Tennessee governor pardons country star Jelly Roll, who has sought
redemption from criminal past
[December 19, 2025]
By JONATHAN MATTISE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's governor pardoned country star Jelly
Roll on Thursday for his criminal past in the state, acknowledging the
Nashville native's long road back from drugs and prison through
soul-searching, songwriting and advocacy for second chances.
The rapper-turned-singer whose legal name is Jason Deford has spoken for
years about his redemption arc before diverse audiences, from people
serving time in correctional centers to concert crowds and even in
testimony before Congress.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee issued the pardon after friends and civic
leaders of the Grammy-nominated musician joined in an outpouring of
support.
Jelly Roll's convictions include robbery and drug felonies. He has said
a pardon would make it easier for him to travel internationally for
concert tours and to perform Christian missionary work without filling
out burdensome paperwork.
He was one of 33 people to receive pardons Thursday from Lee, who for
years has issued clemency decisions around the Christmas season. Lee
said Jelly Roll’s application underwent the same monthslong thorough
review as other applicants. The state parole board gave a nonbinding,
unanimous recommendation for Jelly Roll's pardon in April.
“His story is remarkable, and it’s a redemptive, powerful story, which
is what you look for and what you hope for,” Lee told reporters.
Jelly Roll and Lee meet at the governor's mansion
Lee said he never met Jelly Roll until Thursday, when the musician
visited the governor's mansion over the pardon news. The two hugged in
front of a lit Christmas tree and a fireplace decorated with holiday
garlands.
Unlike recent high-profile federal pardons, which let people off the
hook for prison, a Tennessee pardon serves as a statement of forgiveness
for someone who has already completed a prison sentence. Pardons offer a
path to restoring certain civil rights such as the right to vote,
although there are some legal limitations, and the governor can specify
the terms.
Jelly Roll broke into country music with the 2023 album “Whitsitt
Chapel” and crossover songs like “Need a Favor.” He has won multiple CMT
Awards, a CMA Award and also picked up seven career Grammy nominations.
Much of his music deals with overcoming adversity, like the song
“Winning Streak” about someone’s first day sober. Or the
direct-and-to-the-point, “I Am Not Okay.”
"When I first started doing this, I was just telling my story of my
broken self,” he told The Associated Press in an interview. “By the time
I got through it, I realized that my story was the story of many. So now
I’m not telling my story anymore. I’m getting to pull it right from the
crevices of the people whose story’s never been told.”
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This photo provided by the Nashville-Davidson County Sheriff's
Office shows country music star Jelly Roll, left, whose legal name
is Jason DeFord, posing for a photo with Davidson County Sheriff
Daron Hall at the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office Annex in
Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 25, 2025. (Reginald Scott/Nashville-Davidson
County Sheriff's Office via AP)
 Jelly Roll: '‘I was a part of the
problem’
Before the parole board, Jelly Roll said he first fell in love with
songwriting while in custody, calling music a therapeutic passion
project that “would end up changing my life in ways that I never
dreamed imaginable.”
Outside of sold-out shows, he's testified before the U.S. Senate
about the dangers of fentanyl, describing his drug-dealing younger
self as “the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with
drugs I knew absolutely nothing about.”
“I was a part of the problem,” he told lawmakers at the time. “I am
here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution.”
Jelly Roll's most serious convictions include a robbery at 17 and
drug charges at 23. In the first case, a female acquaintance helped
Jelly Roll and two armed accomplices steal $350 from people in a
home in 2002. Because the victims knew the female acquaintance, she
and Jelly Roll were quickly arrested. Jelly Roll was unarmed, and
was sentenced to one year in prison plus probation.
In another run-in 2008, police found marijuana and crack cocaine in
his car, leading to eight years of court-ordered supervision.
Sheriff whose jail held Jelly Roll urged a pardon
Friends and civic leaders cited his transformation in backing a
pardon.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who runs Nashville’s jail, wrote
that Jelly Roll had an awakening in one of the jails he managed.
Live Nation Entertainment CEO and President Michael Rapino cited
Jelly Roll's donations from his performances to charities for
at-risk youth.
“I think he has a chance and is in the process of rehabilitating a
generation, and that’s not just words,” Hall said in a phone
interview Thursday. "I’m talking about what I see we need in our
country, is people who accept responsibility, accept the fact that
they make mistakes and accept the fact that they need help."
The parole board began considering Jelly Roll’s pardon application
in October 2024, which marks the state's five-year timeline for
eligibility after his sentence expired. Prominent Nashville attorney
David Raybin represented Jelly Roll in the pardon case.
Lee's office said no one was pardoned Thursday who had a homicide or
a sex-related conviction, or for any crime committed as an adult
against a minor.
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