Jelly Roll V3.0 Has Arrived + He’s Just What Country Music Needs

The old Jelly Roll died this week, and the man standing in his place is clear-eyed about what his country music constituents need.

Four nights hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! fundamentally changed how we'll view Jelly Roll (real name: Jason DeFord) in the future. Before Monday (Aug. 24), the thermometer measuring his career was falling.

His story was told. His message had become familiar. The rise and fall of his onstage testimony was predictable. He punted on the chance to say something of significance when asked about ICE at the Grammys and then his personal life fell apart.

No, it's not fair to look down on someone going through divorce, but people do it anyway.

READ MORE: Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo Finalize Their Divorce, New Details Emerge

Then he cracked on President Donald Trump for the way he waved the green flag at the Freedom 250 and we all looked up.

Did Jelly Roll Get Political?

About a quarter of Jelly Roll's first three Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologues were dedicated to President Trump.

The jokes were pointed and he offered no apologies, but he also stopped short of drawing a hard line on any serious issues. He talked about politics but didn't really get political. Jay Leno should be proud.

Not convinced? Think about this: today, we don't know how Jelly Roll really feels about immigration enforcement, abortion, gay marriage, the 10 Commandments in schools, the war with Iran or any other issue likely to lead a cable news talk show.

He did come hard on the President's decision to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

“You can’t make the Great Lakes great again. They’re already great. It’s in the f---ing name," he said.

This kind of joke is one talk show hosts have been making about presidents for decades. If Joe Biden was still in office, there's little doubt Jelly Roll would have lit him up too. He said as much on Wednesday.

Resist temptation to treat that sentence like a political endorsement of any kind. The job requires provocation, and that's exactly what Jelly Roll was doing. The writing was sharp, but the delivery was personal.

"Do you think I would take orders from some sweaty little dork named Josh?," he said over accusations that Kimmel's writers were feeding him lines. "I was just telling it like it is."

Randy Holmes, Disney Via Getty Images

I've always found it remarkable how we assign political values to artists without evidence.

Jelly Roll is a great example, and he spoke to this on Thursday. Morgan Wallen is, too. Collectively there's this belief that he's a die-hard conservative, but can anyone point to a statement that espouses conservatism?

For more than a decade, artists with right-leaning alliances (think Jason Aldean) and left-leaning alliances (think Maren Morris) have talked about how artists like them are afraid to talk politics. I think there's a fundamental flaw with that argument.

They aren't afraid. They just don't want to.

Most people artists are somewhere in the middle or too dang busy to craft a thoughtful opinion on Middle East politics or trans athletes. They're singers, songwriters, entertainers, bosses, husbands/wives, parents and a dozen other things to a large network of supporters.

There's a reason that retired people are the loudest about these topics on social media. No one else has the time to separate fact and fiction. What's worse, saying something controversial or saying something stupid?

Ask Jelly Roll.

Jelly Roll Apologizes for His Grammy Misfire

In February, Jelly Roll was asked about ICE and politics after winning three Grammy Awards.

The question wasn't as out of left field as it seems today — a few artists had spoken about immigration enforcement during the broadcast, and with the Super Bowl only two weeks away (and Bad Bunny performing at halftime), the nation was charged up.

Leon Bennett, Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Jelly Roll was caught off guard, and for the first time, he played the "dumb redneck" card.

"I have a lot to say about it," he said, "and I'm going to in the next week, and everybody's gonna hear exactly what I have to say about it in the most loud and clear way I've ever spoke in my life."

The problem was we didn't hear about it again until Thursday night. Reaction to this non-response was an early indication that the love fest for Jelly Roll was wrapping up.

“Looking back, I don’t regret asking for more time before I spoke," he said on Thursday. "I wish people took more time before they spoke. But I do wish I’d found the words to express my heart just a little sooner.”

His response put words to the middle-of-the-road experience. He showed how not having a hot take doesn't mean you don't have an opinion. Silence isn't apathy. Quite often it's maturity.

"Our leaders on both sides of the aisle are doing an absolutely sh---y job of trying to bring us together, y’all," he said toward the end of an 18-minute-long vent.

"I represent those without representation," he offered a few minutes prior.

Is Jelly Roll a Republican or a Democrat?

Jelly Roll didn't commit to being a Democrat or a Republican during his stay in Hollywood. While he did make fun of President Trump to the point that conservatives accused him of having TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), he also made fun of liberals in California.

“Sure, I lean left on some things but like most folks I’m pretty down the middle," he offered. "I am a Christian. I am a country music singer, I am a farmer, I’m a bow hunter and most of the things I eat I prefer to get with a stick and a string. That’s the truth.”

Notable is that he never fell into that rise-and-fall tempo so familiar to fans who've seen him on awards show.

Preaching has become his version of Taylor Swift's shocked face from the early 2010s, and Jelly Roll avoided the trap, even when telling an emotional story about his father (a Democrat) and his uncle (a Republican) and their close bond until the end of life.

Is it possible for a country singer to straddle the center line? Garth Brooks has tried. Toby Keith quietly did for much of his life. Carrie Underwood has swung both ways. All three of these artists are scorned regularly.

Really, the only person in country who truly united people died this week. Dolly Parton never got political, but she did influence social politics in ways few have in the 20th and 21st century.

Her outbursts were rare and often humorous ("Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter?" she asked, speaking to Billboard about the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020).

Jelly Roll is a constellation away from Dolly Parton, but she's a fine North Star.

“I guess since I’ve lost all this weight, folks can finally see I have balls," he cracked.

That's a good start.