A country road to redemption

The genre-swapping singer Jelly Rollis up for aGrammy, having broken acycle of jailtime and drug abuse. He discusses how he turned his lifearound

- Chris Godfrey

Whenever Jelly Roll returns from touring, he falls into a depressed state. For a long time he couldn’t figure out why. The rapper turned country singer had written it off as an adrenaline dump; his body getting back to normal after long stretches of wild highs. But recently, he made a breakthrough with his therapist.

“Tour is about the only time that I’ve ever felt valuable in my life,” he says from his home in Nashville, Tennessee. This big man, who spent years of his youth in prison, “felt like I brought no value to any situation; that I’ve only taken away ”. When he performs he feels he’s giving something back. “Now I’m learning to find value when I’m not on stage, because that’s the real test.”

Today, Jelly Roll is feeling good, and in demand. After eight hours of media commitments, he’ll fly to San Antonio to perform before flying to California for another show. “That’ll be my day, yes sir. It’s a great time to be alive, baby.”

You can see why. Last month Jelly Roll – real name Jason DeFord – won the Country Music award for best new artist. It was the peak of an successful year on the awards trail, which has seen him nominated for two Grammys. Aged 38 and after more than a dozen albums across different genres, he’s only now finding mainstream recognition. “I’m the real Cinderella man,” he says.