Jelly Roll and Shaboozey to perform the extra night at Ottawa Bluesfest

Jelly Roll is coming to Ottawa Bluesfest.

Organizers announced the American singer, rapper and songwriter will perform on the extra night being added to the lineup on July 9.

Jelly Roll will be joined by Shaboozey for the show. 

This will be Jelly Roll’s first trip to Canada.

“When the opportunity to bring in Jelly Roll surfaced, we jumped on it,” Ottawa Bluesfest executive and artistic director Mark Monahan said in a statement. “He has an amazing story, and he’s a great performer.”

Ottawa Bluesfest added one more day to its lineup to accommodate the performer. Bluesfest will kick off on July 4, with shows July 4 to 7 and July 9 to 14 on the grounds of the Canadian War Museum at LeBreton Flats.

“Sometimes these things come along and it just falls into place,” Monahan told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal.

“You just do it; you give people another night and get a chance to do artists like Jelly Roll and Shaboozey.”

Monahan said Bluesfest had been speaking with representatives of Jelly Roll last fall to play at Ottawa Bluesfest.

“For a number of reasons, it didn’t work out. They came back to us about a month ago and said, ‘Hey, could you still do it?’ They sort of built this as a chance to come in and do a big splash in Canada. He’s never played in Canada before.”

In November, Jelly Roll won New Artist of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.  The singer won three awards at the CMT Music Awards, including video of the year, male video of the year and CMT performance of the year for “Need a Favour”

Shaboozey is known for bridging hip-hop and country music, and was featured on Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” album.

Headliners for Bluesfest include Nickelback, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Maroon 5, 50 Cent, Mötley Crüe, Mother Mother, Zac Brown Band, Tyler Childers, and Nas.

The festival recently announced it was adding British DJ James Kennedy, Canadian singer-songwriter William Prince and rock group Down with Webster to the lineup.

Monahan says the 2024 edition of Ottawa Bluesfest will be “one of the best years we’ve ever had out of the 30.”

“There’s a lot of nights that are going to be close to a sellout.”

The full festival lineup can be found here.

Tickets to see Jelly Roll and Shaboozey will go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m.  The fully festival pass will automatically include the July 9 show.