While Jelly Roll may be dominating country music right now, nothing could have prepared him for mentoring country music royalty on American Idol. While serving as this season’s mentor, the “Halfway to Hell” singer got to work with Loretta Lynn‘s granddaughter, Emmy Russell.
The experience, he admits, was intimidating.
“How am I supposed to judge LORETTA LYNN’S GRANDDAUGHTER!?!” he writes on social media.
If he felt pressure mentoring Russell, it’s nothing compared to the high expectations she has put on herself because of her country music pedigree. She has opened up about her struggles in other episodes.
“I was told at 11 years old, ‘You’ve got big shoes to fill,'” she previously revealed. “The pressure that I lived under are why the nerves are so strong.”
Jelly Roll instantly picked up on those nerves as he worked with her in rehearsals, but he was able to relate to her on that level.
“I also get the feeling of nervousness — of the whole world watching,” he divulges to her.
He also may have unlocked a deeper reason for those insecurities that doesn’t have anything to do with her country lineage. Russell was very vulnerable when the “Need a Favor” singer asked her why she chose to sing the song “Beautiful Things” from Benson Boone.
“I sometimes think the beautiful things in my life are going to disappear in a second,” she confesses.
His encouraging words certainly helped Russell, as she wowed the judges with her performance later that night.
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