Willow Avalon Tells The Insane Story Of The Arrest That Led To Her Mugshot Album Cover

This might be the best celebrity arrest story of all time.

Willow Avalon joined the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast recently to talk about growing up in Georgia and moving to California (and eventually New York City), pursuing music at the young age of 15 , honing her skills as a songwriter and some of her musical inspirations, performing at Stagecoach with Zach Bryan, her debut album Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell, her plans for future music and much more.

All of that conversation was fine and dandy, but the moment in the conversation that really stole the show was when Avalon got into her wild, sprawling arrest story that led to the mugshot album cover of Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell. As the country music star explained, it all started when she was just trying to surprise her mom a couple of years back:

“I was driving through rural Georgia going to Savannah, Georgia to surprise my mama for mother’s day. This was like two years ago. I was driving and… my car is literally held together with duct tape – Alabama chrome, as my dad calls it – and just prayers.

I have to drive with the heat on full blast to get anywhere. I was driving like four and a half hours to surprise my mama. I left in the morning, and I had to pee for like three hours. But if you stop that car when it gets really hot, sometimes it won’t start back up again.”

Needless to say, Willow Avalon could probably use a new vehicle. That’s very evident throughout the story (and our podcast interview with her as a whole).

The “Tequila or Whiskey” singer then set the scene for her arrest, sparing no detail of what would become one the more memorable days of her life:

“I’ve got one leg out the window, my hair up in a bun with like a white crop top and a miniskirt and cowboy boots. I’ve got the sunroof down, windows down, getting air (because) the heater is full blast. I’m definitely driving fast, but I’m going highway speed. I’m going like 70 miles per hour.”

Or so she thought.

Willow later mentioned that the speed gauges on her vehicle don’t work, so she really didn’t know exactly how fast she was going. She also didn’t know that she was driving through a 45 mile per hour zone at around 70 miles per hour. As she explained it, the singer came speeding over a hill and ran right into a small town speed trap. The sheriff waiting at the bottom of the hill pulled over the noticeable big green truck with Willow sweating profusely inside (because of the heater running full blast, not because of the cop) and told her she was “super speeding.”

That’s when things really got interesting:

“I hand him my California driver’s license, and he goes, ‘I gotta take you to jail.’ And I was like, ‘What in the hootin’ and hollerin’ hell are you talking about?’ He said, ‘I’ve got to take you to jail because California is not a part of the pact program,’ which is like the DMV database.”

Long story short, the California license created some confusion, so Willow shared that she was originally born and raised in Georgia. The sheriff then ran the Georgia license, and said if it was still in the system, he’d write Willow a ticket and let her go on. Avalon event left the heat running on full blast, still thinking she would be driving away sooner rather than later.

But when the officer came back after running the Georgia license, he asked her to step out of the vehicle:

“So I get out of the car and I’m standing at the back of the car and he goes, ‘Do you want to tell me about that warrant that you’ve got?’ I was like, ‘Do you want to tell me about the warrant that I’ve got? Because I don’t know about any warrant.'”

@whiskeyriff The wild story behind the mugshot image used for @Willow Avalon’s debut record is a must-hear. // The new Whiskey Riff Raff podcast is LIVE now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff #willowavalon #southernbelleraisinhell ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff

As it turns out, Willow had a warrant out from a 2016 incident in Atlanta. Though she wasn’t sure what that was all about, she obliged when she was put into the back of the cop car and taken to the Emanuel County Jail. The sheriff was nice enough to allow her to bring all of her valuables from her truck (that doesn’t lock).

Eventually, it was time for Willow Avalon to take her mugshot:

“I go to take the picture, and I looked like I was on every form of meth you could possibly think of. Because I was just drenched (in sweat). I asked, ‘Sir, can I brush my hair and put some lipstick on, because my mama raised me not to take a bad picture?’ And he was like, ‘Alright.’

So I’m blotting my face with my handkerchief, I brush my hair, and I put my lip gloss on… they take the picture and the kid that was taking it went, ‘Damn, that’s a good one.'”

So good that it ended up as the album cover for Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell, as you can see below:

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A post shared by Willow Avalon (@willowavalon)

But the story doesn’t end there.

Eventually, Willow Avalon was able to get in touch with her mom – who is a paralegal – and her mother was able to come to the jail and bail her out. The lawyer that ended up working Willow’s case later found out that her warrant in Atlanta was reckless driving and a failure to dim high beams ticket.

As Avalon recalls, she was told that she wasn’t getting a ticket when she was pulled over in the state’s capital, but sure enough the officer – who Willow had some choice words for – had turned the citation in. The good news is that everything worked itself out in the end, as Avalon explained:

“A couple of hours in solitary for me was not fun, but I got an album cover. My lawyer went to the court proceedings, and he said all of this in front of the judge, and the judge still was like, ‘She’s not here.’

Then the sheriff told (the judge) that I was his favorite person that he’s ever arrested, and so they dropped the speeding charges. My team emailed them for the mugshot, and they said, ‘Glady,’ and sent it over and that’s my album cover.”

If you want to hear more from Willow Avalon, make sure to download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here.

We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts.

Cheers, y’all.

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