Jason Bradley DeFord, known as Jelly Roll, was born on December 4, 1984, in Nashville, Tennessee, and raised in the Antioch neighborhood. He began his music career in hip-hop during the early 2000s, releasing mixtapes like The Plain Shmear Tape in 2003 while cycling through incarceration from age 14 to 25 for offenses including drug possession and aggravated robbery. Transitioning to country music after prison, he lived out of a van from 2010 to 2015, selling mixtapes and gaining attention with freestyles on YouTube. Jelly Roll signed with BMG and released his debut major-label album Ballads of the Broken in 2021, featuring singles 'Dead Man Walking' and 'Son of a Sinner,' the latter topping Billboard's Country Airplay chart in 2023. His 2023 album Whitsitt Chapel debuted at number one on the Billboard Country Albums chart, followed by Beautifully Broken in 2024, which topped the Billboard 200. Achievements include CMA New Artist of the Year in 2023, three CMT Music Awards, and four Grammy nominations. Known for high-energy live performances, Jelly Roll debuted at the Grand Ole Opry in 2021 and headlined the 44-city Backroad Baptism Tour in 2023, blending raw storytelling with audience engagement drawn from his personal experiences.