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Jelly Roll’s<\/a> meteoric rise to fame <\/span>has been a redemption story for the ages<\/a>, and the celebrated country artist is getting candid about his past struggles with drug abuse, the extent of his addiction, and how he’s changed his life around.<\/span><\/p>\n “I had to learn that you could drink alcohol without doing cocaine,” Jelly Roll recently told <\/span>People<\/em><\/a>. “It took me a long time to learn that.”<\/span><\/p>\n “There was a long time where I just assumed, when people told me they drank without doing cocaine, I was like, ‘I thought we only drank to do cocaine,'” he explained. “I thought [drinking] was to make us not feel like drug addicts. Nobody wants to snort cocaine sober, then you’re a drug addict.<\/span><\/p>\n “But I had to re-look at my relationship with alcohol like that,” he added.<\/span><\/p>\n Before breaking into the music scene, the “Save Me” singer was <\/span>arrested over 40 times for different drug charges<\/a>, and struggled with the use of cocaine for years, until finding a path to kicking the vice after his daughter,\u00a0Bailee — now 15 — was born while he was locked up for crack cocaine possession.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, Jelly Roll says that he hasn’t quit drinking all together — but he no longer sees drinking just as a prerequisite for drug use.<\/span><\/p>\n “I never really had a problem with alcohol, so I’ll still have a cocktail, but very, especially this year, very seldomly,” he shared. “Like, special night kind of stuff, like the night of the CMAs, of course we partied. But I just try to stay away from drugs.”<\/span><\/p>\n Jelly Roll also explained that he’s found help through AA meetings and support groups, but hasn’t used them frequently.<\/span><\/p>\n “Because I do drink and smoke weed, I will attend meetings occasionally,” he said. “If I’m really struggling with thinking of my behavioral pattern, I’ll go to a meeting.”<\/span><\/p>\n “[However], out of an abundance of respect for the people who really got off the drugs completely — and the alcohol and the weed — I don’t necessarily claim to be a part of the program,” he added. “Because I respect their work and I would never want to diminish it with some of my actions, but AA has done a lot for me.”<\/span><\/p>\n Jelly Roll spoke with ET back in June<\/a> and opened up about his debut country album,\u00a0<\/span>Whitsitt Chapel<\/span><\/em>, and his emotional,\u00a0<\/span>raw Hulu documentary,\u00a0Jelly Roll: Save Me<\/em>.<\/a>\u00a0The celebrated, burgeoning artist said he’s always look to music to be his lifeline and close friend during some of the tremendous trials and challenges in his life.<\/span><\/p>\n “I think at some point in life, everything in life has let me down. But music was always my constant,” he shared. “Like, when I had nothing else, I had a boombox. When I was incarcerated, I had a set of headphones and a little radio.”<\/span><\/p>\n Jelly Roll’s lived a textured life — from addiction and life on the streets as a thief to time behind bars — and it’s not something he’s shied away from. He buries his emotions in his music.<\/span><\/p>\n “I’m constantly writing songs to show people that it’s okay to be a work in progress,” Jelly Roll said. “It’s okay to still meet yourself in the middle.”<\/span><\/p>\n