The Surprising Reason Jelly Roll Thought Vodka Was Sweetener

Jelly Roll recently spoke with Eric Church for a joint interview on stage at the 2025 Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, where the "Save Me" singer got extremely candid about his upbringing and revealed something that we didn't know about him.

Church asked Jelly Roll about his childhood and what it was like.

"We lived in a lower middle class neighborhood. Mother kind of struggled with drug addiction, Daddy drank," Jelly Roll told a totally engaged and focused Church.

"I was probably 13 years old when I found out vodka wasn't a sweetener," he recalled to Church, who laughed out loud at that statement.

Jelly explained, "If you watch vodka getting poured into a Stanley coffee cup your whole life at 5AM, you just assume it's fu--ing Sweet 'N Low. Until you're 13 and you're old enough to want to drink some Sweet 'N Low with your coffee," he added, laughing along with the audience.

As Jelly recalled, that led him to showing up drunk to elementary school one day.

"I'll never forget that conversation," he said with a hearty laugh:

Jelly Roll and Church spoke as part of an event called "The Conversation," which took place on Friday (Feb. 21) as part of the last day of the 2025 Country Radio Seminar in Nashville.

7 Things That Only Make Sense in Jelly Roll's Bar

Jelly Roll opened his own bar in Nashville in 2025, called Goodnight Nashville. Like so many other watering holes owned by country artists, this place has the star written all over it. Check out some of the elements that just makes sense in his bar.

Gallery Credit: Jess

Jelly Roll: 25 Stunning Facts About the 'Save Me' Singer

Jelly Roll is country music's most fascinating character. His life has taken dozens of wild twists and turns, and he's been honest about all of it. Here are 25 facts about the "Save Me" singer and his family.

Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes

20 Songs Jelly Roll Plays The Most During His Shows

Jelly Roll has been a touring machine in recent years. He is following up a busy 2023 with a another huge tour in 2024.

We recently went through all of the setlists from his shows using Setlist.fm to determine the songs you'll mostly likely hear if you get tickets to a Jelly Roll show. Here is a look at his most played songs.

(NOTE: Song stats are through March 26, 2024)

Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll

11 Songs that Foreshadowed Jelly Roll's Country Music Career

Jelly Roll has taken the country music world by storm over the past year, and he will release his first full-length country album, Whitsitt Chapel, on June 2. Before he jumps right into the deepend of the genre, let's take a walk down memory lane. There are 11 songs that seemed to foreshadow his country music career.