Fresh off the high of this weekend’s CMTs, where Jelly Roll swept the Awards with a trio of wins, and newly-nominated for four ACM Awards, including top honor of Entertainer of the Year, country music’s newest superstar took the stage for his debut ACL TV performance in high spirits, grabbing the microphone and shouting, “50 years of Austin City Limits!” The high energy audience was here for it, on their feet from start to finish, cheering along the Nashville singer/songwriter and band as they performed a blazing set which included unreleased new material that’s never been performed live… until now.
Kicking off the hour with “Halfway to Hell” and “The Lost” from his record-breaking Whitsitt Chapel, Jelly Roll took time in between songs to acknowledge the adoring crowd, responding to intermittent “I love yous” and waving thankfully. He waxed poetic about his love of Austin City Limits – “I’ve been watching this since I was a child.” Jelly was quick to cite many of the country greats and ACL forebears that have influenced him from a young age, from Willie Nelson to Merle Haggard to George Jones: “I’ve got [ACL] posters on my walls from shows I never went to.”
Jelly Roll gave a disclaimer to the audience, saying they were going to debut some new songs live for the first time, and might have to restart, before thrilling the crowd with a pair of unreleased tracks, “Liar” and “Winning Streak,” from his forthcoming album. He went on to say no one outside of his wife and close friends had heard these (we also learned the band had only first heard the songs earlier that day), asking the audience for grace as they delivered the new songs flawlessly.
Next, Jelly Roll performed a cover of Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” introducing the song with the sentiment, “country music lost a legend this year.” From there, he dove right into a monologue about musical influences and how he and his siblings were into massively varying genres – he was raised on country, while his sister was into rock and his older brother into hip hop and rap music. This segued into a medley of bangers, from Eazy-E’s “Boyz-in-the-Hood,” to DMX’s “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem.” Jelly capped it off with Biz Markie’s anthem “Just a Friend,” inciting an ecstatic, audience-wide singalong.
Jelly Roll and his 7-piece band, including longtime guitarist Casey Jarvis, went on to deliver back to back favorites from his hit albums, A Beautiful Disaster and Whitsitt Chapel, while also finding opportunity to sprinkle in a new tune, “I’m Not OK,” alongside “Smoking Section” from Therapeutic Music Collection.
Jelly Roll left the stage for a quick break toward the end of “Bottle and Mary Jane,” as Casey Jarvis and Jack Fowler ripped wailing guitar solos back-and-forth.
Jelly Roll closed his set with “She” and “Save Me,” taking a moment to reference his recent appearance before Congress to urge lawmakers to pass legislation combating the distribution of fentanyl. As the audience applauded, Jelly flashed the “hook ‘em horns” gesture, saying after the CMT Awards at the Moody Center Sunday night, the longhorn culture has started to rub off on him. One thing is certain after carving his name in ACL history, Austin would be happy to welcome Jelly Roll back any day.
Jelly Roll performs on Austin City Limits, April 9, 2024. Photos by Scott Newton.
SETLIST:
Halfway to Hell – Whitsitt Chapel
The Lost – Whitsitt Chapel
Son of a Sinner – Ballads of the Broken
Liar – new song
Winning Streak – new song
Cover of Toby Keith “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”
Covers of DMX, “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem,” Eminem – “Lose Yourself,” Outkast, “Ms. Jackson,” Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend,” Eazy-E’s “Boyz-in-the-Hood”
Creature – A Beautiful Disaster
Bottle and Mary Jane – A Beautiful Disaster
Need a Favor – Whitsitt Chapel
I’m Not OK – new song
Smoking Section – Therapeutic Music Collection
She – Whitsitt Chapel
Save Me – Whitsitt Chapel
MUSICIANS:
Jelly Roll – vocals
Cody Ash – drums
DJ Chill – DJ
Casey Jarvis – guitar
Roosevelt Collier – pedal steel (note: he’s a Sacred Steel player)
Joe Andrews – keyboards, guitar
Alex Howard – bass
Jack Fowler – guitar