Jesse Allen Breckenridge Wells (born November 22, 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. 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. He was also the frontman for the band Welles.
In 2024, Welles garnered attention on social media for writing and performing folk protest songs, including "The Poor", "Cancer", "The Olympics", "United Health", "Join ICE", and "War Isn't Murder", a track about the Gaza war. 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". He has been described as a modern Woody Guthrie. In 2026, Welles received four nominations at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.
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Early life and influences
Welles was born in Ozark, Arkansas, and grew up there in Northwest Arkansas. He began playing guitar around age 11 after receiving a First Act guitar from Walmart. Inspired by the guitar-heavy sound of Beatles albums such as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road, particularly the three-guitar-solo section of "The End," he developed an early affinity for John Lennon's playing. Having rarely seen anyone play guitar, Welles initially believed melodies were produced by rapidly turning the tuning pegs, causing him to break several strings. About a year and a half later, he discovered how fretting worked after watching his father press the low E string against the fretboard. Soon afterward, an older neighbor named Harlen Nichols began giving him informal lessons, teaching him songs such as "Camptown Races" with homemade tablature drawn on notecards. Nichols also taught Welles how to tune his instrument and introduced him to older styles of music while playing a 1960s Gibson Hummingbird. As 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. In 2016, Welles lived for a while in an abandoned building turned art commune in the mountains around Fayetteville. He also cites "American wordsmiths" Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Cormac McCarthy, and Mark Twain as influences.
Career
Under the name Jesse 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" and shortly afterwards, another song entitled Xmas 97. In 2015, he moved to Nashville to record songs with producer Dave Cobb. Also in 2015, Welles released a cover of the Nirvana song "Heart-Shaped Box".
In March 2017, Welles released a song titled "Life Like Mine" from his then-upcoming EP titled Codeine on C3 Records. In May 2017, Welles released a music video for the song "Life Like Mine", from the EP. 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. Cobb served as a producer on the album, which was released on June 15, 2018, 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."
Welles has opened for rock bands including Dead Sara, Greta Van Fleet, Rival Sons, and Royal Blood. In February 2019, Welles performed as a headliner at Schubas in Chicago. 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. He has released the singles "Cancer" and "The Olympics", along with "War Isn't Murder", a protest song about the Gaza war. His single "United Health", published weeks after the killing of Brian Thompson, criticizes UnitedHealthcare and its founder Richard T. Burke. 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." He performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in April 2025. He also performed two songs on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in November 2025: "Join ICE" and "Red". Welles's "Join ICE" has been described as "another step in the comeback of the protest song".
Discography
As Jeh Sea Wells
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)
So We Kept Looking (2013)
Non-Essential Business (2020)
Q2 (2020)
Joe Dirt Cobain (2020)
"1 a.m." (2012)
"Big Grey Sky" (2013)
Summer (2014)
"Xmas 97" (2014)
"Don't Let Me Down" (2020)
As Welles
Red Trees and White Trashes (2018)
Alien Secrets (2023)
Arkancide (2023)
Arkancide 2 (2023)
Arkancide 3 (2023)
Codeine (2017, C3 Records)
"Are You Feeling Like Me" (2017)
"Seventeen" (2018)
As Jesse Welles
Hells Welles (2024)
Patchwork (2024)
Middle (2025)
Under the Powerlines (April 24 – September 24) (2025)
Pilgrim (2025)
Devil's Den (2025)
With the Devil (2025)
Under the Powerlines II (October 24 – December 24) (2025)
Masks Off (2026)
Under the Powerlines III (January 25 – June 25) (2026)
Source:
All Creatures Great and Small (2024)
No Kings (2025)
Welles is featured on Margo Price's single "Don't Wake Me Up".
With Dead Indian
Lead Me to the Sky (2013)
When We Live (2014)
Grey (2013)
Far Out – The Covers (2015)
With Cosmic-American
Out Far (2015)