LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — There’s a music performance happening near mid-Michigan in December, and the venue will be the Genesee County Jail.
Rapper/country singer Jelly Roll, winner of multiple awards at the 2023 Country Music Awards, will perform for inmates at the jail Dec. 5, Sheriff Chris Swanson said in a livestreamed announcement at 2 p.m. Thursday.
Swanson and a group of inmate degree candidates had appeared in a video to invite the artist to Flint. Jelly Roll, whose legal name is Jason Bradley DeFord, earned his GED while incarcerated in 2007, but was not recognized at the time. The artist later responded in a phone video, accepting the invitation and committing to perform at the jail Dec. 5.
The sheriff referred to Jelly Roll as “the modern-day Johnny Cash,” in reference to Cash’s concerts at California’s Folsom State Prison in 1968. Swanson said he will present the artist with a belated GED commencement ceremony at Genesee County Jail during his December visit.
Jelly Roll will perform at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit Dec. 5, and he plans to visit Genesee County Jail in Flint beforehand.
