Jelly Roll Talks 'Weird' Friendships With Celebrities Like Jon Bon Jovi and Paul McCartney
Jelly Roll was open about why he feels it can be strange to develop friendships with the musicians he idolized as a child during a recent interview.
The country music star was asked about meeting Jon Bon Jovi and Paul McCartney during a Wednesday, June 12 appearance on The Howard Stern Show.
“I lost my mind,” Jelly Roll said as radio host Howard Stern played a clip of the moment the musician, born Jason DeFord, met McCartney. The meeting occurred earlier this year during a MusiCares event honoring Bon Jovi’s lead singer.
“You find yourself in situations that you never would have dreamed,” Jelly Roll, 39, said while looking back on how much he has transformed his life since his early days as a drug dealer. At the MusiCares event, Jelly Roll remembered begging for an introduction to the Beatles legend.
Related: Jelly Roll Reveals Unexpected Nickname Given to Him by Wife Bunnie Xo
"Paul McCartney looks at his manager,” he recalled as he began the story, adding that the “Live and Let Die” singer didn’t realize Jelly Roll was “two feet behind him.”
“He goes, ‘I know who Jelly Roll is.’ And then turns around and throws his fist up, like the Notre Dame Fighting Irish,” Jelly Roll said. "And I’m like, ‘I don’t want no problems, Sir Paul McCartney.’ And he just immediately started loving on me. It was really cool.” At that moment during the filmed interview, Stern’s show shared a clip showing McCartney giving Jelly Roll a big hug at the February event.
“And Jon Bon Jovi’s become a friend,” Jelly Roll continued. “The even weirder part is when it goes past meeting them and you start to develop a relationship with your idols, and you find out that they’re actually really cool people, too.”
Stern agreed that there was an especially strange element to meeting people like McCartney.
“It’s gotta be weird, because, how many hours did you spend in your early life listening to Beatles songs, and there’s the guy standing there who wrote the—like, the guy dreamt up, you know, ‘Hey Jude.’ You know, where does that come from? It’s crazy,” Stern said. The radio host then asked the “Wild Ones” singer if he ever wonders how prolific songwriters like McCartney come up with new material.
“It’s different,” Jelly Roll said. “Some people are just better at it, too. Some people are just—truly have a different gift.”
As the two wrapped up their conversation about meeting their music idols, Jelly Roll shared a fun fact for fans who enjoy his music and that of the Beatles. “I know it’s low-hanging fruit, but ‘Eleanor Rigby’ for me,” Jelly Roll said while identifying his favorite Beatles song.
Next: Jelly Roll’s Son Noah ‘Just Stole the Internet’s Heart’ With ‘Adorable’ New Video
