Jelly Roll living Nashville farm dream while preparing for city’s first-ever rodeo
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Jelly Roll is ready to make history.
The country star, along with Reba McEntire and Tim McGraw, will be headlining Nashville’s first-ever rodeo.
“As a Nashville native, this felt like a chance to be a part of a history-making event for the city,” Jelly Roll said in a press release. “I have vivid memories when it was announced in Nashville that we were getting a hockey team with the Predators, or a football team with the Titans…and I watched Bridgestone Arena be built from the ground up. Headlining Music City Rodeo in my hometown as a part of the first rodeo brought to town feels like the same type of milestone.”
COUNTRY STAR JELLY ROLL IS ‘PETRIFIED OF LOSING’ SUCCESS AFTER YEARS OF STRUGGLING
Jelly Roll, Reba McEntire and Tim McGraw will be headlining Nashville’s first-ever rodeo. (Theo Wargo/Peacock via Getty Images; Trae Patton/NBC via Getty Images; Jason Kempin/Getty Images for ABA)
In a promotional video for the rodeo, Jelly Roll is seen behind a bar talking to a group of cowboys. “Ain’t your usual stop, is it boys?” he says.
“Right here in the heart of Broadway where honky tonk neon meets daredevil grit, rodeo and country music collide,” McEntire says in a voiceover, followed by McGraw adding, “Three nights of guts, glory and history in the making.”
Music City Rodeo is coming to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena from May 29 to 31 in partnership with McGraw‘s Down Home entertainment group, Skydance Media and Humes Rodeo. This will be the Tennessee city’s first Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) event. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 7.
Performing at the rodeo seems to bring Jelly Roll full circle as he builds out his dream farm life with his family.
Jelly Roll and wife Bunnie Xo are building out their dream farm life as the country music star continues to find success. (Getty Images, Instagram: Bunnie Xo)
The 40-year-old singer’s wife shared videos of the family receiving three cows in January. Bunnie Xo’s video showcased three mini-cows named Crunch, Brownie and S’more. “Our lil’ farm is starting,” she captioned the clip.
The plan had been to have one farm animal, but they ended up with three cows and a donkey after Jelly Roll had been “jealous” he did not have his own animal. Jelly Roll and Bunnie added a donkey named Griz to their farm.
“I love the donkey,” Jelly Roll said in a video of the animal arriving at his Nashville, Tennessee, ranch. “I can’t believe he’s that small!”
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Two weeks after getting the donkey, Bunnie shared a video of a “special” day.
She wrote that the animal hadn’t let anyone touch him since he first came to live with them, noting that she was talking to him every day to tell him he’s “loved & safe.” In the video, Bunnie pet the donkey for the first time and wrote that she told him “whenever he wants more loves, I’ll be here.”
“We kno, [sic] he needs a buddy- we’re working on it,” her caption read.
Jelly Roll’s wife has also been keeping fans updated with how things are going with their cows. “At least 5-10 times a day I go outside just to hug this big Lug,” she wrote on a video shared to Instagram Monday.
Bunnie Xo shared videos on Instagram of her giving love and affection to their cows and donkey. (Bunnie Xo Instagram)
Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo purchased a 500-acre property in Nashville to create their family home and dream farm life.
In a video shared to Instagram, Jelly Roll explained he visited his uncle’s farm in Tennessee growing up. There, he learned to ride four-wheelers, learned to shoot a gun and learned the “core traditional Southern values” of life.
“Our lil’ farm is starting.”
— Bunnie Xo
“I’ll never forget. We left there [once] when I was probably 12 years old, and I talked to my father about it, said, ‘How come we never got a farm?’ He said, ‘Son, it’s probably one of the mistakes I regret the most, is that I didn’t buy dirt,'” Jelly Roll said in a video posted to Instagram.
“He said, ‘They’re never gonna make no more of it, and if you don’t listen to no advice from me, buy dirt. Go get you some land.'”
Jelly Roll says he will never forget what his father told him about his biggest regret being that he “didn’t buy dirt.” (JOHN LAMPARSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
While Jelly Roll had purchased the land to build his family home, he spent much of the last two years touring. The “Save Me” singer shared a video of the property as he became emotional while visiting it for the first time in October.
“I came here today to pray over it,” he said at the time. “I came here today to vision-cast in it. I came here today to just walk barefoot in it. And most important, I came here today to pull this phone out of my pocket and look y’all in the eye and say thank you, man. I never would have dreamed that this could have been anything about my story.”
JELLY ROLL ‘HAD A LOT OF TIME’ TO WRITE SONGS IN PRISON BEFORE FINDING MASSIVE SUCCESS
“Thank y’all for just changing my life, man,” he continued, speaking to his fans. “Generational curses were broke because of y’all. I’m standing on it. I am standing here breaking a generational curse right now, and I hope that inspires one of y’all to do the same thing.”
Jelly Roll poses in the Winner’s Circle during the CMT Music Awards. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for CMT)
Jelly Roll began his headlining tour in August 2024. The last few years have been a wild ride for the country singer, who won new artist of the year at the 2023 CMA Awards. He took home three awards that night and another three awards at the 2024 CMAs.
He first performed at the Grand Ole Opry in 2021 and released his hit singles, “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor,” in 2022.
Jelly Roll earned three awards, including new artist of the year, at the 2023 CMA Awards. (Getty Images)
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Jelly Roll, known formally as Jason DeFord, began his singing career in 2003. However, he did not become mainstream until 2022 with the release of “Need a Favor” and “Son of a Sinner.”
“I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it wasn’t for what I went through. I think it empowered me. I think it gave me my voice,” he told Fox News Digital at the 2023 CMAs. “It taught me a lot about overcoming. It taught me a lot about changing and the ability to change.
Jelly Roll gained fame in 2022 for his singles, “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor.” (Getty Images)
“I was a horrible human for decades, and to just be able to turn that around and give a message in the music and help people … and just try to give back as much as I can in every way I can is very indicative of where I came from and how important it is to me to always reach back.”
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Throughout his early life, Jelly Roll struggled with substance abuse. The country music star also spent time behind bars for aggravated robbery and possession with intent to sell.
The “Somebody Save Me” singer testified to Congress in January 2024 about the use of fentanyl.
Musician Jason “Jelly Roll” DeFord, center, during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Jan. 11, 2024. Fentanyl was the focus of the committee hearing, as senators explored public awareness and legislative solutions to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It is important to establish earlier that I am a musician and that I have no political alliance. I am neither Democrat nor Republican. In fact, because of my past, my right to vote has been restricted,” Jelly Roll testified. “Thus far, I have never paid attention to a political race in my life. Ironically, I think that makes me the perfect person to speak about this because fentanyl transcends partisanship and ideology.”
He further explained, “I was a part of the problem. I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of [the] solution.”
