Jesse calls Ozark, AR home. Growing up, his father worked as a mechanic, and his mom a school teacher. Early on, his grandpa copied The Beatles' White Album and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for Jesse. At 12-years-old, he finally scrounged up enough to dough for a “$56 first act guitar from Walmart.” It became like another limb. He fed his obsession by checking CDs out of the public library and ripping them to the family computer, embracing classics from Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and Woody Guthrie.
Relocating to Nashville, he launched his eponymous band Welles, releasing music and touring incessantly. He logged 280 shows in a year, canvassing North America and Europe alongside the likes of Royal Blood, Highly Suspect, Greta Van Fleet, and Dead Sara. Dropped from his old label (mid-Pandemic), he quit a job at a vegan meat manufacturer and returned to Arkansas. In February 2024, life changed again when dad suffered a heart attack. Sitting in his father’s hospital room with a Woody Guthrie biography on his lap, Jesse realized what he needed to do.
He walked into the Ozarks, placed his phone on a tripod, sang right to it, and posted the performance. The ensuing series of videos made a seismic impact online. He impressively attracted over 1 million followers on Instagram by performing tunes like “Cancer,” “Fentanyl,” and “War Isn’t Murder” out in the cold. On a creative tear, he served up two full-length albums, Hells Welles and Patchwork, and sold out successive headline tours. Capping off 2024, he railed against the corruption of the healthcare system in the powerful polemic “United Health,” which Rolling Stone hailed as “a John Prine-like ballad.”
Now, Jesse turns the page on another chapter with his new album Middle and its first single “Horses.” “It’s a pro-love song,” he notes. “Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to all kinds of atrocities. You build up walls. If you love everyone, it’s a lot easier on you—and everybody else too. Hate is a whip for the mule. Nobody gets nutrition from it.”
“If my music helps you believe you can make art and tell the world how you feel, there would be nothing better,” he leaves off. “I hope you get those paints out of the garage or fill up your journal. Turn on your phone and say what you gotta to say. There’s so much wild stuff in my head. I want to see where it can go.”
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