Once in Nashville, Jesse rebranded under the single-name moniker Welles.
Formed in Nashville (circa 2016) by American singer-songwriter Jesse Allen Breckenridge Wells (formerly of Dead Indian and Cosmic American), Welles marked Jesse’s full-scale transition into a professional rock project. Jesse (vocals & guitar) assembled a backing lineup of seasoned Nashville musicians (bass, drums, lead guitar) to support his fuzz-driven, alt-rock sound. The band signed to 300 Entertainment and released the debut studio album Red Trees and White Trashes in June 2018.
Band lineup:
- Jesse Welles (vocals & guitar) — frontman.
- Marshall Willard (guitar) — mentioned by Jesse as the guitarist he found in Nashville who shared his “gritty sonic vision.”
- Davey Nelson (bass)
- Jordan Rochefort (drums)
The new material retained the rawness of Cosmic American but with a bigger, label-ready sound. Their sound married crunchy guitars, mid-west restlessness, and hook-laden choruses, earning attention in alternative-rock circles. While no major chart-topping “hits” emerged, tracks such as “Rock N Roll” and “Seventeen” became fan stand-outs and helped sustain the band’s touring activity. Welles gained traction through high-energy touring: opening for acts such as Greta Van Fleet, Rival Sons and Royal Blood.
Discography:
- EP: Codeine (2017, C3 Records)
- Album: Red Trees and White Trashes (2018, 300 Entertainment)
- Producers: Beau Boggs, Bobby Emmett; Dave Cobb produced three tracks.
- Singles
- Into Ashes (2017)
- Are You Feeling Like Me (2017)
- Life Like Mine (2017)
- Seventeen (2018)
- Rock N Roll (2018)
- 3D Headphone Remixes (2019)
- Hard Livin’ (2022)
- If I Keep Drifting (2023)
- It’s Only Sunday – (January 31 2024)
- Additional releases listed for “Welles” after 2018:
- Alien Secrets (2023)
- Arkancide (2023)
- Arkancide 2 (2023)
- Arkancide 3 (2023)
“After a few years of hard touring, disillusioned with the hamster wheel of chasing a big break, he quit—returning to Arkansas to see what his life might be like if he didn’t play music or just kept it to himself.”
Acoustic Guitar
The band phase seems to have ended due to touring exhaustion, dissatisfaction with the industry treadmill, and personal desire to step back. Jesse’s move away from the full-on Welles rock/touring life was driven primarily by burnout, disillusionment with the touring/label treadmill, and a conscious decision to step back. After years on the road (he logged hundreds of shows), Jesse returned to Arkansas in 2021 intending to quit or at least stop the heavy touring grind; he says he was “kind of burnt out on it.”
The interim period was effectively a hiatus from touring and major releases, combined with the pandemic, during which Jesse grounded himself back in Arkansas, stepped away from the full-tilt rock life, and underwent a personal wake-up moment. Having experienced that, he refocused his songwriting and output, leading into his 2024 solo phase and Jesse Welles.
“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. ‘I was like, “I’m going to sing the news”,’ he recalls.”
Farm Aid Biography
Welles stands as the bridge between his Arkansas-roots rock era and his later solo folk/protest phase.
