Jelly Roll‘s acting debut on “Fire Country” was deeply personal for the singer. The “American Idol” artist-in-residence shared why he connected with the role in such a meaningful way.
Jelly Roll Makes Acting Debut on ‘Fire Country’
Jelly Roll dipped his toe into the acting pool with a role in “Fire Country” season 3 episode 17, titled “Fire and Ice.”
In a video posted on the “Fire Country” Instagram on April 10, Jelly Roll gave some insight into his character, Noah.
“First day ever acting, I like it a lot,” Jelly Roll said of his big debut. “What’s up, y’all, it’s your boy Jason ‘Jelly Roll’ DeFord, but today I am known as Noah.”
He continued, “I’m playing a guy who’s a second chance man, who’s been in and out of prison, but lost his mother due to dementia. So my form of rehabilitation for myself and to give back as a man of service was I came to work at the local nursing home.”
“I really found myself in this guy,” Jelly Roll explained. “When I came home from my last time being incarcerated, where I was so determined to change who I was as a human. If music didn’t work, I have a feeling that I wouldn’t have been far fetched from being Noah working somewhere at some place, just trying to help people.”
He noted, “What I do and what Max [Thieriot, co-creator and star of ‘Fire Country’] does is the same thing. I think we’re both storytellers.”
Thieriot explained, “The moment we first kind of met and started talking about this and it felt so right because what you are doing, what you’re putting out there, and the message that you’re spreading is, obviously, making a huge impact on a lot of people.”
Jelly Roll expressed his gratitude for the show, telling the actor, “Thank you for building an entire show around second chance humans. I mean, I think it’s the heartbeat of America and I think that’s why this show has been such a success.”
He added, “And I’m just honored to be able to bring my style of storytelling to it.”
How Jelly Roll Landed the ‘Fire Country’ Role
In an April 4 interview with Us Weekly, Thieriot shared the interesting way that Jelly Roll got the part — a conversation in the bathroom at the CMT Music Awards kicked things off.
“I said, ‘Thank you for letting us have some of your songs on the show.’ And he’s like, ‘Dude, how do I get on the show? I’ve been petitioning online and talking to my people and you got to get me on that show,'” the actor recalled.
Thieriot noted, “He said ‘Fire Country’ is what he really represents … He called me the next day and it showed how sincere he was.”
They developed a character for Jelly Roll and, of course, the singer was on board. “It tells some of the story about second chances and what he really represents,” Thieriot said. “But [it] also feels different from who he is and how people see him day to day as a country singer.”
