ABOUT WILL WESLEY
Grit has forever seeped from the pores of country rocker Will Wesley, a grit that has materialized as life has punched him from every angle, often forcing the kid from Louisiana to take his anger out on the strings of his beat-up guitar.
Born in the picturesque town of Baker, Louisiana, Wesley was born with a rebellious spirit. He never loved playing by the rules and didn’t particularly like the word ‘no.’. In fact, the word alone would drive him to do the exact opposite of what everyone wanted him to do.
He started sneaking into bars at the age of 15, often using his beard to fool everyone to think he belonged there. But once he stepped on stage with the beat-up guitar his dad inspired him to play, everyone went and ignored the fact that he legally wasn’t supposed to be there.
He was that good.
From the start, Wesley was drawn to the sorrowful sounds of the blues, and his natural talents within the genre began to speak loudly. Originally planting his boots into the dirt of the Baton Rouge blues scene, the musical rebel began touring behind the likes of legends such as Larry Garner, Tabby Thomas, and Grady Champion. At the same time, he began racking up the accolades, and won the New Orleans regional division of the International Blues Challenge not once…but twice.
Wesley also went and served as the Music Director for Grammy-winning Blues Artist Grady Champion for 5 years, and for a time, it was as if the road in which he would build a life on was being paved for him.
But at a time when Wesley should have felt his most content, he found himself at a crossroads, both personally and professionally. Being torn from every angle eventually resulted in Wesley falling into a dark depression that had him contemplating the unthinkable. But it was this pain that needed an outlet, an outlet that he eventually found most easily captured within the country music genre.
Because the fact was this – he was about much more than just blues.
Certainly, legends such as Hank Williams, Marty Stuart, and Chet Atkins as well as more modern artists such as Jason Aldean, Garth Brooks and Eric Church had always intrigued Wesley. Specifically, both Aldean and Church appealed to his modern-day rock country heart.
And it was these inspirations that he took into the studio in 2020, when Wesley joined forces with much sought-after producer Phil Chandler to produce the electrifying album Both Sides of the Tracks. Having written 17 hard hitting songs on the project, Wesley released Both Sides of the Tracks in April 2021.
Country radio around the world began to take notice of the attitude oozing from songs such as “A New Kind of Blues” featuring Kern Pratt, “Leah” featuring renowned fiddle player Michael Cleveland and the single “Attitude,” which reached #1 on the Euro Academy of Country Music Charts in Milan, Italy. Soon, Wesley was touring with Swiss Rockabilly Star Florian Fox and collaborating on the classic country drinking anthem “Wasted Again.”
But then, Wesley was hit with the news of the most unimaginable tragedy.
In 2023, Wesley’s brother Daniel passed away suddenly from a heroin overdose, leaving the man who had endured so much to endure more. But at the same time, Wesley now finds himself flooded by the inspiration that can come from grief, and he now finds himself hard at work on a brand-new set of songs that undeniably show both his rocker edge and his tender and beautiful heart.
And despite a career that has already found him touring several countries in Europe and Southeast Asia, performing in venues such as the Switzerland International Country Music Hall of Fame and the Jackson, Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, playing alongside the likes of Alabama, Jason Boland & the Stragglers and Robert Cray, this is somewhat a beginning for Will Wesley, a beginning that seems poised to have him reaching legendary status very soon.
