Jelly Roll rocked the stage on Friday night at the Stagecoach Festival.
The singer, 39, who appeared in a good-cause TV commercial, took to the T-Mobile Main Stage in Indio, California, and wowed the crowd with his own spin on country music as he made his Stagecoach debut.
The hitmaker was joined by several guests during his set, including T-Pain, with whom he recorded a version of the late Toby Keith’s Should’ve Been A Cowboy, which was released on Amazon Music on the same day.
Jelly Roll roamed the stage wearing a short-sleeve black button down over a black T-shirt with black pants and boots.
He placed a billed cap backward over his dark hair, and he sported a neatly trimmed beard was neatly.
Jelly Roll, 39, rocked the stage at his Stagecoach Festival debut in Indio, California, on Friday night
T-Pain, 39, took to the stage wearing a pink track suit with blue cutouts and a white T-shirt and sneakers.
His dark hair was styled in braids and he wore white sunglasses beneath the bright stage lights.
In an interview with Variety, Jelly Roll said he was thrilled to be honoring Toby Keith, who died in February after a two-year battle with stomach cancer.
‘Amazon just came to us and talked to us about partnering for something cool for Stagecoach and, as I was flipping through the ideas, I had been covering Should’ve Been A Cowboy for about a year now at most of my shows, just kind of honoring Toby as he was getting sick before he passed away,’ he explained.
‘Then I really started chewing on, man, what better place to honor Toby than Stagecoach? Plus, Toby Keith was one of the artists that from afar, even though he would never have known it, encouraged me to do country music.’
The iHeart Radio Music Award winner said following Keith’s example ‘encouraged me and empowered me.’
‘He was very individualistic and carved his own path and he did it his own way, from pillar to post. He never knew it, but he was a mentor to me, just watching him from afar,’ he said.
As for adding T-Pain to the mix, the artist explained: ‘I love T-Pain and I love his work and I was thinking about who would be a perfect surprise guest for Stagecoach that nobody would see coming.’
‘I love putting together odd pairings, because I think I’m an odd pairing by myself,’ he explained self-deprecatingly.
The Bartender artist had been a co-presenter with Keith at the 2009 CMT Awards and both men are giving the proceeds from the new Should’ve Been a Cowboy single to the Toby Keith Foundation, which helps children with cancer.
‘I just figured that we’re doing it for Toby and the cool thing was, I called T-Pain with that and he didn’t hesitate.’
The hitmaker was joined by several guests during his set, including T-Pain, with whom he recorded a version of the late Toby Keith’s Should’ve Been A Cowboy, which was released on Amazon Music the same day
‘I love T-Pain and I love his work,’ Jelly Roll told Variety, ‘and I was thinking about who would be a perfect surprise guest for Stagecoach that nobody would see coming’
The new track honors the late Toby Keith who died in February after a two year battle with stomach cancer (Pictured Nashville in September 2023)
Both Jelly Roll and T-Pain will be donating proceeds from their version of Should’ve Been A Cowboy to the Toby Keith Foundation, which helps children with cancer
The CMT Award winner explained why he has backed away from social media. ‘It wasn’t just bullying (over his weight) that did it. It was not only the toxicity of social media, but the addiction of it,’ he said.’I was becoming too busy to waste hours of my life scrolling,’ he said
The artist who has walked away from social media, explained his decision following his wife Bunnie XO’s assertion it was due to being bullied over his weight.
‘It wasn’t just bullying that did it. It was not only the toxicity of social media, but the addiction of it,’ he said. ‘I was becoming too busy to waste hours of my life scrolling.
‘I can honestly say that I’ve been off social media for a few months now and I’ve never felt better or healthier mentally — never felt more clearheaded,’ he claimed.
‘I’ve also never had less of an idea what was going on in the world, but I tell you what, I’m definitely not coming back before the election,’ quickly adding, ‘Bad joke.’
