Jesse Welles for President, 2024

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We can’t all agree on much. But one thing we can agree on is that in an ideal world, those who represent us in the halls of power would be people who are not influenced by money, no matter what they dangle in front of them. We want people who won’t fall victim to special interest and the influence peddling of corporate power, or that won’t be susceptible to the latest social contagion or mind virus that makes us believe that all of our problems are caused by people who are different from us.

Jesse Welles might be a barely-known beat poet with a blonde Stella guitar singing his guts out with a broken voice out in the middle of the woods, and for all we know he may not be able to manage his sock drawer, let alone the most important nation in the free world. But listening to the procession of songs he continues to release Gonzo style onto the internet, he “gets it” more than any of the other talking heads in politics, or media, or in music.

Saving Country Music first sung the praises of Welles just a few weeks ago, saying he was “the voice of America’s guilty conscience” after numerous of his homespun recordings caught some fire on Instagram and YouTube. Since then, he hasn’t slowed his output at all, continuing to dazzle with each new song he releases, and now probably has an album’s worth of smart and fiercely pertinent songs floating out there, all recorded in just the last few months.

Jesse Welles has the cutting insight of John Prine combined with an in-the-moment relevancy. So much of keeping your head on straight these days is separating truth from myth. Jesse Welles has an uncanny knack for this exercise. Even when one of the strokes from his poison pen strikes at your little belief system, you don’t writhe in pain, because you know deep down he’s probably right, and in the end we’re all a little guilty.


And somehow, Welles makes the art of poking fun of late stage Capitalism and pre-Apolcalyptic futurism so damn enjoyable. You hang on the edge of your seat to hear the next illuminating turn of phrase or exposé of madness, even if it’s shining a light on all our collective doom. Sometimes all there’s left to do is laugh.

Jesse Welles can pull from an infinite well of inspiration just by turning on the television or scrolling through social media. But at this point you have to tip your hat for how prolifically and consistently he’s churned out catchy and incredibly well-written songs. Jesse Welles had a whole other career before this current era, including a Dave Cobb-produced album. But he’s found his calling here. He’s got a formula of how he goes about all of this for sure. But it’s a winning one.

In the end though, perhaps the deepest appeal in Jesse Welles has to do with how we’re all looking for incorruptible humans. He doesn’t seem to give a shit about anything else but sharing his scathing insights. It’s all been just successful enough for him to continue to release videos. But it hasn’t gone super viral in a way where he’s been foisted into the blazing spotlight like Oliver Anthony or Zach Bryan, or become uncool.

We don’t even know too much about Jesse Welles. The mystery here is part of the intrigue. He’s willing to say things we all believe, but can’t the words to express, or that we want to say, but don’t have the guts to utter out loud. That is the reason that Saving Country Music is breaking its general moratorium from taking specific political stances, and officially endorsing Jesse Welles for President of the United States of America.

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