Welles

Age Limit: 21 and Over Jesse Welles has no problem giving it to you straight. It's in his nature to pull no punches. Ask him about the current state of rock music and the rock singer and multi-talented musician will tell you how few things in life make him so equally prideful and angry as people bemoaning its death. He'll readily tell you that despite others constantly talking up his once-in-a-generation, jarringly emotive voice, to him it often sounds like nothing short of "burnt toast." "I hate to experience anything that isn't just the cold-hard truth," the Arkansas-native who performs as Welles, and has a knack for penning at turns tender, melodic and gut-punching rock music, says without hesitation. "But music definitely takes me away from it all," he offers with a nervous laugh. "Well, for three to four minutes anyway." Welles understands the best singers wield their instrument with a stealth utility; they're readily able to unleash a wealth of emotion from little more than a murmur, if, in his case, an occasional manic howl. Where vocal precision belies sterility, depth and character are blood let out from a deep wound. To that end, where Welles may not deem himself a storyteller in the classical sense — he fancies himself a rock lifer, tattoos and all — on record his aching voice does plenty of heavy lifting. He'll tell you responds most profoundly to "road-weary" singers like David Bowie, John Lennon, and early Bob Dylan. He recalls drawing instant inspiration from Kurt Cobain when first hearing Nirvana's "Lithium" in middle school. "I heard this American just barely getting through the lyrics and I was like 'OK. This is cool.