Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson have won yet another award for their “Save Me” collaboration. The pair won the ACM Award for Music Event of the Year, a full-circle moment for the singers, who debuted the song on the ACM Awards stage in 2023.
“I’m gonna keep this short and sweet, ’cause Jelly’s gonna get up here and preach,” Wilson said. “Thank you so much, Jelly, for asking me to be part of such an important song. This song right here speaks to so many people who feel like they never had a voice, and I’m so thankful that you are a part of country music.
Much like he did when he won at the CMA Awards, Jelly Roll delivered a heartfelt, inspirational speech when accepting the trophy.
“I’m gonna try not to get emotional,” Jelly Roll said. “No pun intended, but seriously, this song saved me. I was in a dark place. I wrote it from my soul. I knew people would connect with it. One year ago today, Lainey Wilson and I stood on this stage, and debuted it. This song is a triple-platinum record. I wrote it with a high school friend. We never thought we’d be songwriters. I never thought I’d be standing here. I thought I would die or go to jail, and I’m standing her as an ACM Awards winner.”
We're SO glad you made "Save Me," @JellyRoll615 and @laineywilson! #ACMawards pic.twitter.com/xkkSWo6DbB
— ACM Awards (@ACMawards) May 17, 2024
Jelly Roll was nominated for a total of four ACM Awards nominations, an honor that was not lost on him, especially since he has not been part of country music for very long.
“Last year I was here, barely,” Jelly Roll said to Country Now. “I had no nominations. So it’s really, really cool. I think it’s also perspective…it’s my first time being nominated for an ACM, ever. So I think it also reminds people of just how relatively new I still am to the scene.”
The 39-year-old, who debuted a new song, “Liar,” at the ACM Awards, was stunned to find out he had four ACM Awards nominations, including one for the night’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year, an award that went to Wilson.
“I didn’t expect to get this many,” Jelly Roll admitted to People when the nominations were announced. “Even when I had a shelf built, I had it built for what I won last year thinking that was probably the best year of my life. I don’t know what to do about this thing still running.”
“Not every awards show in America’s giving an opportunity to the guy that’s talking against fentanyl and representing the people I speak about,” he admitted. “And to see four nominations just showed me how much my peers and the industry cares about what I think, even my core messages outside of the music.”
Jelly Roll will embark on his Beautifully Broken Tour in August, with Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay serving as his opening acts. Find all of Jelly Roll’s music and tour dates at JellyRoll615.com.