Jelly Roll has already far exceeded his biggest dreams for himself. The 40-year-old has had sold-out tours, had numerous No. 1 singles, won multiple awards and quickly become one of country music’s biggest superstars. He also recently made his acting debut in Fire Country, all things that Jelly Roll once never dreamed were possible.
“It is more than a dream,” Jelly Roll tells Entertainment Tonight. “I would not have dreamed this. If you think this is my dream, you think I’m a lot more confident than I [am]. You should have met me earlier. I was not that confident. I just dreamed not to die in prison. I had one dream, and it was just not get a life sentence. So anything outside of that has been the icing on the cake.”
Jelly Roll has been vocal about his desire to act, but he never dreamed he would get the invitation go make a guest appearance on Fire Country the way he did — in a bathroom.
“This is old-school Hollywood,” Jelly Roll says with a chuckle. “I got approached in a bathroom about this. It doesn’t sound real, right? A guy named Max Thieriot caught me in a restroom at the Country Music Television Awards, and he was like, ‘Hey, we got this show we’re doing,’ and I had heard about because I knew they had sung a song of mine. So immediately, I had to go home and watch it. I got sucked into it like the rest of the world.”
View this post on Instagram
Thieriot was at the CMT Awards to present, and fortunately found himself in the rest room at the same time as Jelly Roll.
“I told him I’m a big fan, obviously,” Thieriot remembers. “I appreciated him letting us use some of his music on the show. He was like, ‘Oh brother, I’m a big fan of the show. It’s really all about what I represent and my life.’ It tells the story that obviously is really important to him and. the message that he wants to share with the world. He was like, ‘Dude, I’ve been auditioning online. I gotta get on the show.’ I was like, ‘Well, I can get you on the show.'”
Jelly Roll has, not surprisingly, had numerous other acting opportunities presented to him, but nothing felt right until the guest role he was offered on Fire Country.
“I think it was just important for me to play a role that was cathartic, but wasn’t music based,” Jelly Roll explains. “That was kind of what we were looking for more than anything. We get offered a lot of TV shows, but they’re always like, I’m playing a musician, or I’m playing an active inmate. And this was really cool to play a rehabilitated inmate.”
Now that Jelly Roll has appeared on Fire Country, he is ready to do more on the series.
“I’m hoping this is a segue into me being able to do more stuff like this. I’m hoping that I can prove my value,” Jelly Roll says, adding that he hopes he can sometime play a “villain” instead of a good guy.
The Nashville native always has plenty of irons in the fire. While he could certainly afford to slow down, Jelly Roll has a very important reason for staying so active.
“I love being busy,” Jelly Roll says. “It’s important. An idle mind is the devil’s playground, so I’m always trying to keep moving. It’s kind of my goal in life. You gotta put feet on your faith. You gotta go where people are.”
Jelly Roll is back at radio with “Heart of Stone.” Find al of his music and upcoming shows at JellyRoll615.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC