Jelly Roll Has Three Half-Siblings and None of Them Are Country Stars
“Lainey Wilson’s my sister. That’s just my sister. That’s how I look at her. And there’s such a kinship with us."
Published April 2 2024, 4:01 p.m. ET
Popular country singer, rapper, and songwriter Jelly Roll is a family man. He’s regularly sharing photos of his wife Bunnie Xo, daughter Bailee Ann, and son Noah Buddy.
Jelly Roll is also a brother. Based on how many people Jelly Roll refers to as his sister and his brother, you might think he has a few more limbs on his family tree. Let's meet his actual sibilings.
Jelly Roll has three half-siblings.
According to Biography Jelly Roll has three older half-siblings: brothers Roger and Scott and sister Shelby. While Jelly Roll doesn’t share a ton about any of them, his half-brothers are in the 2023 Hulu documentary Jelly Roll: Save Me.
Jelly Roll also shared a photo on Facebook of himself with his step-brothers on June 19, 2020. The three men and their kids got together that Father’s Day weekend to celebrate their late father Buddy DeFord.
Jelly Rolls calls Lainey Wilson his sister, but they aren't related.
During their performance of “Save Me” at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards on April 1, 2024, Jelly Roll introduced fellow country singer Lainey Wilson as “my sister.”
In a July 12, 2023, interview with ET, Jelly talked about his "sister." He said, "Lainey Wilson’s my sister. That’s just my sister. That’s how I look at her. And there’s such a kinship with us, and the fact that we're both where we are in our careers, right now, at the same record label, with a song together that’s just on fire, is just — I told her, I said, 'Man, we'll always look back at this era at the time that we were attached... this will be the golden era for us, this'll be the good ole days."
Jelly Roll wrote a song about losing his "brother," but they weren't biologically related.
In an Oct. 14, 2015, Facebook post, Jelly Roll wrote, “A meaningful song we put together, inspired by the loss of little brother Mondo. Rest In Peace Armondo Smoot! Please share this song so my lil bro's memory may continue to live on within each of us, and tag anyone this track may touch! Love.”
Armando Smoot wasn't actually related to Jelly Roll. In the March 18, 2016, piece in The Tennessean about the shooting death of Armando, the duo’s relationship is made clearer. “Smoot was friends with Nashville-based rapper Jason DeFord, whose stage name is Jelly Roll. He is featured in one of Jelly Roll's recent rap videos, 'Wish I Wasn't Gone.'"
There’s nothing wrong with calling someone your brother or sister.
Jelly Roll likes to call people he likes his brother or his sister. He did it again on Instagram on Jan. 28, 2022, when he shared a photo of himself with Shi Eubank, the lead singer of Savage After Midnight.
While Jelly Roll technically only has a few step-siblings, there’s nothing preventing you from becoming a future brother or sister to the award winning country singer. All you need to do is write or perform some music that Jelly Roll also likes.