Jelly Roll just wants to “spread love.”
The country star and former inmate took his music to the yard this week, crooning for convicts housed at the maximum security Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
The Grammy-nominated star’s set list at the show in the prison’s yard fittingly included Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” which he personalized to “Oregon State Prison.”
“For the first time in 20 f—— years they have brought music to the prison yard,” Jelly Roll told the prisoners gathered around his impromptu stage.
JELLY ROLL SHARES CELEBRITY ENCOUNTER THAT HAD HIM ‘LOSING HIS MIND’
Jelly Roll performed at Oregon State Penitentiary Monday. (Jelly Roll/Instagram)
“Just trying to spread love,” the “Save Me” singer wrote in the caption for an Instagram video.
He told them, “I wrote my first song behind the walls. It never feels better than to come back behind the wall and sing a song for y’all.”
“If you love drawing, if you love writing, if you love poetry, if you love listening to music, playing the guitar, I just pray that you put that passion into it and live it as much as you possibly can,” he added.
The 39-year-old said friend and famous bowhunter Cam Hanes had encouraged the singer to visit the prison after he made a trip there himself.
Jelly Roll shared photos of himself posing with prisoners. (Jelly Roll/Instagram)
“I was as excited as he was about it, after we chatted for a minute he told me that he had an idea that maybe I could come with him next time and sing songs,” Jelly Roll wrote of Monday’s visit. “I told him right then we was going to make it happen.
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“It felt so good bringing a little light to such a dark place. I am a firm believer that if we commit crimes we should do our time and be held accountable for our actions, but I also believe that every human deserves love no matter how bad of a decision they have made.”
Jelly Roll signing autographs at Oregon State Penitentiary. (Jelly Roll/Instagram)
Hanes was with Jelly Roll during the show.
“What a show. Amazing. These guys enjoyed the show so much,” Hanes said.
Jelly Roll added, “It felt good to go love on these guys. I remember being in a dark place and no one ever coming through and showing us any hope of changing the path of our lives, if one inmate was inspired to do better by my presence yesterday it was worth my weight in gold to stop by and sing.”
He called his visit “chicken soup for the soul,” thanking the prison staff for allowing him to perform.
In his Instagram video, Jelly Roll noted that he had visited prisons before, “but this motherf—– is different.”
“I’m sure I speak for Cam and myself when I say we came into that Penitentiary hoping to bless people and left feeling blessed,” he wrote on Instagram.
Jelly Roll’s set list included Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” which he personalized to “Oregon State Prison.” (Jelly Roll/Instagram)
Jelly Roll stayed around after his show to talk to inmates and sign autographs on the tickets the prison handed out for the concert.
“He was great,” one inmate who met the singer said. Another inmate said after hearing “Save Me” on the radio for the first time, “I got clean that day.”
The singer knows what it’s like. He was arrested dozens of times as a teenager while dealing drugs and first went to jail at 14. Aside from dealing drugs, his charges also included shoplifting and aggravated robbery.
He was charged as an adult at 16 for a robbery that involved a gun.
“I never want to overlook the fact that it was a heinous crime,” he told Billboard last year. “This is a grown man looking back at a 16-year-old kid that made the worst decision that he could have made in life, and people could have got hurt and, by the grace of God, thankfully, nobody did.”
“I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it wasn’t for what I went through,” Jelly Roll told Fox News Digital last year. “I think it empowered me. I think it gave me my voice. It taught me a lot about overcoming. It taught me a lot about changing and the ability to change.
“I was a horrible human for decades, and to just be able to turn that around and give a message in the music and help people … and just try to give back as much as I can in every way I can is very indicative of where I came from and how important it is to me to always reach back.”
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DILLON, Mont. — Low oxygen levels and excess nutrients led the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to officially determine that the Big Hole River is impaired, state officials said.
The conditions are affecting aquatic life and recreation along parts of the river. Officials said the nutrients can fuel algae and plant growth, especially during hot, low-water conditions.
The Big Hole has been the focus of water quality restoration efforts for decades, with more than $1.3 million in federal Clean Water Act funding invested since 1988.
The impairment will be included in DEQ’s next water quality report. Restoration work and funding for the watershed will continue.
A Nevada man is believed to have suffered a deadly fall while climbing in Oregon.
He’s been identified as 77-year-old Robert Pickering.
Search and rescue crews say they found his body along Mount Washington, northwest of Bend, according to a social media post from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
A climbing guide reported hearing a rockslide near the summit after Pickering passed his group.
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office was one of several groups that assisted in the search.
Josh’s Friday Night Forecast
Drier air and hotter temperatures have continued to spread across northern New Mexico today. This has brought very fewer thunderstorms to northern and northwestern parts of the state this afternoon. A few storms across northeastern New Mexico have become strong this afternoon, while isolated storms have developed across southern and southeastern New Mexico.
Temperatures will remain just as hot Saturday afternoon. Rain and thunderstorm chances will increase across the eastern half of the state, while much of western, northern, and central New Mexico stays mostly dry.
High temperatures will cool a few degrees Sunday and Monday as a large area of high pressure remains well north of New Mexico. This will also allow a surge of monsoon moisture to move in from the east and southeast. While low-level moisture will increase across the state, forecast models have trended drier in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere. Storms are still expected to develop Sunday and Monday afternoon, but coverage may not be as widespread as earlier forecasts suggested. Storms will also begin moving from east to west during the afternoon and evening. This pattern is expected to continue through the middle of next week, with drier air returning in the mid-levels and potentially limiting thunderstorm coverage.
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