Jelly Roll is sitting next to country music royalty at the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards — and he is admittedly “big-time fangirling” over it.
The “Liar” singer, 40, arrived at the 2025 ACMs with wife Bunnie Xo by his side, showing off his slimmer figure on the Frisco, Texas red carpet on Thursday, May 8. While the couple — who color-coordinated black outfits — couldn’t stop smiling on the carpet, that apparently can’t even compare to how they’re feeling inside the venue. Especially because they’re currently rubbing elbows with Alan Jackson.
“We are sitting next to Alan Jackson- I’m about to freakkkk out… my wife and I are big time fan girling,” Jelly Roll posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday.
While Jelly Roll (real name Jason Bradley DeFord) has quickly risen up the ranks as one of the hottest country artists today — he is nominated for three of the biggest awards on Thursday night — Jackson is a country icon, racking up 17 ACM awards, two Grammys and more among his 35-plus year career.
Though Jelly Roll may be hoping to take home Male Artist of the Year, Best Album of the Year, and the show’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year, it looks like just being in Jackson’s presence is exciting enough for him.
Jackson, for his part, performed a heart-wrenching rendition of “Remember When” on Thursday night — a set that will be one of the musician’s final performances of his career.
The 66-year-old “Chattahoochee” singer will finish out his final tour, Last Call: One More for the Road tour, later this month – four years after being diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
In 2021, Jackson spoke to Today about his battle with the disease, which affects the nerves between the brain and spinal cord.
“It’s been affecting me for years, and it’s getting more and more obvious,” the musician said at the time. “And I know I’m stumbling around on stage and now I’m having a little trouble balancing even in front of the microphone, and so I just feel very uncomfortable, and I just want people to know that’s why I look like I do.”
