Jelly Roll may not be where he is today, in country music and his personal life, without Craig Morgan. Jelly Roll, the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry, recalls listening to Morgan’s “Almost Home” song, while incarcerated, and how much that song changed everything for him.
“This is so much deeper than just seeing him for the first time,” Jelly Roll says backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, ahead of his own induction. “It’s understanding when you connect with a song in such a way that that song is almost like it was written just for you, for that particular moment of grieving in your life. I don’t know if anybody’s ever experienced that, where a song did so much to you in that one moment of your life, that you felt like that song was for me.
“I know that song was written for everybody,” he continues. “Millions and millions of people connected with it the way I did. That’s the beauty of it. I cried to that song in the jail cell. Darkest thoughts in my life.”
@everythingnash @Jelly Roll shares how @Craig Morgan’s “Almost Home” deeply impacted him while he was incarcerated. #countrymusic #grandoleopry #craigmorgan #jellyroll #almosthome ♬ original sound – EverythingNash
Jelly Roll Recalls Seeing Craig Morgan Perform For the First Time
After Jelly Roll was free, he went to see Morgan perform at the Grand Ole Opry, while still wearing an ankle bracelet.
“At this point, I didn’t know what Craig Morgan looked like,” Jelly Roll recalls. “Keep this in mind. I’m on the radio; I’m on the jail radio. I’m like, ‘I want to go see Craig Morgan.’ And this ol’ cowboy from Dickson County comes out, and I just remember sitting there crying the whole time. And I think I was crying at the time because I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to stay free. I wasn’t sure that I still was gonna end up making it home.
“To be able to come out of that and remember that feeling … I spent my whole life just hoping that people would feel that feeling when I sang on stage, the way that he made me feel when he sang on stage,” he adds.
Jelly Roll Is Inducted Into the Grand Ole Opry by Lainey Wilson
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Jelly Roll was inducted into the Opry by his good friend, Lainey Wilson, who praised Jelly Roll for the person he is, on and off stage.
“There are some people in this business who are great singers,” Wilson says of Jelly Roll. “Some people in this business who are great songwriters and storytellers. And every once in a while, somebody comes along who is something even bigger than that. They’re a voice for people who feel like they don’t have one. And that’s exactly who Jelly Roll is. And if you’ve ever met Jelly Roll, you know the guy who stood on this stage tonight is the same one that’s backstage, the same man at the grocery store. He’s the same man talking to the fans that needed to hear that they were not beyond saving.”
During his induction, the “Save Me” singer reflected on how much his life changed since listening to “Almost Home” inside a jail cell.
“To take a convicted felon from the Music City who found country music — I didn’t find Nashville because of country music. I found country music because of Nashville, because I’m from here,” Jelly Roll shares. “You take that kid that’s been in that local juvenile with Miss [Yolanda] Hockett, that’s been in that local county jail with Sheriff [Daron] Hall. And you bring him here, and you give him Grammys, and you give him awards and platinum plaques, and you make him a member of the most prestigious group. Less than 230 people are members of the Grand Old Opry.
“And every word of that I said, it sounded like I was telling you a lot about myself,” he remarks. “But that is a story that only God can be the author of.”