Jelly Roll and Eric Church have been friends for a couple years now. It turns out that the day that they met was a rather eventful one, which ended with Jelly Roll skinny dipping in the Columbia River.
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The pair of country singers were talking on the final day of the Country Radio Seminar (CRS), where they spoke of their experience and advice. Jelly Roll also, as he does, overshared some of the details of their first meet-up, and it makes for a hilarious story.
Back in 2023, when Eric Church was doing his Outsiders Revival tour, he asked Jelly Roll to open for a show. Church fans will know that it's highly peculiar for him to have opening acts, but he wanted Jelly Roll on stage.
Of course, hearing this, the Roll wanted to meet Eric Church as he was a huge fan himself and wanted to learn all he could from him. Their first meeting, however, was a little more eventful than Jelly Roll had in mind.
As he was asking Church a bunch of questions, they were hitting shots. "This dude was also ripping shots with me. And I'm like, 'Alright, I'm drinking with Eric Church,'" Jelly Roll said.
"Normally I bury people when I have to go dark with them. This is not how that night panned out for me. I left there a little worried. I left there and ended up skinny dipping in the Columbia River. True story. Like Baloo the bear."
Jelly Roll Had To Open For Eric Church After A Vicious Night Out
Jelly Roll continued the story after a small rendition of Baloo the Bear from The Jungle Book. Despite what sounds like a serene night of skinny dipping, he woke up feeling like death.
"I wake up the next afternoon at 5pm, I'm getting an IV in my arm," he continued.
Eric Church had been trying to get a hold of Jelly Roll for hours, as he wanted him to open his show.
"I got an IV in my arm, I can't even open my eyes yet, I'm just in agonizing pain, I'm like, 'Oh I think Eric Church hates me.'" We've all been there.
After learning that Eric Church wanted him on stage, his reaction was hilarious. "I was like, 'Oh f--k.' And right then I went somewhere between really excited, like 'Eric Church likes me,' to like, 'Oh God, I am too hungover to sing on such a big stage.'"
It's quite the story, and one certainly fitting of Jelly Roll. And I suppose we should have expected Eric Church to outdrink even Jelly Roll.
