Nashville, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s governor on Thursday pardoned country star Jelly Roll for his criminal past in the state, acknowledging the Nashville native’s long road back from drugs and prison through soul-searching, songwriting and advocacy for second chances.
The rapper-turned-singer, whose legal name is Jason Deford, has spoken about his redemption arc to a variety of audiences over the years, from people serving time in correctional centers to concert crowds and even in testimony before Congress.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee issued the pardon after friends and civic leaders of the Grammy-nominated musician joined the outpouring of support.
Jelly roll convictions include robbery and drug offences. He said the pardon would make it easier for him to travel internationally for concert tours and do Christian missionary work without filling out cumbersome paperwork.
He was one of 33 people to receive a pardon Thursday from Lee, who for years has issued clemency decisions during the Christmas season. Lee said Jelly Roll’s application underwent the same month-long intensive review as other applicants. The state parole board made a non-binding, unanimous recommendation for Jelly Roll’s pardon in April.
“His story is remarkable, and it’s a liberating, powerful story, which is what you’re looking for and what you expect,” Lee told reporters.
Jelly Roll and Lee meet at the Governor’s mansion
Lee said he never met Jelly Roll until Thursday, when the musician visited the governor’s mansion on news of the pardon. The two cuddled up in front of a fireplace decorated with a lit Christmas tree and holiday wreaths.
Unlike recent high-profile federal pardons, which let people off the hook for prison terms, a Tennessee pardon serves as a statement of forgiveness for someone who has already completed a prison sentence. A pardon offers a way to restore some civil rights, such as the right to vote, although there are some legal limitations, and the governor can specify conditions.
Jelly Roll broke into country music with crossover songs like “Whitsheet Chapel” and “Need a Favor” on the 2023 album. He has won multiple CMT Awards, a CMA Award and has also picked up seven career Grammy nominations.
Much of his music deals with overcoming adversity, such as “Winning Streak,” a song about one’s first day sober. Or a direct-and-to-the-point, “I’m not okay.”
“When I first started doing this, I was just telling the story of my broken self,” he told The Associated Press in an interview. “When I went through it, I realized that my story is the story of many. So I no longer tell my story. I want to pull it through the cracks of those whose stories have never been told.”
Jelly Roll: ‘I was part of the problem’
Before the parole board, Jelly Roll said he fell in love with songwriting while in custody, calling music a therapeutic passion project that would “change my life in ways I could never have imagined.”
Outside of the sold-out show, he has testified before the US Senate about the dangers of fentanyl, describing his drug dealing younger self as “an uneducated man in a kitchen playing with a chemist with drugs I knew nothing about.”
“I was part of the problem,” he told lawmakers at the time. “I stand here now as a man who wants to be part of the solution.”
Jelly Roll’s most serious convictions include 17 years of robbery and 23 years of drug charges. In the first incident, a female acquaintance helped Jelly Roll and two armed accomplices steal $350 from a home in 2002. As the victims recognized the female acquaintance, she and Jelly Roll were quickly arrested. Jelly Roll was unarmed, and sentenced to one year in jail plus probation.
On another run in 2008, police found marijuana and crack cocaine in his car, leading to eight years of court-ordered probation.
The sheriff whose jail was the jelly roll apologized
Friends and civic leaders cited his turnaround in support of the pardon.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who runs the jail in Nashville, wrote that Jelly Roll had a wake at one of the jails he managed. Michael Rapinoe, CEO and president of Live Nation Entertainment, cited Jelly Roll’s donations to charities for at-risk youth.
“I think he has a chance and is in the process of restoring a generation, and that’s not just words,” Hall said in a phone interview Thursday. “I’m talking about what we need in our country, people who accept responsibility, accept the fact that they’ve made a mistake and accept the fact that they need help.”
The parole board began considering Jelly Roll’s clemency application in October 2024, marking the state’s five-year timeline for eligibility after his sentence expires. Prominent Nashville attorney David Rabin represented Jelly Roll in the amnesty case.
Lee’s office said Thursday that no pardons have been granted to anyone who has been convicted of murder or sex, or for any crime committed as an adult against a minor.
