The Mycenaean

Jesse Welles, also known simply as Welles, is a singer who plays fast folk with a voice like an old record — scratchy and rich-toned. His writing skills are terrific, and his dedication to his art is admirable. He’s a swift writer too, releasing a song about United Health a mere ten days after Brian Thompson’s death.

Welles’ music career has gone through many stages. As an 11-year-old kid, he bought his first guitar from Walmart. Ironically, the store would become the subject of a song he would write 19 years later. 

Welles tried singing, but one of his classmates said his voice sounded like “burnt toast.” His singing confidence was low until a friend introduced him to Nirvana. In a New York Times interview Welles said, “I’m listening, going, ‘I could do something like that.’ I can’t do Robert Plant, but maybe I could do Cobain.”

He was the frontman of two bands —  Dead Indian and Cosmic-American, in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Neither band reached real popularity. However, Welles did gain a cult following helping jumpstart his solo career. While singing under the name Welles, his sound was more rock-based with hints of his folk leanings. 

Jesse’s love for the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and other golden-era rock bands is evident throughout all of his albums, especially during his solo career as Welles, and his song “If I Keep Driftin” (which sounds like a Beatles cover). As a kid, he said he loved listening to both old tapes of the Beatles and a local radio station that blended old folk and rock, which greatly influenced his sound.

After he was dropped by his label in 2020, he took a hiatus before returning with his full name Jesse Welles, an acoustic guitar, and a harmonica rack. His new sound was raw with little editing and barebones background, allowing him to show off his true gravelly voice. His singles and album Hells Welles is more focused on the raw aspect of his musicality. His most recent album The Middle features solo songs and songs recorded with a full band.

Welles has gone viral for singing the news and railing against various unpopular things in American society, his song “United Health” amassed around 45 million views across social media. The song has been shared by people across the political spectrum, including Joe Rogan. His 2024 album Hells Welles featured songs channeling American anger against many different subjects. 

While Former President Biden was still running for president, the age of the two presidential candidates was a source of much anger, which Welles sang about in his song “The Olympics”. In the song “Fentanyl”, he ponders on the evolving drug problems America has faced–the crack, heroin, and opioid epidemics, and now more recently fentanyl. Many songs in the album, “Hell”, “News”, “Complain”, and “Bootstraps”, focus on the distaste for political elites and the growing divide between many politicians and everyday Americans. 

Drawing comparisons to many protest or political folk singers such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, with his anger toward the rich and powerful picking on the little guy. I would compare his sound, especially his masterful harmonica playing and writing, to that of an early Bob Dylan, such as The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan era. 

His audience is vast containing older listeners who listened to Bob Dylan and enjoy the fact that someone is reviving an old art form, along with younger listeners who enjoy old-sounding music and were caught by Welles’ blitz of constantly releasing quality songs about issues listeners can identify with.

Welles is unlikely to stop any time soon as he continues to release a song almost every two weeks mostly from his YouTube channel.