Six-time Country Airplay chart-topper and CMA entertainer of the year nominee Jelly Roll has had a meteoric year filled with new career milestones, and his headlining The Beautifully Broken Tour has played at venues this year including Los Angeles’s crypto.com Arena and NYC’s Madison Square Garden. But his heart is with his Nashville-area hometown — which is why the recent Billboard 200 chart-topper was adamant about adding a Nashville show to his already-packed tour schedule.
“There’s no place like home,” he told the crowd repeatedly during his sold-out, headlining show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night (Nov. 26). It was clear that Nashville’s hometown hero was on a mission to bring joy, hope and healing to those in attendance, by operating at an elite level across the board, in terms of hits, musicality, production, energy, audience engagement and, yes, surprise guests.
“This is a family reunion of people who are healing together,” he said during his set. The show also marked a powerful return for Jelly Roll, marking his first headlining concert in Nashville since his show at the same venue in December 2022.
The tour’s namesake album, Beautifully Broken, recently topped the all-genre Billboard 200, and his The Beautifully Broken Tour stop in Nashville featured many songs from the new album, while conveying a mix of pulsating, soul-cleansing music, powerful messages, an environment to let loose and party, but most of all, to put forth an environment to find encouragement, acceptance and healing, and a safe space that that acknowledges how recovery from any pain or addiction is rarely linear.
Alexandra Kay opened the show, performing songs including “Easy,” “I Hate Airplanes” and “Everleave.” She made use of the full stage during her performance, easily connecting with fans, her set punctuated by songs from her 2023 debut album All I’ve Ever Known, which was inspired by her story of weathering a divorce and coming out stronger for it.
“Thank you for letting me share my stories and be vulnerable with you,” she said, adding, “Know that you are not alone and it gets better.” She also thanked Jelly Roll, saying, “Shoutout to Jelly Roll for believing in an independent, female artist.” Later in the evening, she joined Jelly Roll to perform “Wild Ones” (recorded by the headliner and Jessie Murph), where it was revealed that she just signed a label deal.
Next up was Jelly Roll’s fellow Nashville native and longtime friend, ERNEST, who as a songwriter has quickly cemented his place as a cornerstone of many of Nashville’s current hits and albums, with his credits including a plethora of Morgan Wallen songs — such as the CMA song of the year-nominated “I Had Some Help” and “More Than My Hometown” — as well as Jelly Roll’s “Son of a Sinner,” Florida Georgia Line’s “Dig Your Roots” and Keith Urban’s “Wildside.”
He’s also notched his own hits with the Morgan Wallen collaboration “Flower Shops,” and on Tuesday night, he brought the songs proliferating his recent album, Nashville, Tennessee, back to their origins in the city and writing community that inspired them. Notably, the album fits squarely in the current moment of country music’s leaning toward more traditionally country sounds, as fiddles and acoustic guitars were spotlighted on songs such as “Tennessee Queen,” “Why Dallas” and “Ain’t As Easy.” Perhaps a nod to his songwriter roots, ERNEST primarily stayed close to center stage, letting the music flow over the crowd.
“I love playing country songs in Nashville, Tennessee,” Ernest said at one point. Among those country songs was a three-decade old song written by Dean Dillon and Skip Ewing, which is now Ernest’s current radio single, “Would If I Could.” Another was a pared-back, acoustic version of another song he wrote, Wallen’s “Wasted on You,” highlighting Ernest’s protean songwriting abilities.
From there, the first major guest arrival of the evening happened, as reigning CMA entertainer of the year Morgan Wallen joined Ernest onstage to perform “Flower Shops” and “Cowgirls.” Instead of a catwalk ramp down the middle of the audience, Jelly Roll’s stage placed two catwalks on either side of the audience, allowing artists closer to both those on the main floor and in the tiered seats. ERNEST and Wallen made use of the stage, with each performing to one side of the audience, before joining forces on the mainstage.
Following the duo of songs with Wallen, Ernest ended with the wholly appropriate version of the Hank Jr. classic “Family Tradition.”
Jelly Roll got right down to the business of connecting with and showing gratitude for his fans from the moment he stepped into the arena, celebrated by the cheers of fans packed into the Bridgestone. He made his way through the crowd, greeting fans and shaking hands, before taking the steps up to a satellite stage at the back of the arena. From there, a building frame that had been set afire lowered from the ceiling, framing Jelly Roll as he launched into the first song, “I Am Not Okay” (his sixth Country Airplay chart-leader).
“I hope it’s the best show you’ve seen in your f—king life,” he told the crowd, before launching into a set that offered up a keen blend of songs that pulled from Jelly Roll’s current country hits, songs from his Beautifully Broken album, as well as his deep catalog of rap releases and a heavy dose of classic hip-hop songs. The set leaned into musical traversing of Jelly Roll’s musical journey and an amalgam of country, hip-hop, rock and gospel.
After performing “Halfway to Hell” and his first country No. 1, “Son of a Sinner,” he told the crowd how his mother influenced his love of country music, playing 1970s, 1980s and 1990s country music. That influence was evinced as Jelly Roll performed a solo version of Brooks & Dunn’s “Believe,” and was joined by Ernest for a rendition of Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places.” He also noted the plethora of other influences, including the gospel music influence from his years spent at Antioch, Tennessee church Whitsitt Chapel (the namesake of his first country album), while his older brother introduced him gangsta rap, thus explaining how Jelly Roll’s concert was able to flawlessly guide the audience on a spectrum of country constructions, high-octane rock and rap, to confessional spiritual moments. He sailed into Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” before diving deep into his own catalog of rap music he released prior to his country and rock hits, welcoming a few lifelong friends and musical comrades to join, including Yelawolf on “Unlive” and Struggle Jennings on “Fall in the Fall.”
The guest appearances continued as Keith Urban joined Jelly Roll to reprise their CMA Awards performance from last week, with Urban lending his ace guitar skills to Jelly Roll’s “Liar.”
Beyond simply having hit songs, Jelly Roll’s mission has centered on helping those who are battling with various emotional traumas, pain, addiction, depression and hopelessness. His concerts blend uplifting, cathartic anthems, his passionate, motivational speaker moments, and moments where churning rock jams careen into a soulful Sunday morning church vibe — and fans have responded mightily to having a place where their dreams, disappointments and realities can reside, judgement-free. Several fans held up signs celebrating sobriety and recovery, and Jelly Roll celebrated them from the stage.
“There are people who are still a prisoner of their past,” he said at one point, as soft piano music accented his message. “There’s no better night than tonight to let go of it. There’s no better night than tonight to find freedom. There is no better night than tonight to stick your chest out and believe in change. Miracles happen and you must believe. This is more than music, this is more than a concert. This is a family reunion of people who are healing together. Tonight we get to turn our mess into a message. Tonight we get to turn our obstacles into opportunities. Tonight is that magical moment where we finally take all of this pain and we take it and turn it into purpose at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I make real music for real people that have been through real s–t in real life.”
From there came of the most stirring collabs of the evening, on a song he called “one of the hardest songs I wrote in my life,” as Skylar Grey joined Jelly Roll for the ballad “Past Yesterday” — a stark look at the long-term effects of abuse.
The later portion of the evening found Jelly Roll further delving into his passion for rap and hip-hop, singing Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson,” before the evening got a final major surprise when Snoop Dogg took the stage, performing songs including “Drop It Like It’s Hot” before he and Jelly Roll debuted a new song that will be on Snoop Dogg’s upcoming album. Given that the new song interpolates the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers classic “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” Snoop and Jelly Roll celebrated by ending the song by trading a few puffs.
As Snoop Dogg left the stage, a large cross pendant lowered to the stage as Jelly Roll launched into his spiritual-minded, reconciliatory hit “Need a Favor,” followed by a song from his Beautifully Broken album, “Heart of Stone.” Throughout the evening, Jelly Roll was supported by an ace band and a trio of exquisitely talented vocalists, all equally adept at churning, blistering rock numbers and ceiling-scraping, soulful gospel tones.
As Jelly Roll stepped off the main stage and made his way through the crowd yet again, he returned to the stage at the back of the arena, ending the show as he started it, by addressing those relegated to the cheap seats and giving them the best seats in the house. By then the fiery building frame had been doused in water as Jelly Roll launched into “Save Me.” Water rained down over the singer, as the scores of fans in the audience raised their hands and sang along, immersed in their own emotional cleansing, bolstered by a concert and songs that aim to meet them, understand them, and encourage them right where they are.
