Walmart

The Zoo Crew, those groovy hippie DJs at THE ZOO radio station, are spinning "Walmart" by Jesse Welles from his 2024 album Patchwork, and the Zoo Freaks are eating it up. This track, a standout in Welles’ discography, is a sharp, satirical take on American consumer culture, blending humor with biting social commentary. In a 2024 interview with You Heard It Hear First, Welles described the song as a "bird’s-eye view of American life," capturing the chaotic, absurd, and all-too-relatable scenes inside a Walmart store. The lyrics, like “I saw a toddler eat a cigarette / On a cart of Keystone beer,” paint a vivid picture that’s both funny and unsettling, a balance Welles nails, according to a KCOU review that called it one of the best tracks on Patchwork for its relevance and wit.

Digging into the song’s creation, Welles shared on Instagram that "Walmart" was inspired by real-life observations during a trip to the retail giant. He posted a reel in August 2024, strumming the song’s opening chords in the woods, joking, “This one wrote itself after 10 minutes in the aisle.” Fans on Reddit’s r/walmart community resonated deeply, with one user, chill1208, sharing the song with the caption, “This is for all of you who’ve had the displeasure of working for Wal-Mart,” earning dozens of upvotes. The song’s viral traction on TikTok, where Welles’ raw acoustic videos racked up millions of views, helped cement its status as a folk anthem for the disenchanted. A trivia tidbit: the song’s chord progression, available on Ultimate-Guitar, is deceptively simple, using basic C chords to let Welles’ piercing lyrics shine.

Jesse Welles, born Jesse Wells on November 22, 1994, in Ozark, Arkansas, kicked off his musical journey at age 11, teaching himself guitar and soaking up influences from folk, country, classic rock, and Motown. According to his Wikipedia page, he was selling burned CDs of his songs as a teenager, hustling his music in Northwest Arkansas. Under the alias Jeh Sea Wells, he started posting homemade recordings on SoundCloud and Bandcamp around 2012, building a grassroots following. Welles formed the band Dead Indian in 2012 with Dirk Porter and Simon Martin, releasing two albums, and later fronted Cosmic-American in 2015, though that group split before dropping a full record. His big break came with the 2018 solo album Red Trees and White Trashes, produced by Dave Cobb, but it was his 2024 folk protest songs, including "Walmart," that skyrocketed his fame via social media.

Welles’ career took a pivotal turn in 2023 when he began posting cover songs on TikTok under his full name. A personal moment—his father’s survival of a heart attack in 2024—sparked a shift toward writing topical folk songs about issues like capitalism and the fentanyl crisis, as noted in a New York Times profile. His raw, unpolished videos, often filmed solo in the Arkansas woods, struck a chord, amassing over a million followers across platforms. Welles’ literary influences, like Walt Whitman and Cormac McCarthy, shape his poetic lyricism, while his music echoes Bob Dylan and John Prine, earning him comparisons in a Saving Country Music piece that called him “Country’s bard.”

Fans can connect with Jesse Welles on his official website or follow him on social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X. While no official fan websites or dedicated Facebook groups were found, fans actively share his music in communities like Reddit’s r/walmart and engage with his posts on X, where Zoo Freaks might spot fellow enthusiasts hyping "Walmart." For the latest updates, his Linktree links to all major platforms, keeping the vibe alive for the Zoo Crew and beyond.