Jelly Roll has always been open about his incarcerated past and his heavy involvement in detention centers around the world, working to provide a second chance for juveniles.

He’s living proof that music can save someone’s life which is why he’s opened a music studio in his old stomping grounds as a youth, Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

To celebrate the unveiling of the new studio space, Jelly Roll teamed up with the Beat of Life Organization, a Nashville-based non-profit that aims to create songwriting/music programs for vulnerable populations around the country, to host a “Redemption Songs” event. 

At this event, 35 hit songwriters, including ERNEST and Frank Ray, were in attendance alongside Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, Juvenile Court’s Judge Sheila Calloway and several other music industry VIPs and correctional leaders.

Jelly Roll performed with ERNEST for the incarcerated youth who then had the opportunity to sit down with the songwriters in attendance, write their own songs and perform them for the entire group of attendees.

Before the event was over, Jelly Roll made known his plans to do much more for incarcerated youth in the U.S.: plans to build transitional homes for kids, build preventative community centers, and “put millions and millions and tens of millions of dollars back into this city directly for youth because they are our future mayors, they are our future residents of the United States.”

He also promised to stop by any facility in America when he’s on the road and make the time to sing for the incarcerated youth.