WATCH: Jelly Roll Gets Emotional Returning To His Old Jail Cell In New Interview

How can you not like this guy?

On Sunday, “CBS News Sunday Morning” aired an interview with Jelly Roll. The sit-down served as a sort of introduction to Jelly and his story for the morning show’s broader audience who might not be familiar with him.

Kelefa Sanneh, the interviewer form CBS, was very complimentary of Jelly throughout the piece. With his introduction to the meeting, Kelefa acknowledged the unique circumstances of Jelly’s ascension, saying:

Someone was asking me, ‘What is the precedent for this Jelly Roll story?’ And I said, ‘It’s not really like anything.’

Following this, the pair took a trip to the Nashville County Detention Center where Jelly was incarcerated as a young man. They took a tour together and made their way to Jelly’s old cell, which brought back old memories for the Grammy nominee. Upon entering the cell, he noted:

It still smells the same, though.

Jelly has never been afraid of his emotions, and the sights and sounds of his once again brought him to tears.

There was a time in my life where I truly thought this was it… and then coming here, you know, just after getting nominated for two Grammys it just hits different.

The emotions seemed to take Jelly by surprise as he explained where his head space was during his stay in the jail.

I didn’t think I’d get emotional to be honest, but every time, just this cell you just think man… even when I left here I didn’t have a plan.

Interspersed with clips from the prison were segments of Kelefa asking Jelly questions back in the studio. Sanneh explained to the audience that Jelly’s nickname came from his mother when he was a young boy. He then asked Jelly about the nickname, to which he had this to say:

To this day my mother calls me Jelly. If somebody walked in here right now and called me Jason I wouldn’t look up.

Moving back to the jail cell, Jelly talked about how music got him through his time while incarcerated, and showed the small metal desk where he wrote, in his words, “hundreds of songs.”

Jelly then told the story of finding out he had just had a baby girl. Jelly has previously cited the news as the moment he decided to turn his life around, and he retold the memory for Sanneh.

He said, ‘DeFord, you had a kid today.’ I said, ‘what?’ He said, ‘yeah, yeah, you had a child.’ And I was like, ‘What’s her name?’ And he said, Hell I don’t know.’

The interview then shifted to tell the basics of Jelly’s story following his prison stays, including meeting his wife Bunny XO, raising his daughter Bailey, and the transition from rap to country following the success of his acoustic cut of “Save Me” in 2020.

A big part of Jelly’s success is his relatability as a performer and his ability to connect to his audience through his lyrics. Sanneh asked him about being an inspiration while still being someone figuring it out themselves, and Jelly said:

I think that it’s cool to see vulnerability that way, and that we can all grow together. And that it’s okay to not have it figured out at 35, it’s okay not to have it figured out at 25, it’s okay to not have it figured out at 15. Just know that you can figure it out and believing that.

Jelly continues to be one of the feel good stories in country music, and seeing the roots of his dark past that led him to being the man he is today is a powerful visual. There aren’t many artists more authentic than Jelly, and his star is only on the way up.

Check out the full interview here.