Jelly Roll
RodeoHouston
NRG Stadium
March 6, 2024

In the lyrics of "Halfway To Hell," the opening song of his RodeoHouston set list, country artist Jelly Roll calls himself a "trailer park tornado." I truly believe that if I input that term into an AI image generator it would offer a country singing character that resembles the real life Jason Bradley DeFord, aka Jelly Roll. The 6 foot 1 inch, 400 pound monster of a man strolled across the rotating Rodeo stage on Wednesday evening determined to sing songs for "real people with real life, everyday problems."

"I've been dreaming of this H-Town" proclaimed Jelly Roll as he began his show at NRG Stadium. Dressed in all black, from his cowboy hat to his combat boots, he looked genuinely emotional, grateful, and proud as he gazed around the packed arena. "This is a dream come true for us... and this is officially the biggest show of my entire life!"

The next tracks of the evening included "Song Of A Sinner" and "The Lost," both of which added an aura of spirituality to the tone of the night, as if Jelly Roll was simultaneously leading the crowd in worship as he confessed his sins through the lyrics. Although he is usually categorized as a country act, there are certainly aspects of Rock, Gospel, and Hip-Hop in his music and live performance.
"This is going to be a once in a lifetime show, and it's about to get good" he told the crowd before beginning a series of covers. First up was "If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)" by Alabama, and then he paid tribute to Toby Keith with "Should Have Been A Cowboy".

Jelly Roll is a master story teller, both through his songs and personal asides he shared about his family and upbringing. He told the crowd about his brothers and sister, and how they influenced him with music. One of them listened to Metallica and Nirvana, while his mom listened to Motown. But it was his brother who introduced him to rap and Hip Hop, which led to Jelly's interest in lyrics and freestyle.

"Y'all let me know if you know this" he asked as he started a medley of rap covers. First up was Eazy E's "Boyz-N-The-Hood," followed by "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" by DMX. He continued with Eminem, OutKast, and Biz Markie. Never in a million years would I have imagined 70,000 people singing "Just A Friend" in unison, but Jelly Roll really did that at RodeoHouston. Simply amazing...

Jelly Roll proceeded to introduce special guest Cody Johnson, who joined him on stage for the song "Whiskey Bent," which they sang together on Cody's latest album. "This is one of my best friends in country music, and sometimes we will sit on the phone for hours talking about life and business and all kinds of crazy stuff," he added.

Near the end of the show, Jelly asked his wife Bunny to join him onstage. "Hello Houston!" she offered, and then the night ended with "I Need A Favor" and "Save Me." These are supremely emotional songs, and several tears were shed in the audience.

"Thank you Houston, this is the greatest night of my life. We will be back one day!" promised Jelly Roll.

We'll leave the light on for you sir.