Tennessee’s governor pardoned country star Jelly Roll on Thursday for his criminal past in the state, acknowledging the Nashville native’s long road back from drugs and prison through soul-searching, songwriting and advocacy for second chances.

The rapper-turned-singer, whose legal name is Jason Deford, has spoken for years about his redemption arc before diverse audiences, from people serving time in correctional centers to concert crowds and even in testimony before Congress.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee issued his pardon after friends and civic leaders of the Grammy-nominated musician joined in an outpouring of support.

He has said a pardon would make it easier for him to travel internationally for concert tours and to perform Christian missionary work without requiring burdensome paperwork.

He was one of 33 people to receive pardons Thursday from Lee, who for years has issued clemency decisions around the Christmas season. Lee said Jelly Roll’s application underwent the same monthslong thorough review as other applicants. The state parole board gave a nonbinding, unanimous recommendation for Jelly Roll’s pardon in April.

“His story is remarkable, and it’s a redemptive, powerful story, which is what you look for and what you hope for,” Lee told reporters, adding he hopes to meet Jelly Roll for the first time soon.

Beginning at the age of 14, Jelly Roll was in and out of jail for about a decade for convictions including aggravated robbery, shoplifting, drug possession and drug dealing.

In January 2024, “CBS Sunday Morning” interviewed Jelly Roll inside the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility in Nashville, where he had once been an inmate. At the time, Jelly Roll had just been nominated for two Grammys.   

“There was a time in my life where I truly thought … this was it,” he told “CBS Sunday Morning.” “And then coming here, you know, just after getting nominated for two Grammys, it just hits different…I didn’t think I’d get emotional, to be honest.

He told “CBS Sunday Morning” he wrote hundreds of songs while in jail.

Unlike recent high-profile federal pardons, which let people off the hook for prison, a pardon in Tennessee serves as a statement of forgiveness for someone who has already completed a prison sentence and been released. Pardons offer a path to get certain civil rights restored, such as the right to vote, although there are some limitations under state law, and the governor can specify the terms.

Jelly Roll broke into country music with the 2023 album “Whitsitt Chapel” and crossover songs like “Need a Favor.” He has won multiple CMT Awards, a CMA Award and also picked up seven career Grammy nominations, three of them recently.

Much of his work has become associated with overcoming adversity, like the song “Winning Streak” that tells the story of someone’s first day sober. Or the direct-and-to-the-point, “I Am Not Okay.”

In making his case to the parole board, Jelly Roll said he first fell in love with songwriting while in custody, stating it began as a therapeutic passion project that “would end up changing my life in ways that I never dreamed imaginable.”

Beyond his sold-out shows, he’s brought his story to the Senate, where he testified in January 2024 about the dangers of fentanyl, describing his drug-dealing younger self as “the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about.”

“I was a part of the problem,” he told lawmakers at the time. “I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution.”

Jelly Roll’s most serious convictions include a robbery at age 17 and drug charges at 23. In the first case, a female acquaintance helped Jelly Roll and two armed accomplices steal $350 from people in a home in 2002. Because the victims knew the female acquaintance, she and Jelly Roll were arrested right away. Jelly Roll was unarmed, and was sentenced to one year in prison plus probation.

In another run-in 2008, police found marijuana and crack cocaine in his car, leading to eight years of court-ordered supervision.

Friends and civic leaders backed the pardon application, citing Jelly Roll’s transformation.

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who runs Nashville’s jail, wrote that Jelly Roll had an awakening in one of the jails he managed. Live Nation Entertainment CEO and President Michael Rapino cited Jelly Roll’s donations from his performances to charities for at-risk youth.

The parole board began considering Jelly Roll’s pardon application in October 2024, which marks the state’s five-year timeline for eligibility after his sentence expired. Prominent Nashville attorney David Raybin represents Jelly Roll in the pardon case.

Lee’s office said no one was pardoned Thursday who had a homicide or a sex-related conviction, or for any crime committed as an adult against a minor.

The White House announced on Thursday that Washington’s iconic John F Kennedy arts centre is to be renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center” after President Donald Trump.

The extraordinary naming of a major cultural venue after a living president is just the latest effort by the 79-year-old Republican to stamp his identity on the US capital in his second term.

He has also demolished the White House East Wing in order to install a grand ballroom, and is seeking to construct a large triumphal arch.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Kennedy Center’s board — which Trump purged of Democrats earlier this year before installing himself as chairman — had “voted unanimously” for the change.

She said it was “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”

“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur,” she added.

The towering white monument is named after president John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. The centre, which sits on the banks of the Potomac River, opened in 1971.

Trump has made a number of references to renaming the centre in recent months.

Earlier this month at the opening of a peace institute that had also been renamed after him, Trump referred to it as the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” before adding: “Whoops, excuse me.”

During his first term, billionaire Trump never attended the annual fundraising gala for recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, as many of those artists vocally opposed his policies.

This time, Trump moved quickly to make the centre his own, ridding the board of trustees of its Democratic appointees and ousting its president, as part of a wider assault on federally funded cultural institutions he deemed too “woke.”

Trump then presented the honours this year himself, giving awards to “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, disco legend Gloria Gaynor and rock band KISS.

A few days earlier, at the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup on December 5, Trump received a new peace prize from football’s governing body and made a speech on stage.

Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” has been a motivational anthem for nearly five decades – but it didn’t just serve as inspiration for millions of fans. Gaynor told “CBS Mornings” the song gave her hope during one of the most difficult periods of her life.

After a fall on stage in 1978 at New York’s Beacon Theatre, Gaynor suffered a serious spinal injury and spent months in recovery. Many thought her career was over, but during that painful healing, she recorded what would become a smash hit, “I Will Survive.”

“I was living that song”

The song won a Grammy for best disco recording in 1980 – the only time that category existed. In 2016, it was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry for its cultural significance. Now, Gaynor is a 2025 Kennedy Center honoree for her lifetime artistic achievements.

The track was supposed to be a B-side, but Gaynor immediately knew it was a winner. When she was recording it, standing in a back brace, she felt a deep connection to the music

“[I was] hoping I’d survive, you know, this trauma that I was going through, hoping that I survived the fact that my mother had just passed away a few years prior. Yeah, I was living that song and I was certain that I wouldn’t be the only one,” she said.

The song became her anthem – and the world’s – with over 200 covers in more than 20 different languages. And, of course, it sparked several trends on social media. 

Just a girl from Jersey

Before becoming the “queen of disco,” Gaynor was just a girl from Newark, New Jersey. Her talent went unnoticed until a neighbor heard her sing and she was called up to the stage at a club one night to perform.

She eventually worked the nightclub circuit. Her big break came from a meeting with legendary record executive Clive Davis, who helped propel her to the center of disco. Her 1975 debut album, “Never Can Say Goodbye,” was one of the first disco albums to top the charts, cracking the top 25 on the Billboard 200.

Early in her career, Gaynor said she was singing R&B but decided she really wanted to give people music to dance to.

“I remember that discotheques were very, very new. There were just a couple and what they were was cabaret clubs where they’d just taken away the chairs,” she recalled.

Her profile continued to grow as she toured the world. As disco faded in the 1980s, Gaynor kept performing around the world. Years later, she found a new purpose through faith and gospel music. Her 2019 album, “Testimony,” earned her a Grammy, proving her voice still inspires.

Lessons for new artists

Now, nearly 50 years after her rise to fame, Gaynor is honored with one of the nation’s highest distinctions: the Kennedy Center Honor.

“I got a phone call from my manager and I was ecstatic,” said Gaynor as she learned about the award. “It was incredible to even think about being accepted as one who deserved that.”

Gaynor is now parting her wisdom to new artists. Her top takeaway: Don’t set out to seek rewards.

” I would say to them, be about doing the best you can with what God gave you,” she said. “All of that stuff is extra.  I didn’t strive to get a Grammy. I strive to do the best song I could do at that time.  I strive to touch people’s hearts. I strive to uplift, encourage, and power people And so, be about that.”