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Jesse Welles
American musician (born 1992) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jesse Allen Breckenridge Wells (born 22 November 1992), known professionally as Jesse Welles, is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He released his debut studio album, Red Trees and White Trashes, in 2018.[2] Welles previously performed under the name Jeh Sea Wells and was also the frontman of the bands Dead Indian, formed in 2012, and Cosmic-American, formed in 2015.[3] He was also the frontman for the band Welles.[4]
In 2024, Welles garnered attention on social media for writing and performing folk protest songs, including "The Poor", "Cancer", "The Olympics",[5] and "United Health", as well as "War Isn't Murder", a track about Israel's genocide of Palestinians.[6] Vulture has described his music as "A mix of old-fashioned folkie signifiers and trending-topic populism, delivered in hooky snippets on social media several times weekly".[7]
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Early life and influences
Welles was born in Ozark, Arkansas, and grew up there[8][9] in Northwest Arkansas.[2][6] He began playing guitar at age 11, and as a teenager he began recording songs which he sold on burned CDs. His musical influences growing up included the folk, country, classic rock, and Motown genres, as well as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Nirvana.[10] Welles lived for a while until early 2016 in an abandoned building turned art commune in the mountains around Fayetteville.[2] He also cites "American wordsmiths" Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Cormac McCarthy, and Mark Twain as influences.[11]
Upon graduating high school, he transferred from University of Arkansas to John Brown University where he earned a degree in Music Theory.
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Career
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Under the name Jeh Sea Wells, Welles began his career around 2012, releasing home-made recordings of his music, posting them on sites including SoundCloud and Bandcamp. He formed the band Dead Indian in 2012, along with Dirk Porter and Simon Martin. In 2014, Welles released a song titled "Summer"[3] and shortly afterwards, another song entitled Xmas 97.[12] In 2015, he moved to Nashville to record songs with producer Dave Cobb.[13] Also in 2015, Welles released a cover of the Nirvana song "Heart-Shaped Box".[2][14] His band Dead Indian released two albums. In 2015, he and Simon Martin began a new band called Cosmic American with Skyler Greene and Blake Foster. They played on Fayetteville Public Television in 2016 and it was uploaded to YouTube. The band began recording an album but broke up before it was released.[citation needed]
In March 2017, Welles released a song titled "Life Like Mine" from his then-upcoming EP titled Codeine on C3 Records.[15] In May 2017, Welles released a music video for the song "Life Like Mine", from the EP.[16] Under the mononym Welles, he released the single "Rock N Roll" in April 2018, in promotion of his then-upcoming debut studio album Red Trees and White Trashes.[13] Cobb served as a producer on the album, which was released on June 15, 2018,[2] by 300 Entertainment. Reviewing the album for NPR, music critic Ann Powers wrote, "Red Trees and White Trashes has the heft and complexity to likely earn a few Grammy nominations; but it's also obvious that Wells will always be comfortable in some dirty rock and roll kitchen where, as he says in one song, 'everyone's kinda ugly in that way that looks pretty,' girls in blue bobs are smoking something illegal, and somebody's turned the amp up to 10 on the other side of the screen door."[2]
Welles has opened for such rock bands including Dead Sara,[17] Greta Van Fleet,[18] Rival Sons,[19] and Royal Blood.[18] In February 2019, Welles performed as a headliner at Schubas in Chicago.[9] In 2023, under the name Jesse Welles, he began playing cover songs on TikTok. After his father lived through a heart attack the following year, he began to write folk protest songs focused on current events. The songs, addressing topics including capitalism, microplastics and the fentanyl crisis in the United States, garnered attention on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.[5][6][10] He has released the singles "Cancer" and "The Olympics",[5] along with "War Isn't Murder", a protest song. His single "United Health", published weeks after the killing of Brian Thompson, criticizes UnitedHeathcare and its founder Richard T. Burke.[20] In September 2024, Welles played Farm Aid; he was introduced by Dave Matthews as "one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard in my life."[10] He performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live in April 2025.[21]
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Discography
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As Jeh Sea Wells
Albums
- Indian Summer (2012)
- When We Die (2013)
- Demonstrations (2015)
- Chaff (2016)
- Gemini Sweethearts and Daisy Chains (2016)
- Pall Mall Church (2016)
- All of Life Is Piss (2017)
- Space Camp Summer 18 (2018)
EPs
- So We Kept Looking (2013)
- Non-Essential Business (2020)
- Q2 (2020)
- Joe Dirt Cobain (2020)
Singles
- "1 a.m." (2012)
- "Big Grey Sky" (2013)
- Summer (2014)
- "Xmas 97" (2014)
- "Don't Let Me Down" (2020)
As Welles
Albums
- Red Trees and White Trashes (2018)
- Alien Secrets (2023)
- Arkancide (2023)
- Arkancide 2 (2023)
- Arkancide 3 (2023)
EPs
- Codeine (2017, C3 Records)
Singles
- "Are You Feeling Like Me" (2017)
- "Seventeen" (2018)
As Jesse Welles
Albums
- Hells Welles (2024)
- Patchwork (2024)
- Middle (2025)
- Under The Powerlines (April 24 – September 24) (2025)
- Pilgrim (2025)
EPs
- All Creatures Great and Small (2024)
Singles
With Dead Indian
Albums
- Lead Me to the Sky (2013)
- When We Live (2014)
EPs
- Grey (2013)
- Far Out – The Covers (2015)
With Cosmic-American
EPs
- Out Far (2015)
See also
References
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