NEWS
Jelly Roll offered up a surging, open-hearted performance of his song “Halfway to Hell” during his Tuesday night (Oct. 3) performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Like many of the other songs on his album Whitsitt Chapel (released on BBR Music Group), Jelly Roll sings of the struggle between harmful vices and being his best self–or as he sings on “Halfway to Hell,” it’s the struggle between “a bottle and a Bible.”
“I’m a rolling stone disciple with a cross across my face,” he sang passionately, pointing to his signature cross tattooed on his cheek.
On social media, Jelly Roll offered his gratitude for the opportunity to perform, saying, “What an incredible experience this was–thank you Jimmy Fallon for having me–this was unreal.”
Over the past year, Jelly Roll has notched two No. 1 Country Airplay hits, with “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor.” He was also Billboard‘s cover star for its 2023 Country Power Players issue, and performed and spoke during Billboard‘s inaugural Billboard Country Live in Concert event in Nashville earlier this year.
He has earned armfuls of awards wins and nominations from the CMT Music Awards, the upcoming CMA Awards and the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards. Jelly Roll has five nominations leading up to the CMA Music Awards, including musical event of the year, single of the year, music video of the year, and new artist of the year and male vocalist of the year.
In addition to his own music, Jelly Roll has been a king of collaborations of late, teaming with Lainey Wilson for “Save Me,” but also joining Dustin Lynch on “Chevrolet,” a song from Lynch’s new album. Jelly Roll also joins Craig Morgan on a version of “Almost Home” on Morgan’s upcoming album. His collaboration with Jessie Murph, “Wild Ones,” will release Oct. 6.
See Jelly Roll’s performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon below.
Metallica bassist Jason Newsted says he is now “free and clear” after facing throat cancer.
The 63 year old musician, who played with the Enter Sandman legends from 1986 through 2001, has shared details of his diagnosis publicly for the first time. He explained that doctors discovered it early, and on May 8, 2025 he “underwent a procedure” to treat the condition.
Speaking on the Let There Be Talk podcast, he said: “They took a bunch of s*** outta here and then they went in with lasers this way and took a bunch of s*** out.
“So the cavern inside my head is different than it was, but we got it early. And I got my ‘free and clear’ about three weeks ago. So I beat it.”
Jason contributed to several of Metallica’s most iconic releases, including 1988’s ...And Justice For All, their self titled 1991 album, 1996’s Load, the 1997 follow up Reload, and 1998’s Garage Inc.
After going through his cancer experience, the bassist made a point to slow down and actually give himself time to recover instead of constantly pushing forward.
He explained: “I promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time I’ve done that in my life.
"I’m usually just on or off. And so I promised myself I was gonna take the gravity off and lay down for the right amount of hours."
The health scare also led Jason to give up smoking weed and drinking alcohol, something he admits he likely would not have done otherwise.
He added: “The great spirit got my attention and said, ‘That’s not good right now, man.’ And so it pulled me off it.
"And so now I’m more clear-headed than I’ve been in my entire adult life. And so there’s blessings within everything. The lemonade I’m making this summer, bro — mm. Sweet. Ooh.”
Jason has previously said that his unexpected departure ultimately helped Metallica continue moving forward, while James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich later admitted they struggled to process his decision at the time.
Lars told Apple Music in 2021: “Jason is the only member of Metallica who has ever left willingly. And that in itself is a statistic.
"And the resentment from James and I was just so… 'You can’t do that. You can only leave if we want you to leave'.
"And then we weren’t equipped at the time to do a deep dive into why he was leaving. So of course, now you can see 20 years later, it makes complete sense.”
