“It's So Powerful”: Anne Wilson Pays Tribute to Jelly Roll and Discusses Feeling Embraced by the Country Music World

Anne Wilson has offered her take on the ongoing shift towards spiritually-minded music within the country world. For instance, the ‘My Jesus’ hitmaker has paid tribute to Jelly Roll's willingness to share his testimony through his soul-stirring live shows.

Wilson, who recently dropped her brand new single, ‘God Story’, has stopped by the Big D and Bubba radio show to delve into her latest track, as well as shedding light on her transition from the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene to country music.

Big D began the conversation by joking about the common misconception that Anne Wilson is related to Lainey Wilson. The duo teamed up for a stunning collaboration, ‘Praying Woman’, in 2024 ahead of Anne's lauded sophomore album, REBEL. The artists remain good friends - but they're not sisters, despite their shared last name.

The Kentucky' native's ascent over the past couple of years has been meteoric, with Anne Wilson's career starting back in 2017 when a video of her singing ‘What a Beautiful Name’ at her brother Jacob's funeral went viral, and led to a recording contract.

Now, Anne Wilson is preparing to open up for the biggest star in country music, Morgan Wallen, on his Seattle, Washington and Santa Clara, California tour-stops in July and August.

When asked if she's been receiving any extra messages of excitement from her hometown friends since this high-profile support slot was unveiled, Anne Wilson shared, “Yeah, so many people, people that I haven't talked to in years that come out of the woodwork and are like, ‘Hey, can we get a free ticket?’ and I'm like, ‘Nope, you sure can't. I haven't heard from you in so long’. So that's tough”.

With Anne Wilson having shared a range of Morgan Wallen covers in recent months, including beautiful renditions of ‘Don't Think Jesus’ and ‘Smile’, we're hoping Wallen decides to bring Wilson out for some momentous duets in Washington and California.

She went on to tease what attendees can expect from her performances, “Our set that we're gonna do is pretty much the same set we would do on any stage, because it's just like my music and authentic. But yeah, it is interesting how God is such a pillar in country music, and that me coming from the Christian side when I started putting out music to Country Radio and everything, and meeting people on the country side of things, it was second nature to talk about God for them. So that's been really cool to just be authentically who I am in these rooms and be able to talk about my faith, and for people to agree with it and accept it”.

The ‘Rain in the Rearview’ singer-songwriter went on to reflect on the increasing popularity of spiritual music, with CCM artists like Brandon Lake and Forrest Frank earning the first simultaneous Billboard Hot 100 entries for the genre in over a decade.

Wilson mused, “I think on the statistics side of things, it's really, really cool. My pastor shared that church attendance in the last year has gone up 65% and it's all Gen-Z - my generation - and there's a huge, country-wide thing of just people needing God”.

She went on to tip her cap to Jelly Roll, “Like they're just at their rock bottom and they need hope. So I look at artists like Jelly Roll and what he's doing, and it's so powerful because being willing to share your faith like that - he doesn't realise how many people that's impacting. So it's been really cool to be from a Christian side coming to the country side, and feeling like now we're just all one big family, kind of? Like, we're all coming together and doing music together, and yeah, I think a lot of people's lives are changing through it, and it's a great time to be a part of”.

Jelly Roll brought out Anne Wilson to perform ‘Save Me’ at Faster Horses Festival last summer, with Jelly joining forces with Brandon Lake in February for the spiritually-driven ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’. Jelly explores themes of faith and redemption throughout his discography, and his stirring shows are often likened to sermons.

In a separate statement, Anne Wilson delved into the inspiration by her rousing her song, which finds her movingly looking back at all the moments her journey in life was aided by divine intervention, “‘God Story’ is so personal to me because it's about those moments in life where you look back and think, ‘Only God could've brought me through that’. We all have a God story - times when He shows up in ways we never expected. My hope is that this song helps people see that even in the middle of the pain or the waiting, God is still writing something beautiful”.

‘God Story’ is expected to be the lead single from Anne Wilson's REBEL follow-up album, with the fast-emerging artist continuing to cement herself as one of the most exciting voices in the blossoming Contemporary Christian and country crossover space.

For more on Anne Wilson, see below: