“Literally, and people not judge you on the old person anymore,” said Jelly Roll.
Rogan added, “I get it for the public safety aspect of it. It’s hard to know if a person’s redeemed themselves.”
“It’s hard,” Jelly Roll agreed. “And if you make the wrong decision, man…I couldn’t bear the burden of your conscience of that neither.”
Jelly Roll shared a moving story of how, because of his improved physical and mental health, he was able to have a special parenting moment with his son. It was something that would have been impossible when he weighed 500 lbs and impossible when he was in his previous mental space. “I thanked God in that moment,” said Jelly Roll. “I said, ‘Jesus, thank you. I’m ready for this.’”
“I keep mentioning God because my faith in him grows so much stronger every day,” the country artist said.
Later in the conversation, Jelly Roll commented, “I didn’t plan on talking about this, but it’s a perfect time because I learned such a lesson in it.” He mentioned that he and Brandon Lake’s “Hard Fought Halellujah” got nominated for a Grammy and that he got the chance to perform it at the Vatican.
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“First live concert ever in St. Peter Square,” he said. “It might have been my best vocal performance of my career.”
Jelly Roll described to Rogan how incredibly nervous he was prior to that performance, which was organized by Pharrell Williams and Andrea Bocelli. “Everybody was either singing with Pharrell or Bocelli but me,” said Jelly Roll. “I was the only person in that whole event that was singing alone. So I get super nervous. I’m like, ‘Why did I end up alone?’”
When he went out to do the sound check, Jelly Roll said he was informed that Jennifer Hudson would be joining him near the end of the performance. “I was like, ‘The Jennifer Hudson?’” he said. “They were like, ‘Yeah.’”
Hudson was “so sweet,” said Jelly Roll, and she asked him if he had any notes or suggestions for her. “[She’s] one of the greatest female vocalists ever,” Jelly Roll told Rogan. “I do not have a suggestion. We’ll start there. Jennifer, I’m embarrassed you have to sing near me, you know what I’m saying?”
“Then it hit me and I looked at her and I’ll never forget this moment,” said Jelly Roll. “She goes, ‘What do you think we should do?’ I said, ‘We give them Jesus.’ I said, ‘I think that’s why I’m here alone. I think, you know, I’m the one that’s supposed to bring Jesus here.”
“And I go, ‘This is supposed to be the church we grew up in, Jennifer,’” he said. “She was like, ‘That’s all I needed to hear.’”
“Just when I had the best vocal performance of my life, Jennifer Hudson comes out and takes them to church,” said Jelly Roll. “It’s a full praise and worship at that point. Two hundred choir members, hands up in the sky. We’re in front of St. Peter’s facility. They’re worshiping out there, dude. Hands are in the sky, dude.”
“It was such a Jesus moment,” Jelly Roll said. “I’m looking at the cardinal. going, ‘Can we get a little praise for Jesus in here tonight? Can we get a little praise for Jesus in here tonight?’”
“I never had more impostor syndrome,” the country artist said of the experience. “And I prayed and I was like, ‘God, I cuss. I smoke…How am I being a vessel here?’” That’s when Jelly Roll “heard it just so clear like, ‘Dude, just open your hands…Just. Got you.’”
