Jelly Roll has had a stellar year, seeing his album Beautifully Broken debut at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, notching No. 1 Country Airplay hits such as “I Am Not Okay” and “Halfway to Hell” and embarking on his first headlining arena trek, The Beautifully Broken Tour. Plus, he turned in a pair of top-shelf performances at this week’s CMA Awards, including a moving version of “Believe” with Brooks & Dunn.
However, though he had multiple nominations leading into this year’s CMAs, his name wasn’t among this year’s winners. Jelly Roll was nominated for entertainer of the year (which ultimately went to Morgan Wallen, marking his first win in the category), male vocalist of the year (which saw Chris Stapleton pick up his eighth win in that category) and album of the year (Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel was nominated, but Cody Johnson’s Leather was declared the victor in the category). Notably, Jelly Roll is featured on Leather, collaborating with Johnson on the song “Whiskey Bent.”
Jelly Roll may not have walked away from this year’s CMAs with any new hardware in his arsenal — he won the CMA new artist of the year accolade in 2023 — but he’s not letting that get him down. Instead, he’s determined to work even harder ahead of next year’s CMA Awards, and he had plenty of praise for this year’s winners.
In a social media post, Jelly said he was grateful for his performance alongside Brooks & Dunn, showered praise on Wallen, Johnson and Stapleton, thanked his family, and revealed a moment of inspiration he took from watching Taylor Swift.
“Standing next to the two people that matter the most to me, we walked into the Bridgestone Arena for my second CMA ever as a nominated artist,” he wrote. “On the biggest night in country music on the biggest stage in Nashville I had the opportunity to stand next to a couple of living legends and praise Jesus in front of the world. Thank you Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, y’all could’ve picked any artist in the world bigger than me, I’ll never be able to thank y’all enough for giving me an opportunity to shamelessly stand on my faith in front of the world.”
He added of this year’s CMA Awards winners, “I know I don’t have to say this but, just so we are clear – Chris Stapleton was and always will be the Male Vocalist of the year as long as he is alive and I think we all agree about that. MORGAN WALLEN MY EAST TENNESSEE BROTHER finally got the flowers he deserves, no one has done more for country music in the last quarter of a century than Morgan has. And Cody, my brother and one of my best friends Cody Johnson, your album Leather is truly one of my favorite albums recorded in the last decade, any win for you is a win for me, you deserved this one, and now I can brag that I’m one of the only features on the CMA album of the year. To my wife and daughter, thank you both. You both stood by me when I wasn’t worth standing by I’m glad we are enjoying this rocket ride together.”
He ended his post by recalling inspiration he has taken from Taylor Swift, when Swift was in a similar situation, after her 2017 album Reputation did not receive a Grammy nomination in the album of the year category — though Reputation did pick up a nomination for best pop vocal album.
Jelly Roll wrote, “Lastly I seeen [sic] a clip the other day of Taylor Swift when she found out her album Reputation was not nominated for album of the year at the Grammys and her first response was “it’s ok, I just have to make a better record” – man that lit a fire under me in a way I’ve never had lit,” he said. “That was ultimate accountability in action in the real moment and that’s why Taylor is the legend she is. That was all said to say, I’m going to write a better album, I’m going to work harder and I’ll be back baby, I will be back. PS REPUTATION was one of the greatest albums ever written.”
See Jelly Roll’s post below: