Jelly Roll’s Plane Made An Emergency Landing

Jelly Roll's plane made an emergency landing on his way to the CMT Music Awards. His wife Bonnie XO, Jelly, and his small crew were flying on a private plane to Texas from Nashville for the CMT Music Awards, which will be held on Sunday (4/7) when the plane they were in malfunctioned.

The plane had to make an emergency landing, and Bunnie posted a video of her and some of Jelly's crew and wrote over the image on TikTok, "When the private jet you're in just stopped mid-air, turned around & said we had to emergency land because of a malfunction."

She captioned the post, "CMT, I swear we're coming #jellyandbunnie."

Several fans commented on the post. One fan observed, "I love how everyone else looks terrified, and Bunnie looks just mad as hell lol. Hope you all are safe and sound!" Another fan said, "Praying!!!! My favorites!!! Please let us know you're ok!!" One more fan wrote, "I'D BE CRYING AND FREAKING OUT."

An hour later, she added, "We landed but might have to get back on the same plane."

If Sunday's (4/7) CMT Music Awards are anything like the last year, Jelly Roll will have a big night. It was at the 2023 CMT Music Awards when Jelly really broke out and started his trip to country music superstardom. He won three CMT Music Awards that night (the first award show he ever attended) and performed his song "Need A Favor" with a full church choir to an astonished and cheering crowd.

This year, Jelly's "Need A Favor" music video is in the final six for the coveted CMT Video of the Year.

The final six CMT Music Videos of the Year vying for the top honor at Sunday night (4/7) show are:

Ashley McBryde - "Light On In the Kitchen"
Cody Johnson - "The Painter"
HARDY - "Truck Bed"
Jelly Roll - "Need A Favor"
Kelsea Ballerini - "If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too)"
Lainey Wilson - "Watermelon Moonshine"

The fan-voted CMT Music Awards will air live from Austin, Texas' Moody Center on CBS on Sunday, April 7th (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT).

Jelly posted on his social media a few days ago about the CMT Music Awards, saying in a video, "See, what you'll don't know is that behind the scenes, that was like our welcoming party to country music. We had never been to an event at that time. It was the first award show we got invited to, and lucky for us, it was a voted awards show."

Jelly Roll at the 2023 CMT Music Awards, holding one of his awards on stage.
Jason Kempin/Getty Images 

Jelly added, "It's back again this year, and we are back up for three awards again, baby. We can do it again with your help. CMT.com, the voting poll, is open. I think you can vote every day. Please, ya'll. This was truly one of the launch pads that made last year the greatest year of my career. Let's recreate history magic again. I love ya'll."

Fans can vote for the winners of the 2024 CMT Music Awards here.

As Jelly Roll celebrates his 39th birthday today (12/4), we celebrate him and the album that brought him to country superstardom, Whitsitt Chapel.

As a journalist who has lived for many years in Antioch, Jelly's hometown and a suburb of Nashville, when I saw the album cover and his tribute to Whitsitt Chapel, it looked pretty familiar to me. The family and I drive by it often on our way to Percy Priest Lake and the recreation area. If my husband wasn't a teacher in another county in Tennessee wanting his kids to go where he teaches, both of my children would have attended Antioch High School just like Jelly did.

When the album was released in June of this year (2023), Jelly Roll described it as "Real music for real people with real problems." He added that the project was "about growth and gratitude happening in my life." The album and his music struck a nerve with listeners, who quicky made it one of the most successful album releases in country music in 2023.

Jelly has been a top award nominee and often a winner. Last month (November), he won his first CMA Award for New Artist of the Year.

Just a couple of days after winning the New Artist award and in Nashville, Jelly Roll learned that he is a three-time GRAMMY nominee for the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will air on February 4, 2024, on CBS.

Jelly posted a video on his Instagram; in the clip, he is openly weeping and wiping tears away. He says, shot on his phone at his Nashville area home, "I'm not sure if I'm gonna post this or not because I'm so emotional, but the greatest honor an artist can ever hear is that they've been nominated for a GRAMMY. I got to hear that this morning."

He paused for a moment to get even more emotional before saying, "I haven't cried like this since my daddy died. I tried to make this video seven times, ya'll."

We gathered five songs from the Whitsitt Chapel album that we believe stand out the most and everyone should know.

An album cut that Jelly co-wrote with Miranda Lambert. In January, Lambert posted to Instagram that she made a new songwriting friend, Jelly Roll. By the looks of it, the two had a great time writing songs. Miranda posted a couple of photos to her Instagram, one with her, Jelly Roll, and a songwriter named Telenitry. She wrote, "Made a new friend this week! Jesse was right when he said we go together like biscuits and gravy! Loved writing a tune with @jellyroll615 and @telemitry." See that post here.

While this song has not been released as a single to country radio, it's well-known by fans and got a massive response when Jelly performed it at his "Backroads Baptism Tour." The song kicks off the album, starting with a clip of a church preacher preaching, "Just save you because he gave his only begotten son." As the music starts, the preacher continues to preach; Jelly begins the song with the lyrics, "I'm a county jail revival / I'm a bottle and a Bible / I'm a rolling stone disciple / With a cross across my face."

Little did Jelly know when he recorded this song with his friend Lainey Wilson that the collaboration would be nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance. The song was also recently nominated for Musical Event at the 2023 CMA Awards. In early December 2023, the song hit the top of the country music charts. They also performed the song at the ACM Awards in May of 2023.

The first number-one country song from this project, but his second number one country song overall. The first number one was "Son Of A Sinner," which was his first country single release before he released Whitsett Chapel. The powerful and relatable lyrics include, "I only talk to God when I need a favor / And I only pray when I ain't got a prayer / So who the hell am I, who the hell am I to expect a savior, oh / If I only talk to God when I need a favor? / But, God, I need a favor,"