Jelly Roll brought his Backroad Baptism Tour to the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina on Friday, October 6. The singer’s fans know that he takes every opportunity he can to make their concert experiences one to remember, and Jelly Roll did just that in Greensboro when he paid tribute to the late sister of one fan who was in attendance.
The fan had brought a sign to the concert that included a photo of their late sister, named Meredith. The poster referenced Jelly Roll’s song “she,” reading, “‘she’ is my baby sister. F—ck fentanyl. 4ever 21.”
Tearfully Honored A Fan’s Late Sister
After noticing the sign, Jelly Roll was given the poster while on stage and held it up as the crowd cheered. After handing the sign back, Jelly Roll told the fan, “I love you brother. I thank you for coming here to represent her. I love you.”
“She” appears on Jelly Roll’s 2023 album Whitsitt Chapel and tells the story of a woman struggling with addiction and the narrator’s fear that she might lose her life to it. Speaking to the crowd, Jelly Roll said he wasn’t sure whether he would perform the song that night, but “we’re gonna sing it for you.”
“She was the life of the party / She was the one everybody / Used to wanna hang around,” the song’s chorus reads. “I bet they wonder where she is now / I wish I woulda known / Beforе she was too far gone / I’m afraid to lose hеr now / She’s afraid of comin’ down.”
Watch The Emotional Moment Below
The fan who had brought the sign shared a video of the moment on TikTok. “Jelly Roll sang ‘She’ for my baby sister Meredith in Heaven,” his caption read. “Thank you Jelly Roll for singing this song.”
Previously Paid Tribute To Two Brothers Who Overdosed
Jelly Roll has honored late fans during his concerts on numerous occasions, including a show in September in Las Vegas where he took a moment to tribute two brothers who had died of fentanyl overdoses and have a conversation with their mom, who was in the crowd.
“I just want you to know I love you and I see you,” Jelly Roll told her, inviting her to talk with him after the show. “I wanna hear about these boys,” he said.
In 2022, 73,654 people died from a fentanyl overdose in the United States, more than double the amount of deaths from 2019. Fentanyl-related deaths have increased every year for the past decade, a major part of the opioid crisis in the country. Eleven people die every hour from a drug overdose.
“She” Appears On Jelly Roll’s New Album, WHITSITT CHAPEL
Jelly Roll released “she” in December 2022. “‘she’ is about the struggle of addiction,” he said in a statement at the time. “‘she’ is about talking about the elephant in the room and addressing head-on the heroin and fentanyl epidemic that is sweeping the nation; the pharmaceutical pill problem that is sweeping the nation and has been for a long time. And I feel like it’s an artist’s responsibility to speak for those who sometimes can’t always speak for themselves.”
For the release of the song, the genre-bending singer/songwriter partnered with Shatterproof, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the addiction crisis and the devastation caused by the disease of addiction.
The Tennessee native’s Backroad Baptism Tour continues through Saturday, October 14, concluding with a show in Tampa, Florida. The 44-city arena tour began in July. Amid the trek, Jelly Roll opened a handful of shows for Eric Church on Church’s The Outsiders Revival Tour.