After years of promising fans that he’d make it to Australia, Jelly Roll has finally touched down in Australia and from the sounds of it, he’s fallen hard for the land Down Under.

“Dude, it’s really, really cool, man,” he says with a grin. “I hate it took so long. It was only a 15-hour flight. It just took a lot of other stuff we had to figure out. But I’m grateful to be here. Man, really cool.”

His first order of business? Meeting one of Australia’s most famous residents – the quokka. Jelly Roll, who has the perpetually smiling marsupial tattooed on his arm, shared the story behind his ink.

“We love quokkas. We’re infatuated with them, we’re infatuated with Australian culture, period, back home. We think y’all are the coolest, laid back people in the world. We just wish we were more like Australia, and now that we’re here, I totally get why we feel this way,” he laughs. “We just love the quokka because they’re always happy. I found out it was kind of a rumour, but back in America, we heard they lived solely off eucalyptus leaves, so they were always stoned. So we thought that was awesome… But they’re always happy. So we all got one [tattoo] to remind ourselves to be more quokka-like. And when I got to come up, I got to meet one, they let me feed one and name it. I named it Loretta.”

Beyond meeting Loretta the quokka, Jelly Roll’s Australian debut has been nothing short of overwhelming. “It literally feels like home here,” he shares. “Every conversation I’m having, what everybody’s saying, how the energy feels out there, it feels like home. I feel like an honorary Aussie already.”

He says fellow artists warned him about the wild, passionate energy of Aussie crowds, but even that didn’t prepare him. “They just said they were really, really wild, like a very engaged crowd. But it surpassed it. You have to come experience this place.”

The trip marks another milestone in a career built on transformation and redemption, both themes at the core of Jelly Roll’s music. When asked how his understanding of redemption has evolved, he reflects, “Redemption for me is a never ending arc. Right now, it’s just redeeming every time I have a bad interaction. I’m constantly trying to be accountable and do self-inventory. Redemption, to me, is still a daily occurrence.”

Of all his career moments, performing at SummerSlam – and now playing two nights at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena – stand out as surreal. “When Logan Paul came off that top rope, it was a big like, ‘This is crazy’ moment for me,” he laughs. “But honestly, just finally being in Australia… I never thought I’d be allowed into this country to do a show or that I’d ever have enough fans that it would justify the flight. But here we are, two nights at Rod Laver. Crazy.”

Faith continues to be the foundation of Jelly Roll’s outlook, not just in his music, but in how he gives back. “My faith, man. Jesus was big on doing for the least. It’s one of the big things he preached the most. And I just try to follow what that dude did. I live a real, straight line philosophy when it comes to faith. Try to show your faith more than talk about it.”

No conversation about Jelly Roll would be complete without mentioning his wife, Bunnie XO, who he affectionately calls his rock. “The only thing about Australia I don’t like is I’m not back to Bunnie. I wish she was here. She’ll be here next time,” he says.

Their relationship, he adds, deeply influences his songwriting. “Especially now, the new album, I feel like I’m just one love song after another. We’re almost ten years in, and I’m more in love than I’ve ever been. Our marriage is stronger than it’s ever been. People talk about relationships getting stale, but I feel like mine’s just starting to really get good.”

Bunnie, he says, is also what keeps him grounded amid the chaos of touring. “She just keeps me normal. We talk about normal drama – kids being kids, neighbours acting like neighbours,” he laughs. “Just normal stuff. It always keeps me in that realm. My brother lives nearby and comes by a lot, so it’s just a super family kind of thing we have going on.”

As for when fans can expect to see him back on Aussie soil? Jelly Roll doesn’t hesitate. “Every 18 months, I’d hope. Every tour, every time we do a world tour, we won’t skip Australia. As long as the Australians will continue to have me back – I am coming back, baby. That’s for sure.”

Looks like we can start the countdown, Jelly Roll 2027 sounds just about right.