Truth in Music: How Jelly Roll and Brandon Lake Shaped My Hallelujah After Lancaster County Prison

There are roads in life you don’t choose to drive. For me, that road led to court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment—punishment from false arrests that had nothing to do with who I truly was.

After weeks of illegal detention, I was finally released from Lancaster County Prison at the end of November 2024. But I wasn’t a victim, and I wasn’t abandoned. God had already been with me, ever since He first found me during a previous stay in that very prison. It was behind those walls that I was born again and became Sunshine Firecracker (you can read that story here).

By January 2025, I was out and on the backroads of Lancaster County when I tuned into a worship station. That’s when I first heard Brandon Lake’s Hard Fought Hallelujah. The song had officially released on November 8, 2024, but I never heard it then—I was still locked up, fighting for my freedom. God saved it for me.

When it finally hit my ears that winter afternoon, I didn’t even realize I’d already been singing along to Brandon Lake’s voice on Christian radio. But this song? It was different. It was worship with scars. It was truth set to melody. And by the end of it, I was weeping behind the wheel, grateful for a hallelujah I had fought for.

When Jelly Roll Joined Brandon Lake

What felt like just weeks later, I stumbled into something that floored me even more. On February 7, 2025, the duet version of Hard Fought Hallelujah dropped — Brandon Lake joined by Jelly Roll.

Hearing it nearly knocked the breath out of me. Jelly Roll wasn’t just another artist to me. His music was what God used inside Lancaster County Prison to break through my walls. His raw honesty in songs like Dead Man Walking and Fall In The Fall met me in the dark. That voice was part of how I came to Christ behind bars.

So when I heard Brandon Lake — the worship voice that had carried me on the road — singing side by side with Jelly Roll — the outlaw voice that helped lead me to salvation — it was like my whole testimony had been set to music.

Jelly Roll: Grace for the Broken in Prison

In prison, Jelly Roll’s music proved you could be scarred, addicted, ashamed, and still within reach of grace. His honesty was the bridge between my pain and God’s promise. He gave me words when I didn’t have my own.

Brandon Lake: Worship That Refused to Let Go

On the road in January 2025, Brandon Lake reminded me that worship is war. Hard Fought Hallelujah wasn’t written for the perfect — it was written for the wounded who still believe. That voice reminded me that even with false arrests, forced treatment, and scars on my record, I could still raise a hallelujah because God had never let me go.

The Duet: God's Perfect Timing for My Testimony

That’s why when the duet dropped on February 7, 2025, it didn’t feel like a coincidence. It felt like God orchestrating the soundtrack of my redemption.

The outlaw poet who carried me in prison.

The worship revivalist who lifted me on the road.

Now together in one anthem, one hallelujah. It was the gospel in real time — brokenness and praise colliding in harmony.

All You Have to Do Is Listen

Your timeline may not look clean. Your story may not feel linear. Mine didn’t either. But God has a way of holding every moment in His perfect timing.

He can use a Jelly Roll song in a prison cell. He can hold a Brandon Lake anthem until the exact January afternoon you need it. And then He can bring them together in a February duet that feels like it was written just for you.

He never left. He never will.

What song has God used to meet you in your own season? Share it below — because your testimony might be the lifeline someone else is waiting for.