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Jelly Roll on his multigenre success: “I just make the music, I let them pick the box”

By Josh Johnson + Jeremy Chua Jun 13, 2023 | 5:00 AM
ABC

After hitting #1 on country radio in January with “Son of a Sinner” and on rock radio last year with “Dead Man Walking,” Jelly Roll is proving his multigenre success wasn’t a fluke.

His current single, “Need a Favor,” is currently #7 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart and simultaneously at #3 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

“Aw dude, I love it, man,” Jelly Roll tells ABC Audio of his multigenre success. “I think it’s so cool to be able to kinda tread both [rock and country] waters.”

“I’m just excited for the way music’s evolving anyway,” he adds. “Like I tell people, I just make the music, I let them pick the box.”

As it turns out, the idea of combining genres has been with Jelly Roll for a long time, dating back to a significant music memory.

“I went to Lollapalooza in 1997. It’s the first concert I ever went to,” Jelly Roll recalls. “And I’m glad that was my first concert because it made me understand that Snoop DoggKornProdigy and Damian Marley could be on the same stage in front of the same 15,000 people, and every one of ’em work.”

“Need a Favor” appears on Jelly Roll’s debut country album, Whitsitt Chapel, which dropped earlier this month.

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