Viewers will need “tons of tissue” for Jelly Roll’s Emmys in memoriam performance

The 76th Emmy Awards air Sunday night on ABC, and organizers predict that the traditional in memoriam performance will be a real tearjerker — because Jelly Roll is doing it.

Each year during the segment someone performs a song while photos of those who we lost in the past year are flashed onscreen. The show’s producers have revealed that Jelly is taking a special break from his current Beautifully Broken tour to sing on the show.

Executive producer Dionne Harmon tells Variety, “He is literally stepping off tour for a day and going right back on the road when he’s done. So, we’re so grateful to him.” She adds that the head of their production company “did a lot of begging to get that!”

Meanwhile, music director Rickey Minor says of Jelly’s performance, “I think that his decision of what particular song to do will touch everyone. I cry every time I hear it. Everyone at home, make sure you have tons of tissue around.”

Jelly’s tour stops at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Sept. 13, New Orleans on Sept. 14 and then doesn’t resume until Sept. 17 in Orlando, Florida.