Jelly Roll gave fans a special surprise during his show in Houston, Texas, earlier this month. The popular singer-songwriter, 37, invited his wife Bunnie DeFord (aka Bunnie XO) and daughter Bailee Ann to join him onstage during a concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion as part of a tour that included Shinedown and John Harvie.
“If y’all don’t mind, I’m about to do something different from anything I’ve done on this whole tour. Is that okay with y’all?” Jelly Roll asks a screaming crowd of over 16,000 fans before inviting his baby girl to the stage. “You see, I’ve been gone from home for like 35 days today. And the most important people in my life. I miss them – my wife and my daughter.”
Then, without further ado, Jelly Roll welcomed the love of his life Bunnie XO and their 14-year-old daughter, Bailee Ann, out to the stage.
“You see, we’ve got a lot of history here. My wife was born in Houston, Texas,” Jelly Roll informed the crowd before Bunnie XO greeted fans and made her way off the stage to give her stepchild and husband the spotlight.
Watch Jelly Roll and his daughter Bailee Perform A Duet Below.
That’s when Bailee Ann stole the show. Dressed in a pair of distressed leggings and sporting some fashionable pigtails, the pre-teen showed off her rapper-like skills on a live rendition of the daddy/daughter duet “Tears Could Talk” before Jelly Roll took over with his parts on the tune.
Afterward, the enormous crowd applauded the daughter/daddy duo with an eruption of cheers. Bailee Ann was so appreciative for the support. She let out a loud “Thank You” before waving folks goodbye and stepping off-stage.
“I’m not crying 😭 #jellyroll #jellyandbunnie #bunniexo,” a caption reads alongside a TikTok video featuring the memorable collaboration.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Jelly Roll and his daughter have joined forces together on stage. They have adorably collaborated on the road at shows in cities, including Dallas in 2019. This is, however, the biggest audience Bailee Ann has sung in front of. A natural performer, she has previously worked with her famous father in the recording studio to cut tracks for some of his albums. She appears on the studio version of “Tears Could Talk” and has written a verse on “Sunshine After the Rain.”
Jelly Roll and his daughter – who also plays the drums and guitar – share a special bond. The rising country artist, who has been vocal about struggling with his mental health, credits his child for being the way out of his cycle of getting trapped in the judicial system. Jelly Roll, who is also dad to a son Noah, was incarcerated on and off for nearly a decade. It wasn’t until 2008, when a guard knocked on his cell door to let him know he had a baby being born that everything changed for Jelly Roll.
“She’s now 14, and I knew I had to change my life,” Jelly Roll told Audacy’s I’m Listening. “I started selling CDs out of the trunk of my car and t-shirts and throwing local concerts and doing anything I could to not revert back to a life of crime to provide for her.”
These days, Jelly Roll is on the up and up. Recently, he celebrated a No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Dead Man Walking,” where it sat for two straight weeks.
The Nashville native wrote the tune with co-writers Michael Whitworth, Andrew Baylis, and David Ray Stevens. Jelly Roll, who also wrapped a tour with Brantley Gilbert, is currently on his Son Of A Sinner Tour. The trek kicked off on Friday, September 23rd at the Promo West Pavilion in Newport, Kentucky, and currently runs from October to December 2022.
