Brian McCollumDetroit Free Press
Jelly Roll’s sold-out Thursday show at Pine Knob Music Theatre was many things.
It was, in his words, “a family reunion of people healing together,” a night of “real music for real people with real problems.” It was a celebration of the underdog and forgotten man. A tribute to cannabis and recovery from hard drugs.
But it was also a loud, raucous, jubilant snapshot of an artist thick in the heat of his breakout moment, feeling his oats and empowered by the connection his music has made on the big scene.
The burly, face-tattooed Jelly Roll has at last hit the mainstream after years of success on the underground, where his hillbilly-fried hip-hop steadily transitioned into a more standard style of country songwriting. Thursday was the kind of show where a pedal steel player was situated right next to a DJ and it made perfect sense.
While he spent much of his Pine Knob headlining debut with a taking-it-all-in grin, the affable 38-year-old also offered serious moments, most notably in his appeals to support friends and loved ones who are fighting demons.
Jelly Roll’s Backroad Baptism Tour comes in support of “Whitsitt Chapel,” the spiritually tinged hit album by the onetime drug dealer and teenage convict who advocates abstinence from hard substances and champions the therapeutic power of music.
The most notable feature of the Jelly Roll phenomenon is the deep bond he has cultivated with his audience. When the 15,000-plus at Pine Knob on Thursday weren’t lustily singing along, they were hanging on his every word, emotionally invested in an artist who clearly is speaking to them and — given his rising profile — perhaps now speaking for them.
The singer-rapper born Jason DeFord is a Tennessee native, but Thursday had the feel of a homecoming show. Jelly Roll acknowledged as much early on.
His frequent declarations of love for Detroit and Michigan weren’t just tour-stop lip service. Throughout the night, he talked up his debt to the area’s music, from Motown to Eminem, Kid Rock to Insane Clown Posse. He pumped out a cover of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” — lending it a competent rock shout — and saluted the rap duo Twiztid, who gave him his first national tour slot a dozen years ago.
The Pine Knob show was the fastest sellout of this tour, Jelly Roll pointed out. He recounted how his eventual 2022 breakout hit “Son of a Sinner” was initially resisted by radio stations everywhere “except Detroit,” capping his onstage anecdote with a shoutout to WYCD-FM’s Tim Roberts.
It was easy to see why Jelly Roll hits the region’s sweet spot. Between the pyro-packed energy onstage and blue-collar crowd out front, Thursday felt akin to a Kid Rock concert circa 2001, occupying a similar rowdy intersection of rock, country and hip-hop.
Jelly Roll operates in a distinct country music tradition, with sincere songs about the quest for redemption in the face of struggle. But his work takes place in a quite modern context — a 21st-century rural America in the throes of the opioid epidemic and other crippling forces.
“She,” a moving account of a friend’s descent into addiction, came accompanied at Pine Knob by an onscreen promotion for the hotline 800-662-HELP.
Jelly Roll took the stage at 9 p.m. to the crashing chords of “The Lost,” one of several “Whitsitt Chapel” songs sprinkled through the set. While his hip-hop leanings were most obvious on older numbers such as “Hate Goes On” and “Smoking Section,” the influence was still implicit in the rhythmic lyrical flow of new material like “Halfway to Hell.”
“Dead Man Walking” came over searing sheets of sound, “Bottle and Mary Jane” was a slice of heavy rock psychedelia, and an ably delivered medley of hits by Eminem, Eazy-E, Biz Markie and others served as his tribute to classic hip-hop.
Even as he’s embarking on his first major headlining tour, Jelly Roll is thinking long-term: Michigan will always be a must-go tour destination, he said — and he’s already got his eyes on Little Caesars Arena next year.
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@adelgadom.
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