I was sitting in beach traffic when I heard a familiar voice bellowing from a lane-splitting biker’s boom box. It was “Son of a Sinner” by Antioch’s own Jason DeFord, better known as Jelly Roll, from his 2021 LP Ballads of the Broken. Then I heard it again and again, at every beach bar with a hog out front. We’re talking Skynyrd-level saturation of the biker scene by the seashore. More than any awards (that includes three CMT Awards, and potentially five more at November’s CMA Awards) or chart positions (his June LP Whitsitt Chapel hit the top three of Billboard’s Rock, Country and all-genre 200 charts), Jelly’s entry into the summer cruisin’ canon proves that his hardscrabble music has crossed over from local-hustler status to pop-culture touchstone in a big way.
Best Country Breakout
Jelly Roll
Jelly Roll at 'Reportin' for Duty: A Tribute to Leslie Jordan' at the Grand Ole Opry House, 2/19/2023
