Landing in the fall of 2021, Jelly Roll’s major-label debut, Ballads Of The Broken, represented the culmination of country music’s gradual acceptance of hip-hop. Of course, a wide range of superstars and novelty acts had been fusing the two genres as far back as the late ’90s. But none were embraced by Nashville quite like Jelly Roll, a native son of the city’s hardscrabble south side; his well-received debut at the Grand Ole Opry two months after the release of Ballads Of The Broken solidified his newfound status as royalty of Music City U.S.A. The unexpectedly introspective album captures an older and wiser Jelly Roll who sounds lifetimes removed from the downhome gangsta who was spitting boastful yet authentic tales of all-night parties and criminal life a decade earlier. “The evolution that’s happened with my music was only a reflection of the evolution that happened with the man,” the singer revealed to Apple Music. “I’m not that kid anymore... and I started singing more and getting more soulful.” Hip-hop still informs Ballads Of The Broken, but rather than the slamming Southern rap on which Jelly Roll was weaned, he taps the wistful melodicism of emo rap on tracks like “Backslide,” “Even Angels Cry,” and “Hollow.” This working-class vulnerability peaks on the record’s biggest hit, “Son Of A Sinner.” Infused with Southern rock and contemporary Christian music—qualities that pop up all over Ballads Of The Broken—the anthem finds Jelly Roll shedding his rebelliousness to reveal a weary traveler who has “walked a million miles on broken glass.” He’s still an outlaw, but an outlaw who has grown deeply intimate with his struggles and frailties. As the album racked up streams and moved units throughout 2022 and into 2023, Jelly Roll became the poster boy (along with collaborator and friend HARDY) for a new style of country artist who captures the genre’s maverick spirit yet draws heavily not just from hip-hop but from rock and pop as well. While this certainly is true, the spirituality bubbling up through Ballads Of The Broken also sets Jelly Roll apart. Unfolding like a battle waged between angels and demons, the closing ballad “Empty House” feels downright metaphysical and sets the stage for the country-gospel earnestness that moves into the spotlight on 2023’s Whitsitt Chapel.