MGK Unveils Country Collaboration with Jelly Roll, ‘Lonely Road’, Ahead of New Album

MGK has made another step into the country music world by unveiling a new collaboration with his good friend, Jelly Roll, ‘Lonely Road’, which arrives on Friday, July 26.

The genre-blending trailblazer has teased the link-up with a video clip, seemingly taken from the ‘Lonely Road’ music video, featuring various sombre clips of MGK and Jelly Roll at a funeral, as well as a shot of MGK getting arrested, with the lines, “Lonely road, take me home / Take me home, lonely road” playing over the end. Jelly Roll's wife, Bunnie XO, has a cameo role in the upcoming video.

The long-teased collaboration appears to have interpolated John Denver's iconic country anthem, ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’, with MGK sharing in his IG caption, “countdown to KellyRoll activated. 🚧 thanks to John Denver for paving the way”.

It follows MGK's decision to release a heartfelt, stripped back cover of Zach Bryan's ’Sun to Me’, with the ‘Hotel Diablo’ hitmaker hinting that his new album will be coloured by country.

Back in June, the Texas singer-songwriter made a surprise appearance at Spotify House in Nashville during CMA Fest, with MGK bringing out Jelly Roll to perform the latter's chart-topping hit single, ‘Need A Favor’, during the electrifying set.

Although this collaboration undoubtedly makes sense, with both MGK and Jelly Roll known for their ability to sonically shape-shift and blur the lines between genres such as rock, rap and punk, it looks like the two weren't always the best of buds. In a recent interview with Bussin’ with the Boys, Jelly shared, “There was a time me and MGK had real beef...I was a hater. I was a young fucking hater, and I thought I was just a loyal rider...but at the end of the day I was just desperate, and I had to call and be a man and say that one day, and we've been cool ever since”.

Jelly Roll went on to pay tribute to the sweet, selfless side of MGK most people never get to see on social media, “He's a great dude. I'm encouraging him right now to go do long form. I'm like go do [Andrew] Schulz, go do Joe [Rogan], get on the [Bussin’ with the Boys] bus, go do the rounds. If the world's seen what I see, they would look at you different. They only see these real artistic pictures you post, and these wild outfits and these headlines. They don't really get to see your heart, and you got such a good heart, like go show the world your heart. Like this dude flies to Cleveland every single weekend to watch his daughter play volleyball. Every weekend. Like won't tour or do shows during volleyball season, like, it's just what he's on. It's just who that dude is. I'm like, go tell that story”.

With the impending release of ‘Lonely Road’ and a potential country album on the horizon, it's safe to say we're looking forward to seeing what MGK brings to the Nashville scene this year.

For more on MGK, see below: