K. Michelle joined Jelly Roll on stage for a cover duet of “Love Can Build A Bridge” at the 2023 Country Music Awards earlier this week.
Going down at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday night (November 8), the pair delivered their first live performance of their rendition of the hit Judds song. Their cover was released a few weeks prior in dedication to the late Naomi Judd.
Following a standing ovation at its conclusion, Jelly called K. Michelle’s rendition “incredible.”
Jelly Roll also won the coveted Best New Artist at the annual country show and took to Instagram afterward to reflect on the honor.
“I have so much I wanna say and so many people I want to thank you to but for now I just want to say Thank Y’all for the love I’ve received today,” he began. “Im overwhelmed with the comments , the posts , the shares, the text message and emails. On country musics biggest night I was blessed with 60 seconds to tell the world how I felt and I’m honored that 60 seconds inspired somebody somewhere. Love y’all- sincerely YOUR 2023 CMA NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR!”
You can view the performance and Jelly’s post below:
K. Michelle joins Jelly Roll for “incredible” CMA duet as rapper wins New Artist award
via: @ABCNetworkpic.twitter.com/fIBdwsO72a
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) November 10, 2023
In recent months, the Antioch, Tennessee-born Jelly Roll (real name Jason DeFord) — who started out his musical journey as a rapper — has been enjoying huge crossover success as a country-rock singer, thanks to his album, Ballads of the Broken, and its chart-topping hit single “Son of a Sinner.”
After breaking the record for longest reign on Billboard’s Emerging Artist chart in February, Jelly Roll racked up even more accolades in April when he took home three awards at the 2023 CMT Music Awards: Best Male Video, Best Breakthrough Male Video, and Digital-First Performance — all of which were for “Son of a Sinner.”
In June, he dropped his latest album, the country-leaning Whitsitt Chapel. It was accompanied by an ABC News documentary titled Jelly Roll: Save Me, which is described as a portrait of a “raw and unflinching artist, incarcerated as a teen and adult,” who now uses “the power of his platform to raise awareness and funds for at-risk youth across the country.”
The doc also shows how Jelly Roll “balances [his] life on tour with his philanthropic work, including visiting the juvenile detention facility where he was incarcerated multiple times to share his story and inspire positive change.”
At one point in the film, the music maker asks: “Am I chasing a dream or running from the inevitable?”
The doc is streaming now on Hulu.