Jelly Roll | Superstar Power Hour

Jelly Roll has come a long way since his days behind bars, reading magazines to pass the time. Now, the subject of those magazines, Jelly says it’s far beyond anything he ever could’ve imagined. “I grew up reading magazines, so I romanticized that as a child, like, that was one of my dreams,” he told Audacy's Katie Neal of being in a big-time publication. “As a kid, reading Billboard magazine in juvenile — because we’d get that kind of reading material — [and] now, having little, small pieces of Billboard history… that’s crazy, dude,” he continued. “I never thought I’d be in [it],” he laughed before joking “at best” he saw himself in Ripley’s Believe it Or Not for “[eating] the most donut holes or something.” The 38-year-old has always been open with fans surrounding his troubled past including his struggles with addiction and the legal system. Instead of hiding from his truth, the Nashville-native has boldly stepped up to inspire, connect, and educate fans all over. “I would have never been confident to dream this big,” he stated. “That’s why now, my preach pitch to kids is, ‘whatever you’re dreamin’ right now is too small, man. You have no clue.’ Things I thought were mountains, God made look like speed bumps… I couldn’t have even dreamed the success that’s happened in my life right now.” The success has been major and continues to grow as he recently celebrated his second single to Country radio, “Need A Favor,” going #1 after it already spent two weeks atop the Rock charts and is now being played on Pop radio. “I’m elated,” he said with a huge grin. “These moments, they keep getting more unreal to me. Every day when I think this thing can’t get no bigger, something crazy happens,” he continued, before diving into what he’s dreaming up next. “Madison Square Garden,” he exclaimed. “I keep thinking about going to MSG. I just keep having this dream of being like a fat Billy Joel… he just has so many iconic Madison Square moments.” It doesn’t stop there. Jelly also listed playing a show in his hometown stadium and acting in a movie as top goals for himself. “I told you, I’m dreaming big,” he smiled before sharing he’d like to act in a comedy. “I’d want to do something funny… I believe that the two greatest medicines are music and humor.” Until the acting opportunity comes — because we know it will — Jelly is focused on the music as he is currently on his 44-date, headlining Backroad Baptism tour. The trek is bringing the highly personal music from his debut Country album, Whitsitt Chapel, to fans all over and showing him first-hand how much of an impact his music has made on the lives of others. “It just feels like I’m l ...