Entertainment Music Country Jelly Roll Reacts to Earning First ACMs Nominations — Including Entertainer of the Year: 'Insanity' (Exclusive) "I spent my whole life just thinking that what I was doing would never be heard or seen," Jelly Roll tells PEOPLE after learning about his four nominations By Jack Irvin Jack Irvin Jack Irvin has over five years of experience working in digital journalism, and he’s worked at PEOPLE since 2022. Jack started in the industry with internships at Rolling Stone and Entertainment Tonight, and he worked as a freelance writer for publications including Bustle, MTV News, Shondaland, L’Officiel USA, Ladygunn, Flood and PopCrush before joining PEOPLE. In his current role, Jack covers daily music news and has interviewed both up-and-coming and established artists including Dolly Parton, Michelle Branch, Ashanti, Cyndi Lauper, Normani, Carly Rae Jepsen and Coco Jones. People Editorial Guidelines Published on April 10, 2024 04:30PM EDT Close Jelly Roll at the CMT Awards in Austin, Texas on April 7, 2024. Photo: John Shearer/Getty Days after winning three CMT Awards, Jelly Roll woke up to his first-ever nominations at the Academy of Country Music Awards. "It's just f---ing unbelievable," the country music star (born Jason DeFord) tells PEOPLE hours after learning about his four nods — single of the year for "Need a Favor," music event of the year for "Save Me" with Lainey Wilson, male artist of the year and entertainer of the year. Jelly, 39, marks the first artist to go from having never been nominated at the ACMs to landing a spot in the entertainer of the year category since Billy Ray Cyrus in 1993. Luke Combs, Megan Moroney and Morgan Wallen Lead 2024 ACM Awards Nominations Jelly Roll performs at the CMT Awards on April 7, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Taylor Hill/WireImage Jelly Roll Feels 'Sexy' as He Undergoes Several 'Reconstructive' Oral Procedures: 'I Want a Pretty Smile' His nominations arrive on the heels of the "Son of a Sinner" singer winning CMT performance of the year, male video of the year and video of the year — all for "Need a Favor" — at the 2024 CMT Music Awards on April 7, which shortly followed his two iHeartRadio Music Award wins for best new artist in both the pop and country categories last week. Only after finding out about the ACMs nods was Jelly finally able to take it all in. "I've been getting healthier, and every morning we get in the sauna, me and my buddies, and we do highs and lows and a gratitude, and man, I just couldn't get off gratitude," he says. "I just couldn't quit thinking about how unreal the last eight days have been." The accolades have been a long time coming for the musician, who launched his career over 20 years ago as a hip-hop artist and began earning mainstream recognition upon veering into the country genre with his 2021 album, Ballads of the Broken. Jelly Roll's Private Jet Makes an Emergency Landing After Wife Bunnie XO Says It 'Stopped Mid-Air' Jelly Roll at the CMT Awards on April 7, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Taylor Hill/WireImage "I spent my whole life just thinking that what I was doing would never be heard or seen," admits Jelly. "I almost gave up on any dream of this thing ever being like it is now, and man, is it just incredible to be in the middle of it. I'm grateful." His first major trophies came at last year's CMT Music Awards, where he won in three categories, followed by a win for new artist of the year at the 2023 CMA Awards. At this rate, he's going to need a pretty large display case to show the awards off. "I didn't expect to get this many. Even when I had a shelf built, I had it built for what I won last year thinking that was probably the best year of my life," says Jelly. "I don't know what to do about this thing still running." Jelly Roll Says He's Scared of His Kids Encountering Fentanyl When 'Experimenting with Drugs' (Exclusive) Jelly Roll accepts one of his prizes at the CMT Awards on April 7, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Jeff Kravitz/Getty Looking forward to the 2024 ACM Awards, which will air live on Thursday, May 16 from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, the father of two and husband to Bunnie Xo isn't ready to think about the possibility of winning entertainer of the year. "I'm not even going to start to even let that thought cross my mind," says Jelly. "That's insanity." Overall, he's simply honored to find himself in the mix. "To be nominated at the ACMs, especially what I do and who I represent, man, this is huge," expresses the artist. "Not every awards show in America's giving an opportunity to the guy that's talking against fentanyl and representing the people I speak about," adds Jelly, "and to see four nominations just showed me how much my peers and the industry cares about what I think, even my core messages outside of the music."