Jelly Roll “righted a wrong” on a fellow artist and offered up a brand new song during a concert on Wednesday night (April 24) on the eve of the NFL Draft in Detroit.
Fresh off his three CMT Music Awards earlier in the month, Jelly departed from the evening's scheduled setlist at the Fillmore Detroit to add “Kill a Man,” a track from his chart-topping album 2023 . Whitsitt Chapelarge. He explained to the crowd that the night's opening act – Canadian singer-songwriter Madeline Merlot – had sung backup on the recording but wasn't credited because, “I didn't know if she'd want to hook up with my white ass. .” The two are under the same label (BBR Music Group) and Jelly Roll said he is “such a fan of her and her voice. I love everything about you, Miss Madeleine Merlot.'
He then invited her on stage to perform the song with him, letting her take the lead on the second verse.
Merlo, who has been releasing music since 2014, was a contestant on the second season of the NBC writing competition show Songland. Her most recent EP, Slidewas released in 2022, while a new single, “Time + Faith,” was released last September and reached No. 6 on Billboard Canada's Country Songs chart.
Jelly Roll also used the special small-venue show — dubbed The Night Before, but not an official NFL Draft event — to preview a brand new song, “Liar,” a muscle rock track that he said was intended for the next his album. He and his eight-piece band shut down the opener — “We've never done this before, so… we get it,” he noted — but started over and made it to the second try. “Should I put it on the new album or what, Detroit?” the singer teased afterward, to unanimous approval from the 3,000 fans in attendance.
He also urged those fans to post videos of him performing the song online immediately, so that his wife, Bunnie XO, who was on the West Coast taping her episode Silly blonde podcast, “I'll watch it before I walk off the stage.”
The rest of Wednesday's show — emceed by Public Enemy ad man Flavor Flav — included Jelly Roll hits like “Dead Man Walking,” “Halfway to Hell,” “Smoking Section,” “Son of a Sinner,” ” Bottle and Mary Jane', 'She', 'Wild Ones', 'Same Asshole' and 'Need a Favor', as well as a rendition of Toby Keith's 'Should've Been a Cowboy' as a tribute to the country icon. It also featured the usual mix of rap favorites from Eazy-E, Eminem, Outkast and Biz Markie.
Audacy's WYCD-presented Detroit concert served as a warm-up for Jelly Roll's Stagecoach festival performance on Friday (April 26). He also has dates lined up for October, including his own Beautifully Broken tour with Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay and a pair of arena shows with Morgan Wallen in Tampa on July 11-12.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/country/jelly-roll-detroit-new-song-madeline-merlot-kill-a-man-recap-1235666014/