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How Jelly Roll Is Living Out His Dream
By Movieguide® Contributor
Country musician Jelly Roll is extremely honored to be among a group of singers chosen to headline Nashville’s first ever rodeo this May.
“As a Nashville native, this felt like a chance to be a part of a history-making event for this city,” Jason DeFord, Jelly Roll’s real name, said in a press release, per Fox News. “I have vivid memories when it was announced in Nashville that we were getting a hockey team with the Predators, or a football team with the Titans… and I watched Bridgestone Arena be built from the ground up. Headlining Music City Rodeo in my hometown as a part of the first rodeo brought to the town feels like the same type of milestone.”
DeFord will be headlining the event along with Reba McEntire and Tim McGraw. The rodeo will take place over May 29 to 31 and will serve as the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s first ever event in Nashville. Tickets are on sale now.
The country crooner appeared in a promo for the rodeo alongside his fellow performers. “Ain’t your usual stop, is it boys?” he said to a group of cowboys. “Right here in the heart of Broadway where honky tonk neon meets daredevil grit, rodeo and country music collide,” McEntire says in a voiceover, followed by McGraw adding, “Three nights of guts, glory and history in the making.”
Though he will not be competing in the actual rodeo, DeFord became somewhat of a cowboy himself last year after buying a 500-acre ranch. After two years of long tours, he is excited to slow down a little and start having kids with his wife, Bunny Xo
In purchasing the ranch, DeFord is not only living out his dream but fulfilling the dream his father had as well. Last year, DeFord revealed that he grew up visiting his uncle’s farm and once had a conversation with his father where he admitted that one of his greatest regrets was not buying land too.
“I’ll never forget. We left [my uncle’s farm] when I was probably 12 years old, and I talked to my father about it, [I] said, ‘How come we never got a farm?’ He said, ‘Son, it’s probably one of the mistakes I regret the most, is that I didn’t buy dirt,’” DeFord recalled.
Since buying the ranch, DeFord and his wife have bought multiple animals including donkeys and cows. However, it appears that 500 acres isn’t quite enough for them as they are already looking to expand the ranch even further.
Movieguide® previously reported on Jelly Roll:
After Jelly Roll’s busy year with two Grammy nominations and winning three CMT awards, the rapper/singer plans to spend time catching up with family and giving back to his community.
“One of the costs of having a stellar year was sacrificing a little bit of personal time with the family, and I’m just spread so thin,” Jelly Roll said on Audacy’s “Katie & Company’s Power Hour” podcast. “I want to make sure that I can get back to getting in the bunker with them.”
Jelly Roll, born Jason DeFord, has been open about his past struggle with drug addiction and how the birth of his daughter Bailee, 15, in 2008, was a turning point in his life. DeFord was serving time in prison for drug dealing when he heard about her birth.
“A guard knocks on my cell door midafternoon during lockdown. He goes, ‘You had a kid today,’” DeFord told BILLBOARD. “I’ve never had nothing in life that urged me in the moment to know that I had to do something different. I have to figure this out right now.”
The “Save Me” singer and current wife Bunnie XO were granted full custody of Bailee due to her mom Felicia’s struggle with drug addiction. DeFord also has a son, Noah Buddy, 7, from a previous relationship, whom he keeps out of the limelight for the sake of the privacy of his son and his mother, Melisa, who has custody of Noah.
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