Jelly Roll, country-rap superstar who found music in prison, pardoned by Tennessee governor in front of Christmas tree | Luck
Tennessee’s governor on Thursday pardoned country star Jelly Rollo for his criminal record in the state, acknowledging the Nashville native’s long journey back from drugs and prison through soul-searching, songwriting and second-chance advocacy.
The rapper-turned-singer, whose legal name is Jason Deford, has spent years talking about his arc of redemption in front of a variety of audiences, from people serving time in correctional facilities to concert crowds and even testifying before Congress.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee granted the pardon after friends and civic leaders of the Grammy-nominated musician joined the outpouring of support.
Jelly Roll’s convictions include robbery and drug offenses. He said the grace would make it easier for him to travel abroad for concert tours and do Christian missionary work without filling out burdensome paperwork.
He was one of 33 people pardoned Thursday by Lee, who has been issuing pardon decisions around the Christmas season for years. Lee said Jelly Roll’s application went through the same month-long thorough review as other applicants. The state Parole Board made a nonbinding, unanimous recommendation for Jelly Roll’s clemency in April.
“His story is remarkable and it’s a redemptive, powerful story that you look for and hope for,” Lee told reporters.
Jelly Roll and Lee meet at the governor’s mansion
Lee said he had never given Jelly Roll until Thursday, when the musician visited the governor’s mansion for news of the pardon. The two embraced in front of a lit Christmas tree and a fireplace decorated with holiday garlands.
Unlike recent high-profile federal pardons that keep people out of prison, a pardon in Tennessee serves as a declaration of forgiveness for someone who has already completed a prison sentence. Pardons offer a path to restoring certain civil rights, such as the right to vote, although there are some legal restrictions and the governor can specify the terms.
Jelly Roll broke into country music with 2023’s “Whitsitt Chapel” and crossover tracks like “Need a Favor.” He has won multiple CMT Awards, a CMA Award and has also received seven career Grammy nominations.
Much of his music deals with overcoming adversity, such as the song “Winning Streak” about someone’s first day sober. Or straight to the point: “I’m not okay”.
“When I first started doing this, I was just telling my story of my broken self,” he told The Associated Press. “By the time I got through that, I realized that my story was the story of many. So now I’m not telling my story anymore. I’m starting to pull it right out of the cracks of people whose story has never been told.”
Jelly Roll: ”I was part of the problem”
Speaking before the parole board, Jelly Roll said he first fell in love with songwriting while incarcerated, calling music a therapeutic passion project that would “end up changing my life in ways I never imagined.”
Outside of the sold-out show, he testified before the US Senate about the dangers of fentanyl, describing his younger drug-dealing self as “an uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about.”
“I was part of the problem,” he told lawmakers at the time. “Now I’m here standing as a man who wants to be part of the solution.
Jelly Roll’s most serious convictions include robbery at 17 and drug charges at 23. In the first case, a female acquaintance helped Jelly Roll and two armed accomplices steal $350 from people in a home in 2002. Because the victims knew the woman, they were quickly arrested along with Jelly Roll. Jelly Roll was unarmed and was sentenced to one year in prison plus probation.
In another attempt in 2008, police found marijuana and crack cocaine in his car, leading to eight years of probation.
The sheriff whose Jelly Roll was in jail asked for a pardon
Friends and civic leaders cited his transformation in support of the pardon.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who runs the Nashville jail, wrote that Jelly Roll woke up in one of the jails he ran. Live Nation Entertainment CEO and President Michael Rapino announced Jelly Roll donations from his performance to at-risk youth charities.
“I think he has a chance and he’s in the process of rehabilitating a generation, and that’s not just words,” Hall said in a phone interview Thursday. “I’m talking about what I see, that we need people in our country who accept responsibility, accept the fact that they make mistakes, and accept the fact that they need help.”
The parole board began considering Jelly Roll’s request for clemency in October 2024, the state’s five-year timeline for eligibility after his sentence expires. Prominent Nashville attorney David Raybin represented Jelly Roll in the clemency case.
Lee’s office said no one convicted of murder or sex-related convictions, or any crime committed as an adult against a minor, was pardoned Thursday.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com