Congratulations to Jelly Roll, who just received his first Gospel Music Association Dove Award nominations, all for “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Brandon Lake. The country music hitmaker is nominated for Song of the Year and Bluegrass/Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year with Lake.
The nominations are two of a total of nine for Lake, who leads this year’s list of nominees with the most nominations. Lake is also nominated in Song of the Year, for “That’s Who I Praise,” along with Artist of the Year and Worship Recorded Song of the Year for “I Know A Name,” among others.
Jelly Roll is competing with another country star for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year. Carrie Underwood is also nominated, along with Ben Fuller, for their “If It Was Up To Me” collaboration.
The Story Behind ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’
Lake had already released “Hard Fought Hallelujah” in 2024, on his King of Hearts album. But when Lake watched Jelly Roll perform “Believe” with Brooks & Dunn at the 2024 CMA Awards, he knew he wanted to record a new version with Jelly Roll.
“I watched the CMA Awards with Brooks & Dunn,” Lake recalls to K-Love, as part of a joint interview between the two singers. “[He] performed this song called ‘ I Believe.’ So this is some time before I heard back from Jelly and his team. I fell asleep during the awards show. I’m chilling in bed, it’s late at night. I wake up the next morning, and the first thing I see on my phone is a video of Jelly’s performance, and Brooks & Dunn. I opened it up, still laying in bed and I watched this happen. I had never seen church like this happen in this place. It was so unexpected, and I’m literally laying there, and I start bawling my eyes out.
“I felt the spirit of God translate through my phone, from that moment, after the fact,” he continues. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is the dude. He just led the world in worship.’ I don’t think anyone saw it coming. People were standing up, lifting their hands, there are tears rolling down their face. I was just so moved. It gave me all the confidence in the world that this is a dude we have to ask to get on this song.”
Still, it took Lake speaking candidly to Jelly Roll for him to agree to sing “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with him.
“He said to me on the phone everything I wish the church would have,” Jelly Roll recalls. “The way he made me feel is like, ‘Man, if I felt this way on Sunday when I went to a couple of churches, God knows where my journey would be at right now.’ Maybe the things people are still mad at me at for not being where they think I should be, maybe I’d already be there.”
Jelly Roll’s Christian Faith
Jelly Roll has been open about his strong Christian faith. After spending time in and out of prison, as a youth and an adult, the Nashville native wants everyone to know what he believes.
“I’m called to be shameless about it,” Jelly Roll says on The Jennifer Hudson Show. “He’s done so much for me, even when I didn’t deserve it. I’ve actually done the opposite of being deserving of His grace. I’ve done everything I could to spit in His face, and not get His grace. And He continued to just pour it on me and love on me. At times where I felt unlovable, He taught me to love myself. My faith is nothing short of everything in my life.”
“If you knew how I was talking at interviews five years ago, and it’s all over the internet. Go look it up.” he adds. “And then you see how I’m talking today, imagine what God can do with me in five years. And then look at what God’s already doing with me.”
“Hard Fought Hallelujah” is also becoming a hit at country radio.
The 2025 Dove Awards will take place on October 7th, 2025 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The ceremony will air on TBN and the TBN+ App on Friday, October 10th, 2025 at 7:30 PM, and again at 10 PM ET. It will also be simulcast on SiriusXM The Message.
Photo Credit: CMA / Josh Brasted