Jelly Roll really wants to go on an international tour. However, his checkered past is preventing him from taking his music overseas.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The singer said that some countries won't let him come visit due to his past run-ins with the law. Prior to becoming a singer and finding redemption, Jelly Roll was in and out of jail for most of his youth. He finally decided to turn his life around after his daughter was born.
Jelly Roll opened up about his struggles with Jon Bon Jovi himself for Interview Magazine. Bon Jovi asked him if he wanted to go overseas. He said, "I'm so excited. We're figuring out the final pieces of some legal puzzles for me to get overseas."
He continued, "Yeah. It's funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won't let me come because of my felonies. We're working on that. I think it's going to work in my favor."
Bon Jovi is in the singer's favor, saying he would vouch for Jelly Roll. The rock star said, "I hope so. Those are really archaic rules. Entertainers should be able to go and do their job."
Jelly Roll and Bon Jovi Make Quite A Pair
However, Jelly Roll already has outdone some of his family. He said his father stayed put for most of his life. He said, "For the record, I'm a kid from Antioch, Tennessee, whose father never left the southeastern region until he was in his fifties."
That's something that Bon Jovi could relate to, saying his father never left New Jersey. Jelly Roll said, "I still have friends in Antioch who have never left. They've never seen a football game downtown—just watch the Titans on TV every Sunday. I'm like, "You know the stadium is 18 minutes away, right? We can get a ticket for $10."
Meanwhile, Bon Jovi said he relates a lot to Nashville. He said, "We got to spend a good amount of time in Nashville over the years, and I've always said, 'Those are my people,' even though I'm not from there. People say, 'What do you mean?' I go, 'Every kid that pumps gas is a great songwriter or a singer or a musician.' It's not like Hollywood, which to me was always about the acting community. Nashville was always about the magic of song."
Jelly Roll agreed, "A song can break out at a coffee shop here. Literally, you could bump into another writer in the line—'I've been having this idea I've been kicking around.' And he'll pitch a title. 'I love that, let's do it.' That is so the town."
