At the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday (April 1) night, Jelly Roll took the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles to church.
After an introduction from his old touring pals Shinedown, Jelly Roll hit the stage, surrounded by hundreds of glowing votive candles on a stage that resembled a prism-like church. Looking briefly teary-eyed, the country hitmaker began singing “Save Me,” his Lainey Wilson duet, which topped the Billboard Country Airplay chart late last year.
As he walked toward the audience, Jelly Roll seemed to gain strength as he watched people in the front row sing along and wave their arms. Soon, Lainey Wilson – rocking black leather bellbottoms and a feathery jacket – joined him onstage. Her vocal performance was every bit as impassioned and masterfully controlled as his, and the two were clearly having a blast sharing the stage together. By the end, Jelly Roll was beaming, and both exploded into good-natured laughter as the song wrapped.
Accepting the awards for best new artist (pop) and best new artist (country), Jelly Roll kept the church vibes going with a fiery speech about his life and what it meant for him to win these awards on such a big stage.
“My mama always told me I had a face for radio, baby!” he said, laughing. “I never would have dreamed I would be one of the voices coming through your radio…. You don’t know what it means to a kid like me. What does it mean when a guy like me has the opportunity to be the new pop artist of the year?” he asked, referring to his turbulent youth, which found him spending 12 years in and out of incarceration. “It means that God will always use the least likely messenger with the biggest message, every single time,” he said. “I love you, Jesus, and I love you, Bunnie, my wife.”
