Jelly Roll Vows to Do Rock Album Following Rock Radio Success

Jelly Roll is quickly becoming one of the biggest names in music right now. The musician has credited rock radio for his early success, however, and vowed to do a rock album “soon” as a result of that success.

Jelly Roll spent years making music in the hip-hop genre before transitioning his sound with his 2021 album Ballads of the Broken, which was also his major label debut. One song from that collection, “Dead Man Walking,” reached No. 1 on the Rock Airplay chart in May of 2022, while another track, “Son of a Sinner,” later peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart.

With his latest album Whitsitt Chapel, though, he made history after the track “Need a Favor” became the first song to ever land in the Top 10 of both the rock and country charts at the same time. Both charts have existed simultaneously since Jan. 20, 1990, according to Billboard. So, Jelly Roll has vowed to keep the genre-blending going.

“Rock Radio took a chance on me before anyone did and I’ll never forget that,” the musician wrote on social media last night (Aug. 2). “I promise to drop a proper Rock album soon. 3 weeks Billboard #1 on Rock Radio with ‘Need a Favor’ – thank you again all the stations that did this for me.”

Back in early 2022, Jelly Roll explained his musical transition during an interview on Loudwire Nights.

“I always had a love for the guitar, I grew up in Nashville, so you can throw a rock and hit a guy that can play the guitar,” he recalled. “I’ve always considered my music cathartic, I always called it therapeutic music. So it’s always had this very serious, dealing-with tone, and ‘Save Me’ was just an extension of stuff I was… I just love experimenting sounds. I guess the only person I can really compare it to is Kid Rock — I always knew that I would cross from hip-hop into rock, I just didn’t know how or when.”

READ MORE: 11 Rock + Country Artist Collaborations That Go Hard

Other artists that have found success in the Top 10 of both charts in the past include Bon Jovi, Zac Brown Band, Kid Rock and Brantley Gilbert, among a few others. But as Billboard points out, Hardy is another musician making a name for himself in both the country and rock formats. His 2023 album The Mockingbird & The Crow is half country-half rock, and the song “Jack,” in particular, peaked at No. 3 on the rock chart a few months after its release.