Philly-area wedding band Jellyroll is in a trademark jam with country music star Jelly Roll
Is federal court ready for this jelly?
The musical stylings of Chadds Ford wedding band Jellyroll have taken the group to the Union League, the Army-Navy game, and George W. Bush’s White House — twice. Now, the band is headed to federal court in a trademark infringement lawsuit.
Kurt Titchenell, Jellyroll’s founder-trombonist, sued Tennessee country music star Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania last week. The legal jam, first reported in the Court Watch newsletter, is over the name.
» READ MORE: Jellyroll, Philly’s favorite wedding band, is about to turn 40
Jelly Roll, who won New Artist of the Year at the 2023 CMA Awards, has seen a surge in popularity in recent years. A former rapper who first came in contact with the criminal justice system as a teen and was convicted of felony robbery and drug charges, Jelly Roll has been open about his run-ins with the law and struggles with depression and drug use. The now-country singer has won fans with his compelling redemption story and what some listeners laud as a more-authentic, less-curated persona than that of country’s more recent male stars.
But that rise to fame, the suit claims, has contributed to “confusion in the marketplace.” The suit adds that Jelly Roll’s “troubled past” has further harmed Jellyroll.
Titchenell has been playing celebratory and charitable events in the Delaware Valley since at least 1980, according to the suit. His gigs now span the Northeast. What’s more, Titchenell trademarked the Jellyroll name in 2010 for “entertainment services in the nature of live musical performances.” He most recently renewed the trademark in 2019.
The country star has said the Jelly Roll name came from his mother when he was a child and he started using it in 2010 when releasing his mix tapes.
Fast-forward to the country singer’s recent success — he won three fan-voted CMT Music Awards earlier this month — and Titchenell, whose band once was a top search result in Google, has been bumped some 20 spots down, according to the suit.
The country artist’s upcoming tour further muddies the jelly, with a Philadelphia stop slated for October at the Wells Fargo Center.
By the end of February, the wedding band Jellyroll appeared to have had enough. Titchenell’s counsel filed a cease-and-desist letter that sparked “several conversations” between the artists’ camps, which led nowhere. Jelly Roll has continued to use the name on marketing materials and the country singer’s legal team asked whether the two artists were really in competition.
Titchenell’s counsel asked a judge to order the country music star to stop using “any similar derivation” of Jellyroll. The country music star’s representatives and the wedding band’s counsel could not be immediately reached for comment.
It’s not the first time musical acts have fought over a name. In 2020, the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum switched to Lady A as racial protests broke out in the United States and the band received criticism over a name that some felt glorified the antebellum South.
In doing so, Seattle-based blues singer Anita White, who told Rolling Stone she’d been going by Lady A for 20 years, accused the band of trying to erase her. Both artists filed suits against the other after early discussions came to a halt. In January 2022, they reached a settlement that was not made public.