Jelly Roll opens songwriting studio at Davidson Country Juvenile Detention Center

After Music City native Jell Roll announced his desire in 2022 to commit nearly half a million dollars to programs aiding incarcerated and underserved youth in Nashville, the award-winning and chart-topping country, pop, and rock superstar's Jelly Studio program is a reality.

The facility is housed at the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, which as Jelly Roll noted while performing at Nissan Stadium at CMA Fest last year is directly across the Cumberland River, and behind the Juvenile Court building, next to the stadium's Parking Lot P.

An early April "Redemption Songs" event hosted by The Beat of Life organization was attended by Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell, Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway, Jelly Roll, fellow artist ERNEST and Shannon Sanders, executive director, creative at Broadcast Music Inc., among others.

Jelly Roll added the following thoughts exclusively to The Tennessean:

"The studio we put in juvenile will continue to be a work in progress. We want to provide more resources, more equipment, and continuing programs to maximize what can be offered. The milestone of getting to have it officially open and have the support from the Mayor and everyone who participated is something that I don't take for granted, and I'm ready to keep going. I've spent time there and I know what those days are like. I want to keep this program going and add more to additional places across the country.

Added fellow Nashville-area-native ERNEST: "I can tell you there isn’t someone else doing work like Jelly is. He is having an impact and offering a space and access to music that is healing and he’s doing it in a way that is just true to who he is. I was incredibly proud to be a part of it the day the studio opened, and this won’t be the first or last time Jelly and I perform here together,"

The Beat of Life is a Nashville-based non-profit aimed at bringing what it describes as "therapeutic songwriting and music programs" to serve Music City residents who are incarcerated, battling mental illness, addiction, and suicide, or are at-risk youth.

In short, the program "(brings) together the professional songwriting community with those experiencing some of the most critical social issues of our times to re-process trauma and adversities through song and engineer anthems of change."

Alongside ERNEST, 35 songwriters, including 1990s- and 2000s-era Nashville favorite Jeffrey Steele (Rascal Flatts' "What Hurts the Most," Tim McGraw's "The Cowboy in Me") participated in the launch of a songwriting program that, according to a press release aims to embody "the belief in music's role in personal growth and redemption, showcasing the journey from juvenile detention to success."

About songwriting, Jelly Roll himself just received his first Country Music Association Triple Play award for co-writing his trio of 2023 hits "Save Me," "Son of a Sinner" and "I Need A Favor."

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More profoundly, for the past 18 months, Big Loud-signed ERNEST has been managing Ern's Cadillac Music, his songwriting and publishing venture, in partnership with his record label.

Rhys Rutherford joins skilled songwriter and steel guitar player Chandler Walters, Kentucky-born artist-writer Cody Lohden, and Nashville-native Rafe Tenpenny as early Ern's Cadillac Music signees.

At a November 2022 press conference announcing his intention to use proceeds from a sold-out Bridgestone Arena concert to fund the facility and other initiatives, Jelly Roll noted that "Nashville is a town that people come and take from. They come and they party. They make the best memory of their life right here on Broadway. ... They come and they chase their dreams. They join the medical field. They become big musicians in the music industry and make millions of dollars. But they never give back. As a local kid, I felt like it was important to start addressing the problem hands-on, at a community level."

At the event, he added that he eventually wanted to see community centers and additional studio spaces in Tennessee neighborhoods that needed extracurricular resources to be added to his vision.

"As a (musical) community we have to stand up and we have to do something about it," he said. "I'm challenging my musician friends: to come from your ivory tower, get (out) from behind your guitar, roll your sleeves up and … see the problems we have in this community. While you're ridin' up and down Broadway, makin' a quarter-million dollars a show, I'd like you to see the side of the city that can't afford dinner … to see the side of Nashville that didn't make all the TV shows."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jelly Roll opens music studio at Nashville juvenile detention center