In a country riddled with crises — the opioid epidemic, mass incarceration, the mental health crisis and gun violence among them — Jelly Roll’s music is an expression not just of musical tastes, but also of a desperate national hunger for healing and recovery. Disclosure: Jelly Roll’s music makes me cry, too. I lost a brother and two stepbrothers to addiction and mental illness: Bob was killed in a drug-motivated shooting in 1984. These are the sorts of experiences that Jelly Roll is bringing to the charts: very common devastating experiences of betrayal and survivor’s guilt and despair that, despite their prevalence, are not usually made public. And as the ABC News Studios documentary “Jelly Roll: Save Me” makes clear, he is still struggling.

---

Persons: Rollmania, Bob, Adam, Jim, Jelly Roll’s, Morgan Wallen’s, Wallen’s, ”, “, David Allan Coe, Nan Goldin Organizations: ABC News Studios Locations: Nashville