Bill Lee is a seventh-generation Tennessean, raised on the 1,000-acre cattle farm his grandparents started in Franklin. He knew great success by any earthly measure, rising to become the CEO of his family construction company, growing it to more than 1,200 employees. Years later, he’d become CEO of the state he calls home, sworn in as governor in 2019. But years before, a tragic event—the death of his wife Carol Ann—would drive Lee to the edges of despair.
Jason DeFord was born in Antioch, a blue-collar suburb of Nashville. His father was a meat salesman, part-time bookie, and dedicated Methodist believer. His mother struggled with mental health and addiction issues, and she gave her son the nickname the world knows him by—Jelly Roll. DeFord was never comfortable in his skin, taunted for his size, clothes and background. By his teens, he was doing and selling drugs. At 16, he was charged as an adult for aggravated assault while armed. For nearly a decade, he drifted in and out of prison on charges that included possession of cocaine with intent to sell.
Unlike Lee, a tragic death didn’t alter the course of DeFord’s life: it was instead a birth. While serving a stint in prison at 23, he learned he was the father of a baby girl, news that propelled a radical change in his life…