Jelly Roll is making himself his highest priority. The 39-year-old went from prison walls to being a country music superstar, success that keeps increasing not only because of his undeniable talent, but his determination to take care of his mental health as well.

“[I’m] taking the time to love myself,” Jelly Roll says on Comedy Central‘s The Daily Show. “Learning to listen to myself. Working …I go to therapy. I take it very seriously. My relationship with God. I’m an old-school Southern man. I’m just really rooted in my faith, and more than anything, I search for purpose. I quit searching to be happy and I started searching to be useful, and that’s when everything changed for me.

“Because to me, I wanna be a man of service,” he continues. “I wanna 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, but two things that will stand are how [I] made people feel, and what music was made. And that’s what’s important. I want to lift people up. I tore people down, for decades. I just want to lift us all up.”

Jelly Roll has evolved more than perhaps any other artist, going from an angry and addicted man to one who focuses on his health, physically and mentally, and has devoted his life to being open to others, and loving others.

“I believe in God and therapy. I believe in the universe,” Jelly Roll maintains. “Hey, listen, if you convince me that because you’re an Aquarius, we get along, I’m in. I am extremely open-minded in my old age.”

The “Save Me” singer is the reigning CMA New Artist of the Year, and is nominated for two Grammy Awards. His success has been both hard-fought and hard to accept, a total transformation from who he was to who he wants to be. Well-earned, Jelly Roll has taken a long time to accept his own success.

“I’m starting to feel better,” Jelly Roll admits. “I’m starting to feel like I deserve this ability to be able to work this hard and to be able to influence this many people, and I take that very serious, and that’s why I’m very, very, very direct about the message I’m trying to promote, because I feel like I’m a voice for the voiceless, and I speak for a group of people that never have been properly spoken for, and I take that very serious. And it gives me a lot of purpose, man. I’m finding purpose in life, and it’s really cool.”

Jelly Roll has openly said he doesn’t expect to win a Grammy Award, nor should he be the one to walk away with a trophy. Far from false humility, the Nashville native says winning goes against the very thing he has been fighting for years, ever since he left prison.

“Killing the ego was a big part of me becoming a better person,” Jelly Roll maintains. “And then you’re in a situation where it’s a lot of me, I, I, me, me, me. So I’m always trying to fight that battle, and just ground myself in humility, and also respect people’s art. Noah Kahan is unbelievable. He’s unbelievable.”

Jelly Roll might be a big country music superstar right now, but it all pales in comparison to those who matter the most to him.

“I want to anchor myself in family,” Jelly Roll says. “I think it’s the root of everything we do. Plus, I’m going to be honest: we’re a little tribe, and they’re my best friends. My favorite human on earth is my wife. I love my daughter. I love my relationships.”

Find all of Jelly Roll’s music and upcoming shows at JellyRoll615.com.

Read ‘Jelly Roll: 11 Things to Know About the Reformed Singer’ here.