Enter Jesse Welles. The 30-year-old, originally from Arkansas who has been making music for the last 15 years just released Middle, an album currently climbing the Americana charts. He lists what he calls “American Wordsmiths” like Walt Whitman, Herman Melville and Mark Twain as influences for his lyrics. But instead of killing his darlings, he has used folk music to raise awareness for social change and express himself much like his 20th century counterparts. His voice has a Bob Dylan quality to it. His work is a bit like what you’d get if Woody Guthrie had a social media presence. Welles’ songs are intriguing, a call to action and anti-establishment but he’s using the tools of his day to send his message.
Prior to learning about Middle I had seen him on social media singing protest songs addressing 21st century problems. Oddly, other than some names and dates, his subjects aren’t a lot different from the folk music popularized by his darlings — poverty, excess, corporate greed, war, inequality, corrupt politicians and religious leaders among others. Though his songs would be perfect for outside of a Bernie Sanders rally, his Arkansas roots give him a perspective that transcends regions and the binary nature of politics.
In 2024 Welles released two full-length records and an EP as well as numerous singles and a collaboration with Mt. Joy covering the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"? In February he received the 2025 John Prine Songwriter Fellowship at the Newport Folk Festival. He also released a 63-song album of his previous singles. If what you know about Jesse Welles is from his videos, you may expect him to be belting out protest tunes and playing acoustic guitar. While the folk spirit remains alive, Middle incorporates a full band for more highly produced, country-rock vibe. It was produced by Eddie Spear who has worked recently with Sierra Ferrell and Zach Bryan. In another parallel to Bob Dylan, Welles’ loyal fans aren’t particularly happy about this evolution. Some even called him a sellout.
From a political perspective, Middle, as the title suggests, has Welles trying to find some common ground. The title track which includes verses referencing Star Wars, Heart of Darkness, and the recent fires in California, revolves around the chorus “when the devil plays his fiddle, I’m gonna meet you in the middle, friend.”
He strikes a similar chord in the breakout single "Horses". It could be compared sonically to Bob Dylan’s Hurricane. The gist however is that in spite of all that is tearing us apart we need to remember we’re all in it together. His hope is in the chorus “So I’m singing this song about loving, all the people that you’ve come to hate. It’s true that they say I’m gonna die someday. Why am I holding on to all this weight?”
Welles isn’t covering new ground here. He, like so many other great troubadours writes what he sees and speaks truth to power. But maybe what we need isn’t necessarily a new format. Maybe we do need another folk singer, maybe our darlings are still valid and, what musicians and writers and poets have been doing for centuries still works. It’s just that we sometimes need a fresh face to carry the message. At Farm-Aid in the early ‘90s, Arlo Guthrie introduced Tracy Chapman. He suggested that for every generation, someone needed to “hold the flashlight” and guide us. He said Tracy Chapman was the holder of the flashlight at that time. Jesse Welles seems well-positioned to hold the flashlight as we navigate the 21st century.
