Jelly Roll Wins a Historic First-Ever Grammy Award

Jelly Roll has just made history. Again. For the first time ever, the Grammy Awards split its awards for Best Country Album into two separate categories, and in doing so, created a brand new category: Best Contemporary Country Album. Obviously, the subgenre of "contemporary country" has been a thing for a while; it's not like the Grammys just invented it. But, in recognizing this as its own category, the Grammys made history and paved the way for Jelly Roll. And, in a sense, because this category was about creating new genres, it was perfectly made for him.

During the 68th annual Grammy Awards, Jelly Roll—real name Jason Bradley DeFord—picked up the first-ever Grammy for Best Contemporary Country Album. The popular singer praised his wife Bunnie, praised God, and made it clear he felt his faith "did not belong to any political party."

"There was a time in my life that I was broken, that's why I wrote this album," DeFord said in his emotional and passionate speech. Country music legend Reba McEntire stood and applauded Jelly Roll after his speech concluded.

This is actually one of three Grammys that Jelly Roll won this year. He also picked up a Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song. He was first nominated for a Grammy back in 2023 for Best New Artist.