Jelly Roll made his Emmys debut on Sunday evening (Sept. 15) to soundtrack the “in memoriam” section together with his poignant music “I Am Not Okay.”

When the nation hitmaker took the stage at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, he launched his music — the Beautifully Broken single that has up to now peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 — by saying: “I believe that music is therapeutic. I believe that music can heal. I also believe that storytelling is just as cathartic. I hope that this song can act as a healing moment for those mourning the storytellers that we have lost this year. If you are feeling lost or alone tonight, I want you to know that it’s OK to not always be OK.”

The Nashville star wore an all-black go well with and stood heart stage, with a string part behind him including to the emotional weight of the music. A string of well-known names and faces we misplaced this yr scrolled on the massive display behind Jelly Roll, together with Richard Simmons, Martin Mull, Shannen Doherty, Carl Weathers, Richard Lewis, Donald Sutherland and James Earl Jones, who died simply final week at age 93.

The ultimate identify and face was Bob Newhart, who stayed on the display as Jimmy Kimmel got here onstage, dryly quipping: “And the award for deceased industry professional we will miss the most goes to…” Kimmel went on to pay tribute to the comedian actor, whose 1960 undertaking The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was the primary comedy album to succeed in No. 1 on the Billboard 200.