Like so many stars before him, Jelly Roll faces accusations that he doesn't make "real country music." Yet as the "Save Me" singer sees it, his music fits the simplest and most time-tested definition of what makes music country.
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"To me, country music is three chords and the truth, and I know in my soul that what I do ... is write three chords and the truth," he said on the "Full Send" podcast. "I know if I don't write nothing else, I write the truth."
Talk then turned to the real or perceived differences between country living and country music.
"There's being country and being country music," Jelly Roll explained. "Because even country music as far as time has been wasn't always just super country rednecks, you know what I mean? It's like country music's always had a wide stroke. Like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson wasn't singing about fishing or hunting, and they were as authentically country as you could be."
Jelly Roll concluded that by multiple measures, he's as country as they come.
"So the country thing — long answer Bubba because I've been wanting to talk about this — is to me, it's just my spirit is country music," he explained.
On Sunday (Feb. 18), Jelly Roll took home the People's Choice award for Male Country Artist of the Year. He wasn't on hand to receive the fan-voted prize because of a prior commitment in his hometown.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there. Here's the truth: I'm actually standing in the juvenile courthouse right now," he explained in a video posted on Twitter. "I just walked out of the juvenile facility. We partnered with the Beat of Life to bring a music program to the kids."
