Jesse Welles Details New Album ‘Masks Off’ & Shares Electrifying Title Track

Jesse Welles will release a new album, Masks Off, on June 12. The acclaimed singer-songwriter previewed the collection with the title track.

Never one to rest on his laurels, which have been copious in the past year including four Grammy nods and Americana Awards Artist of the Year, the prolific Jesse Welles returns with Masks Off this summer. But he insists that it’s business as usual at Welles HG in the wilderness of Arkansas.

“I’m still living where I was living, I’m still doing what I was doing, and I’m still wearing the same jeans that I was two years ago,” he stated. “I’m still putting out music as fast as I can write it. I haven’t changed.”

Welles teamed back up with frequent collaborator Eddie Spear (Zach Bryan, Sam Barber) to produce Masks Off.

“Eddie and I communicate well,” Jesse said. “A lot of the session isn’t even verbal. He knows what I’m looking for. He’s also never asked me to change a line—which is important.”

The new record sees Welles continuing to deconstruct the troubling moment the United States finds itself in while also offering more introspective tunes such as “Siddhartha,” “This and Not Some Other Way,” and “Won’t You Come Out Tonight.”

The record also includes the instant protest anthems Welles has released over the past year including “Join Ice,” “Red” and “Domestic Error.”

“These songs were highlights of the past year, and they sort of speak to the moment we’re at,” Jesse said. “I’m not trying to tell folks how to think or get a reaction. All I do is write my lyrics, make my records, and cross my fingers.”

The title track from Masks Off arrived today, with Welles adding on the song: “it’s the culmination of the I.C.E. surge in Minnesota, the abduction of Venezuela’s leader, and the post-D.O.G.E. world where we’re realizing the masks are off, and they’re doing things in broad daylight without caring. Hate is out in the open, it’s permissible, and it’s encouraged. When we recorded it, I had gotten a new guitar at Carter’s in Nashville. I told Eddie, ‘Let’s get a Marshall stack and fucking blow this up with electric guitar.'”

Watch the official music video for “Masks Off” below:

Masks Off Tracklist:

1. Masks Off
2. The Ballad of Big Balls
3. Everything Must Die
4. Technopagans
5. Meet the New Swamp
6. Siddhartha
7. Won’t You Come Out Tonight
8. Domestic Error
9. Red
10. Join Ice
11. This and Not Some Other Way