New Generation of Folk Protest Singers – NPR

The set-up for a typical Jesse Welles video is simple: the 32-year-old stands in an open field under a string of powerlines, clutching an acoustic guitar. From behind a tousled, curly mop of hair, he stares straight into the camera and starts singing.

“If you’re in need of a gig that’ll help you feel big, come with me and put some folks in detention,” he deadpans in one song, a scathing critique of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. “We can sneak around town, hunting working folks down, I hear they get a great benefit plan.”

“Join ICE” is just one of the dozens of songs Welles routinely shares on social media. They’re often short and satirical tunes, riding on his coarse voice and fingerpicked guitar strings, that respond to the major headlines of the week. They challenge the narratives presented to Americans by governments and corporations; they draw historical parallels and unearth underlying tensions that lead people to blame one another for institutional injustices.

[War Isn’t Murder]

On the Internet, Jesse Welles’ songs are major hits. Thousands of people flock to the comments, calling him a modern day Bob Dylan or Woody Guthrie. Since he started regularly posting clips last year, Welles has amassed more than 3 million followers on TikTok and Instagram combined, not to mention his over 600,000 YouTube subscribers. The Recording Academy has also taken notice; last week, Welles received four Grammy nominations in the folk and Americana categories. He’s become one of the most visible examples of a new generation of digital-savvy artists bringing folk traditions to a modern medium.

“We’ve never been this informed,” Welles tells NPR about Americans today. “Pair being informed with being disempowered — being that aware and having so little hard influence on the aspects of your life that you’re so awake to. I think that explains a lot of people’s frustration.”

Welles wasn’t always a country-leaning singer-songwriter. He spent years playing in different iterations of rock bands, experimenting with folk and grunge. Nearly a decade ago, he signed to a label in Nashville, burnt out and went back home to Arkansas. In 2024, after his father suffered a heart attack, the now-independent artist says he had a spiritual awakening that put him on his current path. The songs began to pour out, some political and some not. So far, his music has addressed the war in Gaza, the Epstein list and the Trump administration’s claims that Tylenol is linked to autism.

[Tylenol]

Although Welles’ lyrics skew pro-working class and anti-violence, fans trying to neatly categorize his political affiliations might run into trouble. In August, he raised some eyebrows when he appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience. A month later, he released a song condemning the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It sparked both praise and backlash. On TikTok and Instagram, some people questioned how Welles could mourn a man who often made bigoted statements about minorities and helped elect the same politicians the singer criticizes in his lyrics. Welles says that for him, there’s no use in trying to control how people perceive him or how they attempt to project partisan lines onto his music. His bottom line, he says, is radical nonviolence.

“I visit a lot of different echo chambers. I pop in, pop out — see what’s going on in different corners,” Welles says. “You start to wonder, where’s the throughline? Because there’s obviously an issue, but neither corners’ justifications for their actions or reactions is really satisfying. So I think I just started looking for some sense.”

Audiences on and offline are right there with him. Welles released multiple studio albums this year, which include collaborations with rising Americana stars Sierra Ferrell and Billy Strings. He was awarded the 2025 John Prine Songwriting Fellowship and performed at both Newport Folk Festival and Farm Aid. He’s also been selling out shows across the country, where he’s been joined onstage by Joan Baez and John Fogerty. Welles’ success shows that his music is resonating widely, as a new generation of artists revive bold, plainspoken protest music for today’s digital age.

There’s a new generation of folk protest singers on TikTok
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/11/nx-s1-5600024/folk-protest-singers-jesse-welles-mon-rovia