Jennie Caye Watkins
Audio By Carbonatix
Joel Wells Jr.’s voice feels right at home in the summer heat-laid-back, worn-in and full of soul.
His heart-stirring debut album, Joel Wells Jr and the Revelers Hall Band, has a vibe that’s kind of sweltering heat in New Orleans, hearing jazz all around, which is why we’re still playing it months after its spring release. The album is a testament to that voice-a voice with a passport that travels from jazz to blues to soul and everywhere in between.
On Sundays, you’ll find him singing with the house band of Dallas’ jazz gem, Revelers Hall, but before the regular gigs and tight band chemistry, the denizens of Bishop Arts have come to expect, Wells built his style forged through the kilns of open mics, acoustic shows and late night jams.
He started young, around nine or 10 years old, teaching himself open chords and learning by ear. Music quickly became central to his life.
“All I really think about is music and my family,” Wells said, a statement even more true since the recent birth of his son. “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
After high school, Wells decided to pursue his passion. “I went and bought a cheap guitar at a pawn shop, learned the G, C, D and E chords, and started going to open mics,” Wells. says.
His first gig soon followed. “One of the managers at an open mic at Primos on Lake Ray Hubbard came up to me after I performed and said ‘hey, come to the office’ and showed me that I was on the music calendar three weeks away,” he remembers. “I ran out, bought a binder and printed out like 200 songs and learned them. That’s what led me to do acoustic music.”
Between those early acoustic sets and oscillating through service industry jobs, Wells continued to develop his sound through jam sessions, open mics and the relationships found therein. The series reads as a Deep Ellum history lesson of sorts.
“I’m just so grateful,” Wells says. “Thanks, Segun Oguntona, for dragging me up to the Drugstore Cowboy jam and Johnny B33 for letting me jump up at On Premise. Eric Ellis was huge! He encouraged me to be me at the High & Tight ‘Funk Yo Feelings’ jam. He gave me time and told me to keep going.”
He also credits Stanley Mongaras, now known as Stan Fran Cisco, for letting him sing during street sets. “All the Cure for Paranoia and Chilldren of Indigo dudes would let me jump in on jams,” he says.
One day, while serving tables at Deep Ellum’s stalwart jazz club, The Free Man, The Mississippi Bastard Project offered Joel a chance to sing with their brass band. Two albums and a five-year residency later at Revelers Hall, he has become known for a powerful sound that could mesmerize anyone.
On describing his vocal style, Wells says it’s flexible and evolving. “I like to think that I have a decent pocket,” he says, assured but humble. “I could probably do more styles.”
Joel Wells Jr and the Revelers Hall Band opens with “Free One,” a barn burner that explores the contrast between how people look and how they’re doing.
His cover of “Bad Moon Rising,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, done in the style of a New Orleans dirge, became an unintentional omen during live sets. “[My producer/bandleader] Kevin Butler and I wanted to sing that song in a way where it sounded more like the lyrics. Whenever we play it, it starts raining.” Wells says, laughing. “I forget how many times, but more than a few.”
Barn burners and bad omens aside, Wells tackles various subjects on the album. The theme of modern isolation that leads to disconnection on “Fortress,” where Wells asks whether building mental walls really protects anyone. “Let’s build little fortresses in our heads. Do we really think that’s gonna work?” Wells says.
The track “Knockin'” speaks to the pain of letting go. “Trying to get through to someone you love but they’re not responding,” he says of the song. “My only fault was loving too strongly.”
A personal favorite, though, is perhaps one of the oldest on the record, titled “Back to Texas.” “I need a friend to tell me true / Show me the way I’m supposed to move / Even if it ain’t right / I’m still praying, hoping to survive,” he sings.
“It’s an ode to Dallas but also talkin’ a little shit too,” Wells says. “People tell you how talented you are here but they don’t want to collaborate or help a lot of the time.
“It’s like what Dezi 5 said at the Dallas Entertainment Awards: ‘We need to do more mixed shows, different genres,'” Wells says.
That lack of collaboration and help that he has witnessed is what leads Wells to end “Back to Texas” with swollen horns and two metaphorical middle fingers up: “Don’t worry I won’t run around ya / ‘Cause I want to run right through ya / I want to show you how it feels.”
Wide-ranging hardly grasps the cornucopia of ideas, both musical and lyrical, that’s captured on Wells’ first release. He ends the album with what may be your new favorite rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” (All respect to Judy Garland, obviously.)
What’s next is up to Wells. He’s in his element, playing with the house band on Sundays and dropping in on jams when he finds the time. He headlined The Kessler for the album release, keeping an open mind and not locked into any one thing or another. The perfect schedule for the middle of summer to find his next spark of inspiration.
“Why not?” he says. “It’s fun to do different things. It’s fun to change.”
If you ask him what he wants to sing, he might even hesitate, but when he’s on stage, there’s never a doubt. He has something to say – and he’ll say it like it’s 90 degrees out at midnight – when summer sweat meets night’s sincerity.