Jessta James Plays Desperado (B-side) to the Listeners Who Live Between Outlaw Country and Hip-Hop
5 min read
Jessta James Plays Desperado (B-side) to the Listeners Who Live Between Outlaw Country and Hip-Hop
A Second Take on the 90 Proof Opener, Made for Fans of Country-Rap Crossover
Desperado (B-side) had 29,306 plays on Spotify by 13 November 2026, six weeks after Jessta James released it on 2 October. The singer and producer from Bozeman, United States, made it as a second version of the song that opens his album 90 Proof. The more useful question than the tally is who those first listeners are.
Jessta James’s B-side is in the playlist below, and his full run of coverage sits on his artist profile. Desperado (B-side) reached this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Press play, then read on for who is listening.
Desperado (B-side) Is Built for Listeners Who Hear Jessta James as Both Outlaw Country and Hip-Hop
Start with where the sound comes from. Jessta James grew up on classic outlaw country and took up Southern hard rock in high school. He found hip-hop later, after he left school and went into construction work. His first song did not come until he was 24. After that came a home studio, where he made songs from beats and his own freestyled lyrics. A move to the West Coast then took him deeper into hip-hop, while country kept creeping into the productions.
The turn came with the producer Dan Hannon, who suggested hip-hop elements over a country base rather than the other way round. That approach produced his debut album, Time to Get Right, released by Brash Music in the spring of 2013. Around that debut he told Country Music News Blog that he counted himself as all three at once, country, rock and hip-hop. He wanted the music to sound universal. In 2018 he gave the result its own name: Montana Outlaw Music, a sound that nods to the legends he grew up on while drawing on his own life.
Colt Ford and Jelly Roll Show How Big the Country-Rap Crossover Audience Has Already Become
So the first audience is the listener who keeps both genres on one playlist. That crowd already exists at scale in American country. Colt Ford has built a country-rap following since his 2008 debut, Ride Through the Country. He also co-wrote Dirt Road Anthem, which Jason Aldean took to number one on the country chart in 2011. Jelly Roll came the other way, from Nashville rap into country, and was named New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards in 2023.
Desperado (B-side) sits in that crossover lane. Jessta James, credited as Jesse Covin, wrote it, then sang, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered it himself. He designed the artwork too.
The Early Numbers on Desperado (B-side) Show Where Jessta James’s Audience Already Sits
The six-week tally is modest for a single and solid for a second version of an album track. It also lands inside a much larger base. On 13 November, Spotify showed 253,824 monthly listeners for Jessta James.
His two most-played tracks explain why a B-side makes sense. I Ain’t the One has passed 1.13 million plays, and an alternative version of Country Queen has passed 1.04 million. His listeners have already rewarded a second take.
Spotify’s own recommendations point the same way. Next to Desperado (B-side) it suggests country-rap tracks such as the Plugged In version of Turn ‘Em Up by JamWayne and Marcotic. The Rap Mix of Elbow Grease by Overtime, DurtE and Wildcard sits there too. That is the neighbourhood the song is being played in.
The Montana Outlaw Crowd Around Jessta James Comes Back for Desperado (B-side)
A B-side is a release for people who already know the A-side. 90 Proof came out on 20 March 2026 with 13 tracks, and Desperado opened it. The new version gives that audience a reason to come back to the song.
The community is bigger still off Spotify. On the same day his Facebook page showed 140,000 followers and his TikTok 115,800. It also wears the music: he runs an outlaw-styled clothing line, Bad West Apparel, and his Spotify profile sells merch alongside the songs. New music has kept coming since October as well, with Outlaw Ways now his pinned new single on Spotify.
That is the picture behind the tally: a listener base built on one fusion, a second take on a song it already knows, and a scene that keeps finding the record through its neighbours.
BestMusic.News curator team: “A five-figure count in six weeks for a second version of a March album track tells us the 90 Proof fans came back for it. The next alternate take is the number we will watch.”
Follow Jessta James on Spotify and Apple Music, and across platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and his YouTube channel.
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