Thousands packed the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday night to see Grammy-nominated, genre-bending artist Jelly Roll.
Known as both a country musician and a rapper, Jelly Roll recently landed his first No. 1 album on the Billboard charts with “Beautifully Broken,” whose lead single, “I Am Not Okay,” has already reached nearly 60 million streams on Spotify.
But despite the crowd size and the scope of his success, Jelly Roll insisted that the show was a “dysfunctional family reunion.”
“This is a night for love, forgiveness and freedom,” he said.
Opening acts Allie Colleen, Shaboozey and ERNEST are contemporary country mainstays. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
Allie Colleen, Shaboozey and ERNEST opened the show. Colleen – the daughter of Country Music Hall of Famer Garth Brooks – has scored No. 1 hits on the country music charts. Virginia native Shaboozey had the song of the summer with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” and performed a new song, “East of the Massanutten,” named for a mountain in Rockingham County, live for the first time.
Jelly Roll’s childhood friend ERNEST ended his set with “I Went To College/I Went To Jail,” a reference to Jelly Roll’s time in prison. Jelly Roll estimates he’s been in and out of jail about 40 times in his life, in addition to struggling with addiction. That experience motivated him to visit Chesterfield County Jail earlier in the day to meet with men in an addiction recovery program, recalling Johnny Cash’s famous visit to Folsom State Prison. They performed one of his songs for him, so he brought a group of them on stage at JPJ to perform.
“This is my first time doing this,” he said.
From covers of country classics to pyrotechnics, the show offered a variety of vibes, and University Communications senior photographer Matt Riley caught them all.
