**Kane Brown and Jelly Roll: From Beef to Brotherhood**
Kane Brown’s highly anticipated album *The High Road* is set for release on Friday, January 24, and it includes an emotionally charged collaboration with Jelly Roll on a song about depression, titled *Haunted*. The collaboration comes as a powerful testament to the artists’ personal and professional growth, especially considering their rocky start.
In a candid interview with *Taste of Country Nights*, Brown shared an unexpected twist from their past. Despite both coming from similar backgrounds, the two artists initially didn’t see eye to eye. In fact, Jelly Roll used to have a strong dislike for Kane Brown.
“I heard of him before he got into the country industry, because I was hanging out with some other guys who were in the same world that Jelly was in,” Brown explains. “We had the same kinda background.”
Although they had mutual friends, they never interacted. Brown recalls that their mutual friend, Taylor Phillips, once told Jelly Roll that Kane was quiet and not as people perceived him. “Taylor told him \[Jelly] ‘Nah, man, you don’t know him — he’s just really quiet.'” However, Jelly Roll admitted to holding a grudge against Brown at the time.
“I heard that Jelly hated me,” Brown confesses, revealing how the tension stemmed from misunderstandings and preconceived notions.
Determined to squash any animosity, Brown reached out to Jelly Roll, offering to connect and potentially become friends. “I ended up reaching out to Jelly, I was like, ‘Hey buddy, this industry’s crazy. If you ever need to sit down and talk to me, or play COD — I play a lot of Call of Duty — you can come and talk to me about it,'” Brown says.
The gesture led to the two bonding over their shared love for gaming, especially *Call of Duty*. “We ended up laying Call of Duty and hitting it off and basically just text all the time,” Brown adds, recounting how their relationship blossomed into genuine friendship, with random late-night FaceTimes becoming a regular occurrence.
The duo’s newfound camaraderie led to the collaboration on *Haunted*, with Brown admitting, “I wrote this song and thought of him jumping on it.” However, when they shot the music video for the song, Jelly Roll couldn’t help but laugh about the history between them. “He was like, ‘Is this thing on?'” Brown recalls. “He said, ‘I used to f–king hate this dude!'”
Despite the playful jab, Jelly Roll quickly turned the moment around, adding, “But now I love this guy!” Brown, who had known of the past animosity but never heard it directly from Jelly, was left in shock, saying, “I was like, ‘You never told me this in person.'”
Now, the two are united not just by friendship but by a shared mission to raise awareness about depression and mental health struggles. Brown expresses, “Jelly’s such a good guy, man. I love him and I’m proud of his success, and he amplified this song. I’m just glad he’s on it. Hopefully, we get a big hit that’s huge awareness for people to know they’re not alone going through depression.”
To support his new album, Brown will be hitting the road on *The High Road Tour* starting in March, with the powerful message of friendship, healing, and mental health awareness at the forefront of his performances.