While nominated for Entertainer of the Year at the ACM Awards, Jelly Roll left empty-handed. But that didn’t put a damper on his year as the country singer recently finalized a partnership with the NHL to provide fans with a theme song for the playoff season. With teams battling for a chance at glory, the country singer picked the perfect song he considered “written for the guys grinding.”
With Game 1 in the Eastern Conference Final taking place tonight between the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes, fans might notice a familiar voice with Jelly Roll’s “Rise Up.”
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Posting an announcement video, the NHL and Jelly Roll offered fans a snippet of his playoff anthem. While discussing the motivation behind the song, the country star insisted, “This song was written for the guys grinding every night for the Cup. This isn’t just the theme song of the NHL Playoffs. This is their song. It crawls over your skin, that dirty, swampy, nasty, distorted rock and roll.”
[RELATED: Jelly Roll Brought a Little Piece of Johnny Cash to His Grand Ole Opry Induction]
Jelly Roll Brings “Cultural Defining Moment” To Stanley Cup Playoffs
Much like Jelly Roll, Steve Mayer, the President of the NHL Content and Events, also shared his excitement to have the country singer part of the playoffs. “Jelly Roll doesn’t just make music. He sets a tone, and it’s exactly right for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Watching him experience the Stanley Cup for the first time was a special moment.”
Although considering it a special moment in the NHL, Mayer added, “This collaboration with Amazon Music places hockey at the center of their culture, and it’s been a pleasure working together and seeing this video come to life.”
As for the Head of Publisher, Songwriter, and Society Relations at Amazon Music, Tom Winkler, he saw the merger between Amazon, the NHL, and Jelly Roll as a “defining cultural moment. We are amplifying the postseason experience by pairing the electric energy of playoff hockey with original music from marquee artists like Jelly Roll, giving fans a whole new way to feel the game on and off the ice.”
Besides the special moment, don’t miss a single second of the action as the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on TNT, HBO Max, truTV, SN, CBC, and TVAS.
(Photo by Craig Ambrosio/WWE/WWE via Getty Images)
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