THE FOUR VOICES THAT BUILT ME
Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Jason Isbell, Jesse Welles
A Philosophical Reflection on a Life Lived Through Truth, Observation, Courage, and Conscience
There are people who build their worldview through institutions, academies, sermons, and systems.
And then there are people who build theirs through voices — not the kind that shout from stages,
but the kind that slip through the cracks of the world and say,
“Look closer.”
My life wasn’t shaped by ideology.
It was shaped by a lineage — a chain of four voices that taught me how to see, how to feel, and how to live with my feet on the ground and my mind upstairs in the rafters.
This is that lineage.
1. WOODY GUTHRIE — The Conscience
Guthrie didn’t sing to entertain.
He sang to warn.
He sang to protect.
He sang because somebody had to tell the truth.
He wrote in pencil,
held his guitar like a shield,
and carved a simple sentence onto the wood that has haunted me my entire life:
“This machine kills fascists.”
Not fascists in the political sense —
but fascists in the spiritual sense:
bullies, tyrants, the powerful who prey on the powerless.
From him, I inherited a kind of moral gravity.
The feeling that your voice should always stand in the direction of humanity,
not ideology.
I didn’t realize it as a kid.
But Guthrie planted the seed that a man’s job is not to be loud —
it’s to be true.
2. BOB DYLAN — The Observer
If Guthrie was the conscience, Dylan was the lens.
He taught me that the world is full of masks:
costumes, performances, pretense, and people playing characters they don’t even know they’re playing.
Most people look at the stage.
The observer looks at the lighting rig, the stagehands, the illusion.
Dylan’s gift — and mine — is the ability to see the negative space.
The truth hiding in the corner of the frame.
To see someone’s posture and hear the sentence they’ll say before it leaves their mouth.
To notice the story under the story.
To read contradiction without fear.
From Dylan I learned that being an outsider doesn’t mean being distant.
It means being awake.
3. JASON ISBELL — The Accountability
Isbell entered the lineage not as a prophet or a warrior,
but as a mirror.
He taught me that you cannot love other people until you can look yourself in the eye
and admit what’s broken.
From him, I learned that responsibility isn’t a burden —
it’s the backbone of a life worth living.
Isbell’s philosophy is simple:
Face your shit, and choose your next step with intention.
As a father, husband, son, and friend,
this is the voice that has shaped me the most.
It’s the voice that tells me:
“Your daughters are watching.”
“Your wife is depending on your steadiness.”
“Your life is not something to escape — it’s something to shape.”
4. JESSE WELLES — The Raw Truth
Welles is the newest voice in the lineage,
but he carries the oldest electricity.
He’s the inheritor of Guthrie’s grit,
Dylan’s edge,
and Isbell’s honesty —
but without the polish.
He is the friend in the bar at midnight who says the thing everyone is thinking but no one will say.
The modern prophet who uses humor as a blade.
The voice who knows satire is a weapon,
even if half the world doesn’t understand the joke.
His presence in my worldview is the reminder that truth does not need permission.
And that some messages are meant for the ones who can hear beneath the noise.
Welles taught me that sometimes the smartest thing you can do
is hide the message in plain sight.
THE FOUR VOICES TOGETHER
Guthrie taught me where to point my moral compass.
Dylan taught me how to see the world’s illusions.
Isbell taught me how to hold myself accountable.
Welles taught me how to speak truth with teeth.
Together, they formed a worldview that is:
grounded but not cynical
fierce but not cruel
observant but not cold
hopeful but not naïve
A worldview that sees class before party,
people before politics,
intention before presentation,
and humanity above everything else.
A worldview where optimism isn’t delusion —
it’s courage.
A worldview that says:
Be conscious.
Be observant.
Be accountable.
Be honest.
And never be afraid to tell the truth,
even if half the room misses the point.
This is the philosophy you live by.
This is the through-line.
This is the lineage.
PROTEST-VIBE PLAYLIST (Your Lineage Edition)
Not angry for anger’s sake —
but truth-telling with spine, wit, grit, and conscience.
ROOTS / CLASSIC
Woody Guthrie — “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)”
Woody Guthrie — “Pastures of Plenty”
Bob Dylan — “Only a Pawn in Their Game”
Bob Dylan — “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”
Bob Dylan — “Masters of War”
Neil Young — “Ohio”
MODERN FOLK / AMERICANA PROTEST
Jason Isbell — “What’ve I Done to Help?”
Jason Isbell — “White Man’s World”
Jason Isbell — “24 Frames”
Shovels & Rope — “Birmingham”
Jesse Welles — “United Health”
Jesse Welles — “War Isn’t Murder”
Gregory Alan Isakov — “Time Will Tell” (quiet protest)
APPALACHIAN / WORKING-CLASS
Tyler Childers — “Long Violent History”
Tyler Childers — “Purgatory”
Sturgill Simpson — “Call to Arms”
Charles Wesley Godwin — “Lyin’ Low” (class protest in disguise)
ROCK / ALT / ELECTRIC PROTEST
Tom Morello (feat. Ben Harper) — “We Don’t Need You”
Rage Against the Machine — “Ghost of Tom Joad”
Chris Cornell — “Ground Zero”
Houndmouth — “Penitentiary”
The Killers — “Quiet Town” (opioid protest under the story)
SATIRE / EDGE / RAW TRUTH
Welles — “Join ICE”
Welles — “Dangerous”
Father John Misty — “Pure Comedy”
Phoebe Bridgers — “I Know the End”
War & Treaty — “Hey Pretty Moon” (soft but protest-core)
MY DNA ROW (the one that feels like me)
Ellis Paul — “God’s Promise”
Ryan Bingham — “The Weary Kind”
John Prine — “Some Humans Ain’t Human”
Billy Bragg & Wilco — “California Stars”
Tom Morello — “Union Town”
Bruce Springsteen — “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
Jason Isbell — “Elephant” (not political — just truth)
