Rock

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The Rock is a fan

When Jelly Roll dropped the Whitsitt Chapel album, he got a great review from the Rock, who shared that, “Many years ago, before (Jelly Roll) blew up, his music helped me get through a rough patch in my life. I’ll never forget it.”

Jelly Roll says Dwayne Johnson reached out to him in like 2017, and they’re legit friends. Like, he has his phone number and everything!

Cover of Jelly Rolls Whiskey, Weed & Waffle House album

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Waffle House is not a fan of Jelly Roll

Around 2013, Jelly Roll was sued by Waffle House and had to pay $10,000 to settle. They had a case, legally speaking — here is the cover of his free mixtape called Whiskey Weed and Waffle House, later changed to Whiskey Weed and Women. They took exception to how he used the logo, to which Jelly Roll basically said, have you ever been in a late-night Waffle House?

Picture of Jelly Roll with his son, Noah

Instagram/JellyRoll615

Jelly Roll has a son, too

Jelly Roll’s son’s name is Noah, and he lives with his mom, but Jelly is a part of his life. He shared that on vacations, they shoot pictures around him to respect his mother’s request, but from time to time she’s given the go-ahead to post photos or video. Bunnie Xo is often is the source for these.

Jelly Roll has tried acting

Brian Douglas/Paramount+

Jelly Roll has tried acting

During Season 2, Ep. 2 of Tulsa King, Jelly Roll makes his acting debut. He plays himself, and in the episode, he’s just traveling through Tulsa to play an arena.

Somehow he hears about a party going down at Bhodi’s marijuana dispensary and joins in, soon singing a song for Dwight, Mitch and the gang.

Picture of Jelly Roll after an arrest

Jelly Roll Mug Shot

Why did Jelly Roll go to jail?

Jelly Roll says he went to jail 40 times, mostly for drug-related crimes or petty robbery. At 16 he was slapped with strong-armed robbery and charged as an adult, which meant serious jail time. As he tells this story, one understands why he feels his life could have turned out differently if the judge would have showed leniency. In 2022 and 2023, he’s turned that regret into action by helping young men and women in his same position.

Picture of Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson

Theo Wargo, Getty Images

Jelly Roll’s “Save Me” was born from darkness

Jelly Roll dropped “Save Me” and didn’t spend a dollar on promotion. The song spread virally, and by 2021 he was fielding offers from every record label in town.

Lainey Wilson came to the radio single late, but the roots of this song go back to the pandemic. “I mean, we were spraying boxes with Lysol,” he told Apple Music. His father had died a year earlier and he was grieving that, plus being driven out of his mind with boredom. It was born from a very dark space and is still very difficult to sing.

Older picture of Jelly Roll

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Jelly Roll’s life could have gone much differently

Jelly Roll’s early years are described as fairly normal, but as he tells his mother’s story, it becomes clear how it bleeds into his own. Jelly Roll’s mom began to slip away before Jason was a teenager and would remain in one particular room of the house for days at a time. Doctors prescribed drugs for pain and anxiety, and this led to an addiction. Eventually his parents divorced and they lost the house. This, Jelly Roll says, is what started the spiral.

While Jelly Roll’s father died more than a decade ago, he still cares deeply for his mother. A poignant moment in the documentary comes late when he casually mentions that he’s always written songs for her.

Picture of Jelly Rolls wife Bunnie Xo

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Bunnie Xo’s real name is Alisa DeFord

Jelly Roll says that if anyone ever made a documentary about his wife Bunnie Xo, it’d blow your mind, and we don’t doubt it. She was raised in Las Vegas and was an escort for several years. Like Jelly, she’s battled addiction and helped people through it. Like Jelly, she uses a fake name.

It’s not clear how Bunnie Xo became Bunnie Xo, but her real name is Alisa, and she’s between 40 and 45 years old. They don’t use real names in their house, either.

Older photo of Jelly Roll with wife Bunnie Xo

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About Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo’s wedding night

Jelly Roll’s wife Bunnie becomes a main character during the second half of his documentary, with the last third zooming in on their love story. We learn they lived a wild life together early in their marriage, with her supplying him with drugs as he needed them. Jelly Roll was blackout drunk the night they got married, but they beat the odds to remain married and recognized that they needed to slow down. “It’s not a party if it happens every night. It’s an addiction,” she says.

Picture of Jelly Rolls wife Bunnie Xo

Jason Kempin, Getty Images

Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo actually broke up!

Jelly Roll and his wife celebrated seven years of marriage in August 2024, but they almost didn’t make it through year one!

During this video viewers see Bunnie packing up her house as she prepares to sell it and move back to Las Vegas. She really goes into the grief of it all, but never really says what happened. This is the one area of the couple’s life they haven’t shared.

Picture of Jelly Roll performing live.

Leon Bennett, Getty Images

Jelly Roll went 0 to 60

To show just how fast Jelly Roll climbed from obscurity, consider this fact: The “Need a Favor” singer recalls being happy to sell 1,000 tickets in Connecticut in January 2022. By December he had sold close to 20,000 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

Picture of Jelly Rolls brothers, Roger and Scott

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Jelly Roll has two older brothers

And they look just like him, to an extent. Older brothers Roger and Scott are important parts of the Save Me documentary, and there is quite a bit of resemblance, save for tattoos on their faces.

The singer may also have a sister, but we couldn’t confirm. Watch our Jelly Roll Facts video for a great R-rated story about his family.

Picture of Jelly Roll with his daughter Bailee Ann

Taste of Country

All about Jelly Roll’s daughter Bailee

Bailee Ann DeFord is central to Jelly Roll’s turnaround, but not in the way you may have believed. He repeats a story he’s told before about learning he’d become a father in jail and pledging to live right by his daughter. During this documentary, one learns that he wasn’t a great father at first and would go weeks without seeing his little girl while touring and partying like a bachelor.

Bailee’s mother’s heroin addiction forced Jelly Roll (and Bunnie) to step up to save her. The mom was out of her daughter’s life for four years as she fought an addiction that started when she was trying to treat fibromyalgia. Jelly Roll’s turnaround came in about 2016.

Picture of Jelly Roll speaking to the U.S. Senate in January 2024

Kent Nishimura, Getty Images

Jelly Roll’s “She” is about family

Jelly Roll tells Taste of Country that the addiction he describes in his powerful song “She” was inspired by people like his mother and his daughter’s mother.

Picture of Jelly Roll with wife Bunnie Xo

Amy Sussman, Getty Images

Bunnie had the hookup!

Jelly Roll didn’t exactly get clean and sober after prison. He’s been honest about using cocaine when he would drink until very recently, but before that, he did not discriminate.

Where did he get the drugs? In the Save Me documentary he talks about how wild he and Bunnie were early on, and she describes getting the drugs he needed. At the time he was flat broke, which he says makes him laugh extra hard when internet trolls call her a gold digger.

Picture of Jelly Roll

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He’s not that far removed from that life

Beyond just having friends and former associates still dying on the streets of Nashville, Jelly Roll admits to a concerning level of drug and alcohol use in 2023. These days, it’s a once-in-awhile thing, but combined with his depression, outside stresses and his poor physical health (another topic he discusses candidly), one can imagine a worst-case scenario.

Picture of Jelly Roll

Neilson Barnard, Getty Images

Jelly Roll has read the Bible and the Koran

Talking to Bobby Bones Jelly Roll revealed what he learned from both books. He made it clear that he’s ultimately not a whole-hog believer in either, but appreciates the teachings. How many other country singers do you think have read the Koran?

Picture of Bunnie Xo kissing Jelly Roll

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Jelly Roll and his wife are very … open

The rumor on the CelebWives of Nashville Reddit thread is that Jelly and his wife have an open marriage, and that’s just not true. During an interview on the 247HH podcast in 2019 he talked about a night in Lansing where Bunnie brought three women on a bus for them to play with. The video is literally titled, “Jelly Roll – my wife and I openly invite women to join us, it’s been great.”

Additionally, he’s shared that they’ll go on Tinder together, but there’s no reason to believe either carries on a separate emotional relationship outside of their marriage. Does this mean they have an open relationship? That they’re swingers? Or that they just believe three’s company in life and love?

picture of Jelly Roll

Hulu

Jelly Roll once smoked meth out of a lightbulb

Growing up, Jelly Roll says there were drugs everywhere, and everyone did crack. He once smoked meth out of a lightbulb, which just doesn’t sound like a very bright idea.

Picture of Jelly Roll talking to the U.S. Senate

Kent Nishimura, Getty Images

Jelly Roll spent how long in solitary?!

Tennessee prisons have “23 and 1” punishments, where you spend 23 hours in a room without windows and one hour outside in a cage. It’s the equivalent of solitary confinement, or “the hole.”

When Jelly Roll was in prison, he once did six months straight in the hole. That deserves repeating: He spent six straight months in 23/1 and somehow came out brimming with positivity.

Picture of Jelly Rolls wife Bunnie Xo

Jason Kempin, Getty Images

Jelly Roll and Bunnie still feel like outsiders

Watching Jelly Roll and Bunnie prepare for the CMA Awards last year was fascinating. They were both very nervous and feeling out of place on the 2023 CMAs red carpet. Talking to the camera, Bunnie Xo called them “outsiders” without a hint of humor or sarcasm. That’s hardly the case a year later.

20 Totally Adorable Pictures of Jelly Roll and His Wife, Bunnie Xo

Jelly Roll and his wife, Bunnie Xo, never shy away from public displays of affection. The pair have shared numerous photos together sneaking kisses or engaged in deep belly laughs. Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo married in 2016 and are closer than ever today.

Jason Kempin, Getty Images

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Read More: The Thoughtful Gifts Jelly Roll Got for His Tour Opener | https://tasteofcountry.com/jelly-roll-tour-gifts-opening-acts/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral