Luke Bryan, Jelly Roll, ERNEST Team Up For Surprise Performance
on Jan 20, 2024
Country star Luke Bryan joined Jelly Roll and ERNEST on stage for an impromptu performance of “Son Of A Sinner.”
Jelly Roll brought his good buddy ERNEST out for a special performance of Jelly’s “Son Of A Sinner,” when Bryan made a surprise appearance on stage.
The unexpected visit took place on Friday (Jan. 19) at Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa in Cancun, Mexico. The audience’s cheers grew louder as Bryan made his way onto the stage behind the two artists.
Watch the video below!
@oregonpeach76 #cancun 🎶#lukebryan #countrymusic #epic #thebest @Jelly Roll @LukeBryan #concerts @Ernest
What is Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa?
Crash My Playa is a 4-night all-inclusive concert vacation situated on the beaches of Mexico. For the past nine years, country superfans have had the opportunity to enjoy performances from the likes of Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line, Dierks Bentley, Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town, Sam Hunt, Dustin Lynch, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and many more.
Luke Bryan revealed the complete lineup for the 2024 Crash My Playa performances in October 2023, which included Jelly Roll and ERNEST.
See his announcement video below!
Bryan crashed the stage during another of his buddy’s headlining set at Crash My Playa in 2018 — Blake Shelton.
RELATED: Luke Bryan Crashes Blake Shelton’s Stage To Sing An Alabama Classic
Jelly Roll & ERNEST’s Collaborations
ERNEST co-wrote Jelly’s “Son Of A Sinner,” alongside Davis Ray Stevens, which is featured on his 2021 album, Ballads Of The Broken. The track achieved significant success, marking Jelly Roll’s first No. 1 at Country Radio, and continues to stand out as one of the genre-fusing artist’s most recognizable songs to date.
Jelly and ERNEST recently revealed on an episode of Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast that they have a new collaboration up their sleeve.
The close friends and co-writers revealed that their new duet will be featured on ERNEST’s eagerly awaited new album.
The new song, which appears to be called “I Went To College, He Went To Jail,” is all about their friendship, which goes way back – almost fifteen years. It’s a fun track that talks about how ERNEST went off to college, and Jelly Roll had some jail stints.
During the podcast, Theo Von brought up how good the pair are at making hits, and Jelly Roll revealed, “We actually have a song on [Ernest’s] new album that talks all about that.”
RELATED: Jelly Roll Revisits His Old Jail Cell: “This Is Jail. It Sucks.”
How Luke Bryan Helped Come Up With Jelly & ERNEST’s Duet
ERNEST recounted the story of how he and Luke Bryan were the ones to initially came up with the idea for the song while enjoying a round of golf.
The two were playing golf at Troubadour, listening to rap, and somehow, they started talking about Jelly Roll. Ernest shares, “He was like, ‘Y’all have known each other for a while,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, we go back.'”
So, the song came to life after a nudge from Luke Bryan on the golf course.
Ernest told Luke, “I used to go by [Jelly’s] house and acquire some things, and we’d freestyle rap. And this was back in like 2010. Then I went to college, and he went to jail, and then we came back around all these years later. Then Luke was like, ‘Hold on, motherf***er, you better write that f***ing song right now!’”
Jelly Roll shared how ERNEST and Luke Bryan kept FaceTiming him during their round, singing new bits as they tipsily put the song together.
ERNEST then treated the podcast listeners to a sneak peek of the new song by singing a few lines.
I went to college, he went to jail /
One was a dorm room, one was a cell /
Who came out on top? /
Hell, it’s hard to tell /
I went to college, he went to jail.
Having enjoyed this upbeat and playful teaser, we’re eagerly anticipating the moment when Ernest and Jelly Roll release the complete studio version of their collaboration!
Check out the complete podcast episode featuring Jelly and ERNEST below.
