Jelly Roll And Lainey Wilson Connected Over Hard Realities in ‘Save Me creative circles

last year

#us_citynews #laineywilson #jellyroll #song #singer #music #yellowstone
Jelly Roll And Lainey Wilson Connected Over Hard Realities in ‘Save Me creative circles
USA TODAY - Today's Breaking News US & World News | US CityNews
#USA_News #BREAKINGNEWS #usatoday #US_CityNews
#US CityNews
#usa news today
#usa news
#today usa
#usa latest news
#usa today news
#breaking news usa
#usa today
#usa nation
#usa news headlines
#Al Jazeera English
#BBC World News
#CGTN America
#CNC World
#i24News
#NTD
#RT
#United States news
#CBS
#NBC
#ABC
#fox news channel
#top 10 news channels in usa 2022
#Fox News
#CNN
#MSNBC

Transcript

00:00 How Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson connected over hard realities in Save Me.

00:04 It's not something talked about much outside of creative circles, but there are a few more

00:08 obvious or more effective production techniques in modern music than the down chorus.

00:13 After establishing the sing-along part of a song with a couple of refrains, dropping

00:17 the instrumental energy the third time around allows the listener to keep singing while

00:21 the track prepares for the big finale.

00:23 It happens in songs like Dan + Chase's "Speechless", Michael Ray's "Whiskey and Rain" and

00:28 Lainey Wilson's "Heart Like a Truck", but Jelly Roll takes the down chorus to another

00:31 level in Save Me.

00:33 There is no third chorus, so there's no real opportunity to drop the supporting instrumentation.

00:38 But for a singer to call himself a "lost cause" and announce that he's "damaged

00:42 beyond repair", well, it's tough to get more down in a chorus than that.

00:46 Early on in my songwriting, I chose connection and honesty, Hilly Roll says.

00:50 I didn't feel that it had to be songs that only seemed like everything was fine, especially

00:54 when the songs that helped me, or that I saw help my mom the most, were songs that you

00:58 felt someone was speaking to you from an honest space about something you were going through.

01:02 That's where you find connection.

01:04 Jelly Roll really needed connection when Save Me came into existence.

01:07 It was June 2020, when the pandemic had shut down the nation for three months.

01:11 With tours canceled and plenty of unstructured free time, he desperately wanted to make some

01:15 music and he booked Nashville's Sound Emporium for two weeks to hammer out what would become

01:20 the self-medicated album.

01:22 Deep into the process, songwriter/producer David Ray, son of a sinner, picked out some

01:26 basic chords to unwind a bit during downtime.

01:28 "I remember sitting in the corner and I was just kind of noodling on the guitar,"

01:32 he says.

01:33 "They were looking at their phones and just kind of taking a break, and I started noodling

01:37 on that song, and I just reached out.

01:39 Somebody saved me for myself, and Jelly was like, 'What is that?'"

01:42 That Save Me starting point became the opening line, and they chased the song down in linear

01:47 fashion, each line leading to the next.

01:49 Jelly Roll was admittedly immersed in vices, and Save Me turned into a painful confession.

01:54 "I was in the thick of it.

01:55 I knew the lifestyle I was living at that moment wasn't one that could be sustained,"

01:59 he says.

02:00 "I needed to make changes in my life, and it was my personal cry for help.

02:03 Thankfully now I can say I've made a lot of positive changes, but I'm still a work

02:07 in progress."

02:08 The song unfolded initially with drawn-out phrases that established his ailing spirit,

02:12 then changed textures when the drinking and smoking arrived atop insistent triplets in

02:17 a mantra-like pre-chorus.

02:18 The chorus breaks into a melodic lift, even as Jelly Roll unveils his lost cause admission.

02:24 They crafted four lines of brokenness, but still needed four more.

02:27 Instead of taking that second half of the chorus to another place, he repeated the four

02:31 lines again.

02:32 Ray instinctively questioned that.

02:34 "I do remember bringing that up," Ray says.

02:36 "He just felt so passionate about what those four lines said.

02:39 He wanted it to be a repeat.

02:41 He just wanted to drive that home."

02:42 Sometimes, Jelly Roll explains, people will hear you but not understand the gravity of

02:47 what you are saying until you say it again.

02:49 They inserted a simple, wordless melody at the close of that chorus to break from the

02:53 heaviness, then move forward again.

02:55 The second verse opened with an empty sky and concluded with the singer washing away

02:59 his pain, presumably with booze, and in case the listener didn't fully understand the

03:03 first time around, he repeated the mantra-like pre-chorus again, then repeated the down chorus.

03:08 No silver lining.

03:09 They recorded it right away, with Ray playing a spacious guitar part as Jelly Roll delivered

03:14 the difficult emotional truth.

03:16 His singing wasn't perfect, some of the vocal was pitchy, and he didn't always use

03:20 full diaphragmatic support, but like a George Jones performance, Jelly Roll's imperfections

03:25 accurately conveyed the depth of his feelings.

03:27 "I don't know how to go beyond the compliment of Billboard saying it's a George Jones

03:30 vocal," Jelly Roll says with a laugh.

03:33 Do we get to make that a quote?

03:34 Is that on the record?

03:35 A couple of days later, Jelly Roll did a live studio version of the song for U2 with Stu

03:40 Stapleton playing a piano part that would appear on the final version.

03:43 Originally, the song had a different title until just before he released it as Save Me.

03:48 The Aerie production, with Jelly Roll, Ray, and Robin Raynell singing the wordless section,

03:53 would be certified platinum by the RIAA.

03:55 Once he signed with Broken Bow, Jelly Roll envisioned an alternate country rendition

03:59 and Wilson was an obvious duet partner.

04:02 He called on a longtime friend, producers Zouch Crowell, Sam Hunt, Dustin Lynch, to

04:06 guide it, and once Jelly Roll's team mentioned the slow build arrangement that he'd been

04:10 using on Save Me in concert, Crowell had a direction that made sense and alleviated some

04:15 fears.

04:16 The song was already a hit for Jelly Roll and already kind of changed his life.

04:20 Crowell says, "I was very nervous to go in and touch it."

04:23 Guitarist Sol Philcox Littlefield developed subtle, ethereal sounds to provide some appropriate

04:28 texture, while drummer Grady Saxman waited until the second chorus to fully engage, driving

04:33 on that second pre-chorus in a way that underscores the despondency in Jelly Roll's lyric.

04:38 "It's intentional because, no offense, the original guitar part is dragging right

04:42 there," Crowell says, noting that was a fortunate imperfection.

04:45 "We didn't want to replace David Ray's stuff because it would turn amazing and perfect."

04:49 Crowell and Jelly Roll were both in the booth when Wilson came in to sound Emporium to record

04:54 her vocal.

04:55 The enthusiasm was palpable, even if that mood is a bit counterintuitive for a heavy

04:59 song.

05:00 "I did a few takes and after each one, Jelly stood up behind the glass, all hype, talking

05:04 about how much he loved it and pumping me up before the next take," she remembers.

05:08 "He has this way about him where he can encourage vulnerability and feeling just through

05:12 his genuine excitement and the way he lifts you up."

05:14 Their version was released to digital service providers on May 11, ahead of the Whitsitt

05:19 Chapel album, and it generated an immediate response.

05:22 They performed it together on NBC's Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular, and country

05:27 radio began playing it before the promotion department started working it, bringing it

05:31 to a different audience than the rap and rock-based following that originally took it platinum.

05:36 Jelly has done a beautiful job of not only shedding light on his journey but giving fans

05:40 a safe space within his music.

05:42 Wilson says, "Being able to reach beyond genres is a true testament to how many folks

05:46 this song speaks to."

05:47 Stony Creek released it to terrestrial broadcasters through Plain P on August 22, and it ranked

05:52 at No. 26 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart and No. 7 on Hot Country Songs.

05:58 On September 7, it earned a Country Music Association Award nomination for Musical Event

06:03 of the Year.

06:04 Jelly Roll's down-chorus has had a profound effect.

06:06 Not only has the audience responded to its honesty, he used it as motivation to address

06:11 the issues it laid bare.

06:12 "Seeing how the song impacted the lives of so many people almost immediately, it helped

06:16 me find the strength to make the lifestyle changes I needed to make," he says.

06:20 "Save Me truly changed my life in more ways than one."

Jelly Roll And Lainey Wilson Connected Over Hard Realities in ‘Save Me creative circles

Category

Transcript

Recommended