Jelly Roll’s Net Worth Proves Even the ‘Underdogs’ Can Make It

Just a few years ago if you had heard the name "Jelly Roll," you probably would've imagined a sweet treat you could pick up at your local bakery. Today, the stage name of Tennessee native Jason DeFord takes on a whole new meaning. While it might seem like the "Somebody Save Me" artist just popped out of nowhere a few years ago he's actually been making music for the last two decades.

But before Jelly Roll was a singer rivaling top stars like Luke Bryan and Luke Combs, he was just a boy from Nashville with a true rags-to-riches story. Below, we spill the tea on Jelly Roll's net worth and discuss the career that led the star to make millions.

Jelly Roll's Net Worth

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Jelly Roll's net worth sits somewhere around the $12 million mark. Given Jelly Roll just became mainstream about four years ago, it's safe to say he's making somewhere around $3 million a year. While it may be more difficult for him to make as much money as some of his country singer counterparts given his criminal record (he can't leave the country, for example), he's definitely made a good living for himself compared to where he started. 

Related: Luke Bryan’s Net Worth Lives Up to His Career of Country Party Anthems

Jelly Roll's Rags-to-Riches Story

Jelly Roll didn't have the white picket fence upbringing like some of his fellow country stars. He was born into a lower-middle-class family in Nashville, TN, and was the youngest of four. His dad was a meat salesman and his mother struggled with her mental health and her own bout of addiction, something Jelly has opened up about dealing with himself.

While music has always been a part of DeFord's life (he started passing out mix tapes to his fellow classmates around age 9 or 10), at one point or another, drugs got the best of him.

"There was a place in Antioch that would let us cut demos for like 30 bucks an hour,” Jelly Roll told Billboard. “We had a dude who had a rolling keyboard and he’d make beats.”

Around the same time he started passing out mixed tapes, he started selling drugs as a way to make a little extra money.

"I'm just like, 'Yo, here's a sack of weed. Here's a gram of coke. Here's a mixtape.' Know what I'm saying? 'I rap, too!' It was like my business card. Even my drug dealing, to me, was always a means to music" he said in an interview with CBS News.

At age 14, DeFord was arrested for the first time. Over the next nine years, he was arrested more than 40 times for various offenses. It wasn't until age 23, when a guard knocked on his door to tell him he had a daughter, that he finally decided to turn his life around for good.

"A guard knocks on my cell door midafternoon during lockdown,” Jelly told Billboard. “He goes, ‘You had a kid today.’ I’ve never had nothing in life that urged me in the moment to know that I had to do something different. I have to figure this out right now.”

While in prison, he wrote hundreds of songs, which he performed for other cellmates. When he got out of prison, his record didn't allow him to do much else aside from singing, so he took it as an opportunity to further his career.

Jelly Roll's Music Career

Prior to his highly successful career in country music, Jelly Roll's music spanned several genres, including rap and hip-hop. In 2010, after a few years of being in and out of prison, he had his first minor hit, "Pop Another Pill."

But it wasn't until he released his first major label album, Ballad of the Broken, in 2021 that he started to get noticed by the mainstream. His song "Son of a Sinner" was the first song that really put him on the map.

“I saw that pain, vulnerability, that tenderness,” said Jon Loba, former record label president of BMG Nashville. “I loved his vocal. I just said, ‘That’s a country song.’ I was convinced his storytelling, his heart, and his brand would be accepted by our genre.”

That same year he made his debut at Nashville's famous Grand Ole Opry, a goal Jelly had since he was a child. By 2023, Jelly Roll had spent 25 weeks at the top of Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart—the most in history. That same year he won three CMT Music Awards and released another album, Whitsitt Chapel. 

Since his breakout song, Jelly Roll has gone on to create other top hits like an updated version of “Save Me” with country artist Lainey Wilson and “Need a Favor,” both of which reached number three on Billboard’s charts.

Jelly Roll's Awards and Nominations

In September 2023, Jelly Roll received five nominations for the CMA Awards.

“Just being recognized by my peers and by the industry for the work we put in is amazing, especially for my people, this is a win for all the underdogs and forgotten,” he said in a post on X prior to the awards.

Jelly Roll went on to win New Artist of the Year at the show and shared an emotional speech that went viral.

“There is something poetic about a 39-year-old man winning New Artist of the Year. I don’t know where you’re at in your life or what you’re going through, but I want to tell you to keep going, baby," he said. "I want to tell you success is on the other side of it. I want to tell you that the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason because what’s in front of you is so much more important than what’s behind you!”

He was also nominated for two Grammy Awards—Best New Artist and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for his collaboration with Wilson on “Save Me.” Although he didn’t win that night, he's been nominated for an array of awards at this year’s CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year.

Related: Luke Bryan’s Net Worth Lives Up to His Career of Country Party Anthems