Jelly Roll Found His Way Back to His Faith Through His Music and His Daughter

He isn't exactly a religious country music singer, but Jelly Roll managed to hang on to his faith while also topping charts as a musician before he was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. Jelly Roll's music isn't centered around religion or faith in a major way, but it has dropped clues about what the singer believes. And, over the years, Jelly Roll has opened up about religion and its place in his life.

Jelly Roll's 2023 album "Whitsitt Chapel" was not only named after the church he attended as a child, but many of its themes are steeped in religion in some way. That's not to say Jelly Roll didn't lose his way a bit over the years, but his music has proven that religion has remained part of his life, and sometimes more important than other periods in his life.

In 2023, when "Whitsitt Chapel" came out, Jelly Roll spoke with Taste of Country about growing up in the church and about his daughter finding religion herself and inviting him into that part of her life.

The church where he was baptized as a child was a Baptist church. According to the First Baptist Church of Decatur, being a Baptist is similar to Christianity, but the religion also follows rules of being its own entity with no Pope or Bishop to follow outside of the local church and a fundamental separation of church and state.

When Jelly Roll spoke to Taste of Country, he said that seeing his daughter in church reminded him of his own experiences.

"Her getting baptized, the crazy thing was just all the parallels," Jelly Roll told the outlet. "That's how much her at this church, let alone the baptism, impacted me, that I wrote a whole album themed around it."

In 2025, Jelly Roll spoke to Brandon Lake on Outside the Box about his faith and how he tries to lead with Jesus in mind. He called himself a Christian, which isn't too far off from Baptist, as he was originally baptized. He also shared that he believes God has a plan for him, despite his mistakes and being a "cussing Christian" at times.

"I think there's a lot of people that feel like me there, that have faith and live in it and try to practice it at my core, outside of some of the wild stuff I say or do," he said. "I try to follow what I think Jesus would do in general."

According to People, the first of many times Jelly Roll was arrested for drug charges was at the age of 14. Although he grew up with religion in his life, he admitted that he made some poor choices along the way. Jelly Roll told the outlet that he had to learn to control his substance abuse issues with alcohol and cocaine.

He also said that he believes God gave him a gift and, as a result, he wants to continue to stay out of trouble. Per The Washington Post, Jelly Roll has admitted to using marijuana to curb any more serious temptations, and it seems his faith helps keep him on the straight and narrow for the most part.