Jelly Roll, a Tennessee Governor, and the Power of Redemption
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2026
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, before he was known as a country music artist, Jelly Roll had a record that included multiple arrests and time behind bars. Years later, after turning his life around and using his music to help others facing the same struggles, his story entered Tennessee’s pardon process.
That process brought his case before Governor Bill Lee. But when Lee spoke about the decision, he didn’t just talk about the law. He spoke about loss, about the death of his wife, and about the faith that carried him through it.
Our own Lee Habeeb shares the story of two men, from very different walks of life, brought together by hardship, faith, and the belief that no life is beyond redemption.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:07.5 | Freedom. |
| 0:27.7 | This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. |
| 0:33.2 | Up next, the story of a governor and an ex-cond turned music star, |
| 0:36.4 | and their two resurrection stories. |
| 0:44.5 | Bill Lee was raised on the thousand-acre cattle farm, his grandparents started in Franklin, Tennessee. |
| 0:51.6 | He knew great success as the CEO of his family construction company, growing it to 1,200 employees. |
| 0:57.3 | Years later, he'd become CEO of his home state, becoming governor in 2019. |
| 1:04.4 | But years before, a tragic event, the death of his wife, Carol, would drive Lee to the edges of despair. |
| 1:07.4 | Jason DeFord was born in Antioch, Tennessee, a blue-collar suburb of Nashville. |
| 1:12.6 | His father was a meat salesman, Booky, and Methodist believer. |
| 1:16.6 | His mother struggled with mental health and addiction |
| 1:19.6 | and gave her his son the nickname the world would know him by. |
| 1:23.6 | Jelly Roll! |
| 1:25.6 | DeFord was never comfortable in his skin, |
| 1:30.3 | taunted for his size, clothes, and background. |
| 1:34.3 | By his teens, he was doing and selling drugs. |
| 1:38.3 | For nearly a decade, he drifted in and out of prison. |
| 1:42.3 | A tragic death didn't alter the course of DeFord's life, a birth tip. |
| 1:48.4 | While serving a stint in prison, he learned he was the father of a baby girl, |
| 1:52.9 | news that propelled a radical change in his life. |
... |
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