Jelly Roll’s Daughter Is the Inspiration Behind His Holiday Toy Drive

It's no secret that Jelly Roll's got a heart for giving back, but actually, you can thank his daughter Bailee Ann for the idea behind his massive, bar-raising holiday toy drive.

Backstage at the 2023 CMA Awards, Jelly Roll explained to press that this cause is close to Bailee's heart. The singer's daughter has been working on a smaller scale to spread holiday joy for years.

"It was kinda my daughter's dream, to be honest," he says.

"She started doing it at a real small local level with her aunt that owns a bar in Whitehouse, Tenn., for the last five years. It's called Buddy's Toy Drive after my late father," Jelly Roll explains. "So I thought we had a platform to do it big."

The singer knew he could put his daughter's vision on a larger stage, but the huge response so far seems to have surprised even him.

"Walmart came in, Hasbro, the Nashville Predators, the Nashville Fire Department, Metro — I mean, the mayor met me in a Walmart parking lot in Antioch, Tenn.," he relates. "If you ever told me that the county commissioner, the Antioch commissioner and mayor were coming to see me, I'd have been petrified. I'd have thought, 'God, what law did I break?!'"

A Nashville native, Jelly Roll takes pride in any opportunity he can take to give back to his community.

"Who would I be to be so blessed and not turn around and try to be a blessing?" he points out.

The singer also shared that he plans to donate $100,000 of his own money to the toy drive.

Jelly Roll won New Artist of the Year at the 2023 CMA Awards, and he also performed on the show twice: Once with Wynonna Judd for a rendition of his own "Need a Favor," and once with K. Michelle for a Judds tribute performance of "Love Can Build a Bridge."