Jelly Roll Explains Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Friendship
Jelly Roll was the surprise guest at Nissan Stadium in Nashville during CMA Fest on Friday night (6/9). Before he took the stage to surprise a crowd of 60,00 plus fans worldwide, he chatted with us backstage.
Jelly told us about his friendship with Dwayne Johnson, who posted on Instagram last week to his 383 million followers to go out and buy his buddy’s new album, Whitsett Chapel. Jelly said, “It’s weird people I’ve become friends with; it’s so cool. Dwayne Johnson reached out to me, I’m gonna say probably 2016 or 2017, and he just said, ‘Hey, I just want you to know I love the music. It really helped me through a tough time in my life.’ And from then to now, every major or minor thing that’s happened in my life Dwayne Johnson has been the first person to send me a message.”
Jelly elaborated, “Whether it was my daughter’s birthday or her graduating 8th grade when I got the Grand Ole Opry, man, that dude sent me probably twenty video messages. He was like, ‘I am so happy for you,’ because he knew what it meant to me. He’s just been a champion for me that shows his support in any way he always can. But when he posted the album, it blew my mind. We just sent each other messages two or three days before that; he didn’t mention it.”
RELATED: Jelly Roll: 'I Used To Dream About' Being In Billboard; He's On The Cover
Jelly adds that being such a good and supportive friend is just how Dwayne does things. He said, “It was just who he is as a person, man. Also, the Rock has got Nashville roots. For those of you that don’t know, he spent some time at McGavock High School, which is where all my family went. So we have all these cool correlations. He really understands country music, and he’s got a crazy story of how one of his first guitars was one of Willie Nelson’s guitars, and it’s crazy, man, it’s cool.”
GALLERY: Jelly Roll Is A Country and Rock Star
