Is Jelly Roll the future of music?

[Lady Stanley]

What does "the snowflaking of guitar based music" even mean?

Since the early 2000s virtually anyone can make a rock album in their basement. It means you have a surplus of content and people are giving it out for free. The only way to stand out is to be unique is a sea of sameness. In the past you stood out by getting fame/success/album sales. To even record an album you needed serious money. It meant there was a content control mechanism in the industry. There was only so much content and you had to go through the distribution system.

Nowadays you have more or less endless content for free and everyone listens to music on their phones/computers, so people pick and choose what they want personally, so it's way less common for people to compare and share albums.

Add to that rock music is usually abrasive when live. Without all the studio magic guitar based music can sound harsh, at least to people who aren't already a fan of it.

Country figured out how to surpass all of these obstacles by keeping a foot hold in radio, while also creating a conformist writers circle that is preventing the audience from splintering. People dislike that it's "manufactured" but it is this feature that keeps fanbases together.

If you go to a country concert you know what you're gonna get.

If I tell you we're gonna see the "blue liners" tonight you have no idea if you're getting thrash metal, screamo, prog, death metal, math rock you name it.

That's not to mention without the fame element men write music mostly for men or a specific scene, so the audience turns into a very niche thing.

Music that isn't based on instruments don't have to worry about the live sound issue, and it's easier to transmit it through radio/dance clubs etc.

Also rock doesn't have a place of social relevance. In the past it started as rebellion but then started to reflect your lifestyle. What you listened to influence your friendships, your marriages etc. Nowadays you pick up someone's phone and it reflects little about their life around them.

Country is one of those exceptions in that it does sort of reflect someone's lifestyle and values and the people they're looking to connect to. You can see country music as a manufactured daisy duke wearing facade, you'd be right but there's not a lot of better options.

Jelly Roll could be the thing that pushes the genre over the edge, because as an icon he has that "it" factor. He can go elbow to elbow with Morgan Whallen, Luke Combs, Kane Brown etc, but they can't be like him. You can't fake 400 pounds and face tats. That may mean absolutely nothing to you, but the fact he's a sympathetic character from the other side of the tracks is a huge deal for people who avoid country because of the manufactured bro factor. You can go to a Liberal arts college and get a girl doing a master in collaborative dance his biography and she might be interested.

 

[Xelebes]

The big problem is that country is in a relatively stable and modest state and has been for decades. That counts for something but it is not going to take crowns. It serves a market and it serves it well. For most trends and techniques, it lags behind the other industries simply for the fact that it has smaller labels with smaller budgets. It operates lean and traditionalism is its strategy to keep it going strong.

Another thing going for it is that for its larger acts, it has a target demographic (older women) that it caters to. So put in a hunky 35 to 40 year old man and you'll have the ladies swooning. The fact that Jelly Roll has been in the industry for more than a decade suggests that when he steps into country music, he is looking to fulfill a role moreso than be any model for an industry whether in business or technique. The fact that fans are rather incredulous that such a man is doing it is. . . not surprising but not really telling me anything.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Discovered this guy just a while ago, was pretty shocked, getting a Kurt Cobain/Jimi Hendrix/Jim Morrison kind of vibe from the guy. He comes across as a true icon of the times.

One jelly roll i know is rag time artist Jelly Roll Mortom

Jelly Roll Morton - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Roo Returns]

Luke Combs, "The Luke Combs" says hi!


The fact he's a big fat tatoo'd mess is his branding that the manufacturers of music can't get their hands on.

Luke Combs and you can throw in Chris Stapleton are both country/country crossover though. I 100% realize the industry is different from back in the days when people bought CDs (more on that in a second) but when you bring up Cobain, Prince, etc........I just don't see Jelly Roll on posters, t-shirts, kids picking up guitar the same way the greats did. When I was a pre-teen and into a teenager, everyone was trying to learn Nirvana, Metallica, RHCP, Green Day songs on instruments, everyone had band t-shirts etc.

Even someone like Post Malone....he's very successful but what will his legacy be in 2-3-5 years when the industry changes and gets away from the autotune and triple hi hat beats?

There's so much more instant gratification and songs come and go so fast, the industry is in a lot more ways like the old school wrestling: territorial or tribal. Albums aren't as popular as they were, and there's maybe like 4-5 songs that are huge or define a year. Everything else is here one week, gone the next.

Even that new Beyonce album which "did well", I finally heard one song at the gym the other week. Counter that to Harry Styles, who had a song that was everywhere (in malls, in public, etc.) or The Weeknd.

I think this Jelly Roll guy can do very well, but he's not going to get to that Hendrix/Marley/Prince/Cobain status, and may not even have a song like Styles or The Weeknd.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

For country music to be the big thing this generation it needs to be the genre where people are overtly doing it to chase fame/sex/money. Rap blew up in part imo because after grunge's self importance, stuff like Biggy and Puffy making an overpriced music video on a yacht stood out. Go into the 2000s and you still had prominent stuff like the Strokes and the White Stripes getting great reviews but not having as big of songs as In Da Club. Rap guys became the stars after rock artists relinquished it in favor of artistic credibility.

Likewise a few decades into rap's dominance, two of the most talented rappers of the 2010s imo in J Cole and the beforementioned Kendrick Lamar take themselves very seriously as artists, and rap as a genre has become the most critically favored. So someone needs to be just out here having a good time. It could be rock again or it could be country. Enter Morgan Wallen, a guy who has like 40 songwriters on his album so he's not really that much of an artist, but seems like a relatively non-deep guy who likes to party, has female fans (I found a subreddit called r/MWWives). Is he the guy to usher in next generation of young people being into Pop Country? Maybe, maybe not, but I'd guess it's more likely than this Jelly Roll bruh. He is predicted to have 5 of the top 10 on this week's billboard including #1:



Is the song good, idk. Was it stuck in my head a few days after I heard it, admittedly yes. If you turned the sound off in this video wouldn't it look like an 80s power ballad video? Maybe this is how masculine cheese that drops the panties comes back.

I do think this one is genuinely decent, it's like if Prince wrote a country song:



Now personally this guy Zach Bryan is much more my style, I see real emotion and lyrical skill. However we know that it doesn't always work that way in terms of who's biggest. Still, he also has a big role to play if country is on the rise, and is also quite popular right now.





Combined with Wallen I'd say it gives country an interesting foothold. Then some other guys like Luke Combs or or Cole Swindell, this Jelly Roll guy who to his credit has a fringe top 30 song on billboard which isn't nothing. But he needs a few more hits to really establish himself.

 

[beowulf]

It's all a context of time, being "original" isn't original anymore. The snowflaking of guitar based music is exactly why it's basically a dead genre.

His originality is the versatility of his voice and his persona in a modern context.

Kid Rock etc was huge when middle America was huge. His background has a radically different relevance when middle America, especially opiate addicted america is considered a forgotten group of people.

When he does something like a southern rock album in my opinion is when he's gonna be on a whole other level.

As someone else mentioned what the hell does that even mean? But he is not the first the try their hand at multiple genres of music. Devin Townsend is know for heavier Prog metal and prog rock but he has also done a "country" sounding album with Che Amiee Dorval calling themselves the Casualties of Cool which is better than anything I have seen here from the Jello guy. Dorval has also released songs/albums of various genres. So all due respect to Jelly but he has nothing on either of these two for example.







Want to hear an amazing voice with so little effort this below just shows how underrated Devon is, this is live no filters or auto tuning.

 

[Lady Stanley]

As someone else mentioned what the hell does that even mean?

If you go to a bar/wedding/party does more than 2 people in the room know the song. I like prog and I've barely ever listened to townsend. It's a dead genre because it isn't common among people. Music for most of humanities existance has been a peer to peer thing, a bonding moment. Today that only happens with non guitar based music, or songs written before 2010.

But he is not the first the try their hand at multiple genres of music.

It's the crossroad of multiple points.


Country is the last man standing in guitar based music.

You can name endless prog musicians, but few people care unless it's phil collins. The point is whether or not it is a living language that the people share or a dead language of the past only heard on people's Iphones.

It's not one element that makes Jelly Roll work, it's that he checks enough of the check boxes to be relevant at the right time.

Jelly Roll can be as mainstream as mainstream can be, and yet he can also cover enough of the alt country bases to be marketable. And the thing is he's peaking at the right time.

 

[Lady Stanley]

The big problem is that country is in a relatively stable and modest state and has been for decades. That counts for something but it is not going to take crowns. It serves a market and it serves it well. For most trends and techniques, it lags behind the other industries simply for the fact that it has smaller labels with smaller budgets.

Again we're talking about guitar based music.

As far as guitar based music is concerned, it's no longer a niche product and this is the reason we're seeing a transformation. It's getting broad spectrum popularity with all demographics. The idea it's a rural conservative thing for middle aged people is an outdated stereotype. 18 year old girls at Berkely are not country fans.

It's replace rock, or other argues it's the genre of rock at this point.

It operates lean and traditionalism is its strategy to keep it going strong.

Another thing going for it is that for its larger acts, it has a target demographic (older women) that it caters to. So put in a hunky 35 to 40 year old man and you'll have the ladies swooning. The fact that Jelly Roll has been in the industry for more than a decade suggests that when he steps into country music, he is looking to fulfill a role moreso than be any model for an industry whether in business or technique. The fact that fans are rather incredulous that such a man is doing it is. . . not surprising but not really telling me anything.

 

[beowulf]

Prog is a dead genre? Tell that to the 10s of thousands that fill arenas to see Tool or Townsend or whatever top prog rock/metal act you want to say. Prog has always been a nice genre anyways and critics in particular have been saying it is dead for years yet it lives and grows, a good article on it back in 2017 The Persistence of Prog Rock Prog music is just so much more interesting and complex than any rap or country music.

I am willing to bet that supposed guitar music as you put it, whether Pearl Jam ,Metallica, Tool, etc etc still sellout and have tons of people that have bonding moments over their music and have more fans than Mr Jelly.

Jelly Roll Heck he has only ever had 1 song make the billboard charts and it peaked at 31.

At the end of the day, people will listen to what they like, what makes them feel good etc. I don't see Jelly Roll being some new trend or hit maker and mainstream music will still be ruled by the mostly crap of pop music.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

The Blue Murder song? Yeah

 

[Ceremony]

Again we're talking about guitar based music.

As far as guitar based music is concerned, it's no longer a niche product and this is the reason we're seeing a transformation. It's getting broad spectrum popularity with all demographics. The idea it's a rural conservative thing for middle aged people is an outdated stereotype. 18 year old girls at Berkely are not country fans.

It's replace rock, or other argues it's the genre of rock at this point.

I think at this point you don't even know what you're trying to argue anymore. You like Jelly Roll, that's nice. Don't expect everyone else to think the "future of guitar music", if there is such a thing, is a rapper with face tattoos.

 

[PK Cronin]

I just listened to four of five songs from this thread, there's not much there. Pass.

 

[Lady Stanley]

Prog is a dead genre? Tell that to the 10s of thousands that fill arenas to see Tool or Townsend or whatever top prog rock/metal act you want to say. Prog has always been a nice genre anyways and critics in particular have been saying it is dead for years yet it lives and grows, a good article on it back in 2017 The Persistence of Prog Rock

You just walked into that one, the voice of prog rock maynard just got a hip replacement, if you told people in 1970 that music was being lead by a guy who's a year from 60 they'd laugh at you.

When guys in their 50s, who've been around in 4 seperate decades you know the genre is dying. The rock music timeline more or less ceased in 2003ish, since then the major tours are dominated by guys from the 90s.

Prog music is just so much more interesting and complex than any rap or country music.

And with the exception of Tool/Genisis/Rush is largely irrelevant for the vast majority of people.

I am willing to bet that supposed guitar music as you put it, whether Pearl Jam ,Metallica, Tool, etc etc still sellout and have tons of people that have bonding moments over their music and have more fans than Mr Jelly.

You're just reinforcing the idea it is dead. When every major rock tour are musicians in their 50s/60s you have a dead genre.

Jelly Roll Heck he has only ever had 1 song make the billboard charts and it peaked at 31.

I never said he was there yet, not once. You can look up his channel's analystics has been a steady build over the last 3-4 years.

At the end of the day, people will listen to what they like, what makes them feel good etc. I don't see Jelly Roll being some new trend or hit maker and mainstream music will still be ruled by the mostly crap of pop music.

Well you can't have it both ways, country is popular music nowadays, morgan whallen is one of the biggest acts going in popular music, and Jelly Roll even tours with him/shares the same song writing partners.

Guy in adjacent to the biggest acts in music.

 

[beowulf]

You just walked into that one, the voice of prog rock maynard just got a hip replacement, if you told people in 1970 that music was being lead by a guy who's a year from 60 they'd laugh at you.

When guys in their 50s, who've been around in 4 seperate decades you know the genre is dying. The rock music timeline more or less ceased in 2003ish, since then the major tours are dominated by guys from the 90s.




And with the exception of Tool/Genisis/Rush is largely irrelevant for the vast majority of people.





You're just reinforcing the idea it is dead. When every major rock tour are musicians in their 50s/60s you have a dead genre.



I never said he was there yet, not once. You can look up his channel's analystics has been a steady build over the last 3-4 years.


Well you can't have it both ways, country is popular music nowadays, morgan whallen is one of the biggest acts going in popular music, and Jelly Roll even tours with him/shares the same song writing partners.

Guy in adjacent to the biggest acts in music.

You really are hopeless...no guitar music, as you call it, is not dying as much as you seem to want it to.

You act as if Mr Jello is some young 20 something buck doing something all new. He is 38 years old doing creating music that is no different that other rap or country and was a nobody until recently and even then most people likely have no clue who he is. How can the future of music be a guy that virtually nobody knows?

Country music is tiny outside of the US and some of Canada and maybe small bits in Australia and New Zealand, country music is very much a niche genre.

Morgan Whallen has a good size but is not the biggest. The highest grossing music tour of 2022 so far - RouteNote Blog Notice only 3 are country music and 2 are older guys?

Rolling Stones, Harry Styles Were Top-Grossing Tours Of 2021

Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day were also extremely popular acts.

www.forbes.com

Same in 2021, lots of guitar music still packing in arenas and stadiums and I don't see no Jelly on these lists.

Highest-grossing tours:

1. The Rolling Stones — $115.5 million
2. Harry Styles — $86.7 million
3. Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day — $67.3 million
4. Eagles “Hotel California Tour” —$59.2 million
5. Dead & Company — $50.2 million
6. Lou Bukis — $49.7 million
7. Guns N’ Roses — $47.3 million
8. Dave Matthews Band — $46 million
9. Phish — $44.4 million
10. Jonas Brothers — $42.5 million

Most popular tours:

1. Harry Styles — 699,051 tickets
2. Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day — 659,062 tickets
3. Dead & Company — 588,685 tickets
4. Dave Matthews Band — 583,399 tickets
5. Phish — 572,626 tickets
6. Jonas Brothers — 528,630 tickets
7. Luke Bryan — 522,966 tickets
8. The Rolling Stones — 516,624 tickets
9. Chris Stapleton — 516,395 tickets
10. Alanis Morissette — 499,296 tickets

2020 was the same with the 2 biggest tours being guitar music.

So ya again this guy is not the future or music and is nothing special.

In ten years from now I am willing to bet that rock music will still be filling stadiums while Jello will be back to obscurity.

 

[Mikeaveli]

This guy is 38 years old with 1 top 40 hit, I'm not seeing an argument for him being a future icon of the music industry lol

 

[Lady Stanley]

You really are hopeless...no guitar music, as you call it, is not dying as much as you seem to want it to.

You act as if Mr Jello is some young 20 something buck doing something all new. He is 38 years old doing creating music that is no different that other rap or country

What on Earth does his age have to do with anything? This isn't hockey you don't start aging out at 30. He's not marketing himself as a teen idle.

"rap or country" I honestly don't get this fixation rap is something he can do. It's like saying Karpizov played in the KHL as if it means something to the current day wild. The point as I've said numerous times is that his voice and style has versality the kind a morgan whallen can't compete with. If Jelly did a Djent album it'd just be "oh cool he does that now". This isn't the traditional rock model he isn't restricted by the need to write his own songs. He has the voice and image that can chase fanbases.

and was a nobody until recently and even then most people likely have no clue who he is.

The joe rogan channel has 2,831,577,550 views

Jelly Roll has 1,957,679,314 views


and as you suggested you've never heard of him, and neither did most people until 2 years ago, myself included.

You don't just waltz in with 2 billion views in more or less 2 years and be a big nothing.

How can the future of music be a guy that virtually nobody knows?

That's typically how that works. If he's a known thing well known he has less potential to catch people off guard and change the industry. Like I said paradigm shifts don't come from constants.

Country music is tiny outside of the US and some of Canada and maybe small bits in Australia and New Zealand, country music is very much a niche genre.

Morgan Whallen has a good size but is not the biggest. The highest grossing music tour of 2022 so far - RouteNote Blog Notice only 3 are country music and 2 are older guys?

I thought it was clear, I'm referring to musicians who play guitars and are actively creating new music.

You seem to think "only 3" is like some fringe thing. That's a massive proportion of the audience.

You're always gonna have a large proportion of the audience not listening to guitar based music.

Morgan Wallen is absolutely massive.

Rolling Stones, Harry Styles Were Top-Grossing Tours Of 2021

Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day were also extremely popular acts.

www.forbes.com

Same in 2021, lots of guitar music still packing in arenas and stadiums and I don't see no Jelly on these lists.

Highest-grossing tours:

1. The Rolling Stones — $115.5 million
2. Harry Styles — $86.7 million
3. Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day — $67.3 million
4. Eagles “Hotel California Tour” —$59.2 million
5. Dead & Company — $50.2 million
6. Lou Bukis — $49.7 million
7. Guns N’ Roses — $47.3 million
8. Dave Matthews Band — $46 million
9. Phish — $44.4 million
10. Jonas Brothers — $42.5 million

Most popular tours:

1. Harry Styles — 699,051 tickets
2. Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day — 659,062 tickets
3. Dead & Company — 588,685 tickets
4. Dave Matthews Band — 583,399 tickets
5. Phish — 572,626 tickets
6. Jonas Brothers — 528,630 tickets
7. Luke Bryan — 522,966 tickets
8. The Rolling Stones — 516,624 tickets
9. Chris Stapleton — 516,395 tickets
10. Alanis Morissette — 499,296 tickets

2020 was the same with the 2 biggest tours being guitar music.

So ya again this guy is not the future or music and is nothing special.

In ten years from now I am willing to bet that rock music will still be filling stadiums while Jello will be back to obscurity.

Simple logic tells you many of the people on that list will be dead or physically unable to play shows. Weezer's lead is 52 years of age and will be 62 in 10 years and he's one of the younger musicians of that era.

Guy has 2 billion views and he's only getting started.

 

[tacogeoff]

The joe rogan channel has 2,831,577,550 views

Jelly Roll has 1,957,679,314 views

I mean Ryan Upchurch as 1.92 billion views which he has created organically as he has not signed to a label but instead has made his own label in Tennessee. he has five country albums that have reached top 10 in the country billboard charts, reached with two albums to 11 on the US Rap billboard chart. two rock albums that have reached into the top ten US rock charts. has almost charted his albums on 2x over in comparison to JB. is also 7 years younger with less time in the music industry.

now when it comes to charted songs Jelly Roll beats him easily as Upchurch has no major label behind him to push his music.

i dont think using youtube stats is a good way to validate your point.

 

[Jack Straw]

I sad "properly" famous. He was successful at that point, but he wasn't getting mentioned by the president. He was a niche guy most of his album sales for born to run were in the 80s.

Springsteen was on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in 1975 in the wake of Born to Run. He was 26. He was already very popular in the Northeast (particulary the big markets of NYC/NJ and Philadelphia/NJ) but Born to Run was his breakthrough. It was a huge success. I was actually alive then. He was a huge sensation at that point.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

This thread is so absurd that I now root for this Jelly Roll dude - as bad as he is - to become the future of music, no matter what that means, just so that we can come back here in wonder.

 

[beowulf]

What on Earth does his age have to do with anything? This isn't hockey you don't start aging out at 30. He's not marketing himself as a teen idle.

"rap or country" I honestly don't get this fixation rap is something he can do. It's like saying Karpizov played in the KHL as if it means something to the current day wild. The point as I've said numerous times is that his voice and style has versality the kind a morgan whallen can't compete with. If Jelly did a Djent album it'd just be "oh cool he does that now". This isn't the traditional rock model he isn't restricted by the need to write his own songs. He has the voice and image that can chase fanbases.



The joe rogan channel has 2,831,577,550 views

Jelly Roll has 1,957,679,314 views


and as you suggested you've never heard of him, and neither did most people until 2 years ago, myself included.

You don't just waltz in with 2 billion views in more or less 2 years and be a big nothing.





That's typically how that works. If he's a known thing well known he has less potential to catch people off guard and change the industry. Like I said paradigm shifts don't come from constants.






I thought it was clear, I'm referring to musicians who play guitars and are actively creating new music.

You seem to think "only 3" is like some fringe thing. That's a massive proportion of the audience.

You're always gonna have a large proportion of the audience not listening to guitar based music.

Morgan Wallen is absolutely massive.








Simple logic tells you many of the people on that list will be dead or physically unable to play shows. Weezer's lead is 52 years of age and will be 62 in 10 years and he's one of the younger musicians of that era.

Guy has 2 billion views and he's only getting started.

First you argue that age is important if someone is too old but then you say age has nothing to do with it? You also act as if the age the artist is so important and the only important thing yet I would argue that the age of the fans is as important and when I go watch shows or watch videos of shows of your "too old" artists in guitar based music, there are fans of all ages listening and bring keeping the music well alive. Go to a Pearl Jam, Metallica, Tool, Devon Townsend, Megadeth, Joe Satriani, Rolling Stone,s, etc. etc. concert and you will find teenagers to people in their 50s or more loving the music. There are still young bands out there starting out that will, in time, become the future of this guitar based music as you so weirdly like to call it.

Heck, so much of country music is "guitar based music:. I mean so many of the biggest names in county stand up there playing their guitar while they sing...Vince Gill for example. Heck Blue grass is all about the guitar.

I still don't get your argument and don't see this Jelly Roll being some massive force in the world of music, he is not now and most likely never will be. That guy Lil Nas X has a better chance than him.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

This thread is hilarious. OP asked a question, got a resounding no, then got mad.

 

[beowulf]

This thread is hilarious. OP asked a question, got a resounding no, then got mad.

Pretty much. I mean whatever not my kind of music. I like rock, metal, jazz and blues mostly and even then not every sub genre of these types of music interest me. I listen to some country but generally it's older stuff and more rock sounding stuff. I mean country rock is a whole sub genre that has been around since the 60s and all kinds of bands have songs that fall under the genre from Led Zepplin to Metallica with Mama Said.






So a guy changing from rap to country is nothing special to me.

 

[Martinez]

I only know dead man walking by jelly roll because it used to be played on sxm octane. I always figured he converted from rap to rock not rap to country.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Kid Rock eats this Jelly Roll fellow for breakfast.

Exactly!

We're arguing about a knock off Kid Rock

 

[RandV]

Jelly Roll could be the thing that pushes the genre over the edge, because as an icon he has that "it" factor. He can go elbow to elbow with Morgan Whallen, Luke Combs, Kane Brown etc, but they can't be like him. You can't fake 400 pounds and face tats. That may mean absolutely nothing to you, but the fact he's a sympathetic character from the other side of the tracks is a huge deal for people who avoid country because of the manufactured bro factor. You can go to a Liberal arts college and get a girl doing a master in collaborative dance his biography and she might be interested.

I mean, there's going to be a niche for everything but I'd think 400lbs with face tats is going to turn off a lot more broader appeal than it will gain. I'm not well versed to make a good judgment call but my unfiltered first impression looking at the guy is he's a sad Insane Clown Posse fan, whatever they call themselves.