LIVE ACOUSTIC PERFORMER AND SONGWRITER

Wes began his professional musical career, which now includes 4400 +gigs spanning  5  countries,  and 30 US states, in the fertile music ground of Athens, GA. He was the founder of “Catfish Jenkins” a rock/pop group that released their first cd “Normaltown”, (produced by Athens legend John Keane) through Birmingham, AL-based Kudzu Records.The band sold out the local 1000 seat Georgia Theater consistently and toured the country from Georgia to New York to Colorado to Michigan and back again. The band was included on the AWARE II compilation along with Hootie and the Blowfish, Edwin McCain, the Verve Pipe, and Vertical Horizon which garnered them national attention. Lead track “The Wishing Time”, received college and AAA airplay, and the band toured and performed with Blues Traveler, Cowboy Mouth, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Samples,The Freddy Jones Band, Jupiter Coyote and many others at clubs, theaters, and big festivals like Atlanta’s Music Midtown, and Birmingham’s City Stages.

After Catfish, Wes formed “Big Atomic” with Tigger Ferguson (of 5-8 fame), Jackie Ferguson, and Sean Arington which released “Four Star Explosion” to rave reviews and much critical acclaim. Track three “Breathe”, placed 5th out of 10,000 entries in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, while other tracks “A Postcard” and “Evaporate” were selected by Smithereens frontman and B.E.A.M. chairman Pat DiNizio to earn a B.E.A.M. grant for emerging artists. Three songs from the album were also featured in director Ben Taylor’s feature film, “In the Flesh” that was accepted into film festivals in the U.S. and Germany and earned a national distribution deal. Even MTV recognized the band: power rocker “When Sparks Fly” was featured in the “Making of the Video” program for Brittany Spears’ “Stronger”.

After a crazy record deal shopping experience, Wes moved to Atlanta and re-formed Big Atomic with Marcus Petruska (Zac Brown Band, Corey Smith) and Todd Weaver. Performing 15-20 shows a month in Atlanta and around the country, they released “Wrestling the Dragon and the Rat” in 2004 .

In 2009, Wes released “A Voice From Home” his first solo album, which he recorded and produced in conjunction w Aaron Thompson and ABS studios. Featuring a range of sounds and styles, it was departure into musical areas outside the traditional band framework. Wes has also been a frequent guest performer with the Southeastern Festival of Song (SEFoS) and Singers Beyond Borders, two world-class groups of classically trained musicians and opera singers that, from show to show, will perform anything from Mozart to the Beatles! Wes has appeared in the SEFoS performances of “The Great Escape” at Emory (Atlanta), “Secrets of the Sky and Sea” in the Berkshires(MA), and was with them in Bar Harbor, Maine as part of the annual Bar Harbor music festival. In Spring 2010, Wes joined some of his SEFoS friends for the Singers Beyond Borders tour of Hawaii, China, and Singapore. It was an incredible 24 day VIP tour of some amazing parts of the world, and the money raised went to help children in need. Wes last joined this amazing group of performers in February of 2012 for a concert sponsored by the Dallas Symphony to coincide with the Jean Paul Gautier exhibit during it’s worldwide tour.  After an 8 year run as an entertainer in the world’s greatest ski bar: “The Club” in Vail, Wes can now be found producing original music and tracks for Atlanta area artists out of his new FS Studios in Kirkwood and playing around the Atlanta area as a solo and ensemble live acoustic music artist.