Jelly Roll has overcome a lot of demons, many of them demons he inherited. The former criminal, who spent time behind bars as both a juvenile and an adult, still grapples with addiction, something he tackles head-on in “She,” out now.

“I’ve had so much addiction around me and so many people around me lose their life or lose their families, or lose somebody they love over an addiction,” Jelly Roll tells Taste of Country. “When I wrote ‘She,’ you gotta think ‘She’ is my mom. For me, ‘She’ is my child’s mother. These are both people who have overcome addiction in my immediate life. So that’s just the closest tentacles to me, but that stretches to uncles and nephews and nieces and beyond.”

The Nashville native believes he has an answer to the rampant drug use in the United States now, although his solution is controversial to many.

“That goes back to my pot rants I go on all the time,” Jelly Roll says. “I think we should take a lot of these prescriptions off the streets — fentanyl and heroin off the streets — and I think we should subdue it with CBD and THC and give people an alternative.”

Jelly Roll, who said he plans on focusing on his health and losing weight in 2023, still drinks, but not to the degree that some may think, at least according to him. While he describes himself as an “active alcoholic” on Twitter, Jelly Roll says that isn’t necessarily true, at least not anymore.

“The drinking thing, to me, it’s a joke,” maintains the singer. “I’m glad we get to dive deep about this. I do party and people who party with me know I really party. But people also know I’m a grown man who parties when it’s time to celebrate. We make a big joke because when you do go out with me, it gets really dark, but I’m not going out every night. So it’s cool to actually be able to talk about this on a real level and not in a funny way.

“I definitely enjoy a drink and a cocktail but right now I haven’t drank in two weeks because it’s been all focus for what I got going on in my life,” he adds.

That focus has served him well since he turned his attention to country music. The 38-year-old just celebrated his first No. 1, with “Son of a Sinner,” an accomplishment he once never thought possible.

“There is no greater reward for a singer and songwriter in Nashville Tennessee than to have the No. 1 song on country radio,” Jelly Roll shares on social media. “Now imagine that happening to a guy that grew up in this town… a guy that at every turn the first 25 years of his life he made the wrong decision. Imagine everyone telling that guy he had no chance at country radio. ‘You’re too overweight, you have too many tattoos, they will never let another convicted criminal on country radio’ – now imagine country radio proving everyone wrong and taking the chance on the song, the message and the man.

“If you can imagine that, then you can understand why I’m so filled with gratitude as tears stream down my face while I type this,” he adds. “I currently have the No. 1 song on country radio.”

All of Jelly Roll’s music and tour updates can be found by visiting his website.