Mike Welch

Keep Living Until I Die

Aquarian Way Entertainment

When guitarist Mike Welch was only thirteen years old blues aficionado,  actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd gave him the nickname Monster Mike. Welch. He released his 1996 debut recording “These Blues Are Mine” on  the Tone-Cool Record label co-produced by Richard “Rosey” Rosenblatt.  Welch has five more solo albums under his own name. Welch is best  known as the lead guitarist for Sugar Ray & The Bluetones, where he  stayed until 2017. Welch also appears on albums by The Mannish Boys, Sugarray Rayford, The Knickerbocker All-Stars, and Anthony Geraci and The Boston Blues All Stars. In 2017, Welch joined forces with Mike  Ledbetter to record the widely acclaimed “Right Place, Right Time”. Welch was nominated for seven Blues Music Awards winning in 2018 for “Right  Place, Right Time” both as “Traditional Blues Album of the Year”, and  again in 2019 as Best-Instrumentalist-Guitar.

The ensemble includes Monster Mike Welch, vocals, electric and acoustic  guitar; Brooks Milgate, piano, organ, Wurlitzer, and clavinet; Brad Hallen, electric bass; and Fabrice Bessouat, drums and percussion. Background vocalists include Lisa Leuschner Andersen, John Blues Boyd, Marcel Smith, Dennis Dove, and Welch. The album was produced, recorded, mixed, and  mastered by Kid Andersen at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose, Ca. The  songs are written or co-written by Welch unless mentioned otherwise, as  six of the thirteen tracks are covers.

The album opens with the title track co-written by Welch and Nick David,  with some great guitar, as Welch sings “I tried to make a living, I tried to make a life…I just keep on living ’til I die”. On “Love Me Baby” Welch chants “Love me baby, like we’re doing something wrong…I want you to love me  baby like we’re runnin’ from the law, love me baby, like we’re doing  something wrong, I want you to love me”.

“Your Problem To Solve” once again is from Welch and David, as Welch chimes “You know the truth is all I got, I ain’t your problem to solve…if you got a problem with me, that’s your problem to solve, I ain’t your problem to solve”. “Good to Me As I Am to You”, was written by Aretha Franklin and Ted White, and first recorded by Aretha in 1968, with organ and piano from  Milgate, it is a slow blues performed here as an instrumental as Welch  interprets the vocal phrasing on his guitar.

“Hell Hound on My Trail” was recorded by Robert Johnson in 1937, as Welch chimes “gotta’ keep moving, gotta’ keep moving, I got hell hounds on my trail”. On “I Finally Hit The Bottom” recorded by Rick Estrin and The Nightcats in  2024, Welch cries “I believe I finally hit the bottom, I’m on my way back up  again…I find shelter in the shadows, I found the darkness is my friend, I believe I finally hit the bottom, I’m on my way back up again”, with Milgate on piano.

“Do What You Want With My Grave”, is inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson, as  Welch belts out “the only thing I ask of you, do what you want with my grave,  say what you want about me when I’m gone, sing my songs, the only thing I ask  of you, do what you want with my grave”. On “She Makes Time” Welch reprises an original song he first recorded in 2007, he explains that it’s a rootsy Lightnin’ Hopkins groove, and he plays it on a Gibson 330 once owned by the legendary Slim Harpo as he bursts “I like to watch her leave, she come’s back again…I  know she loves me,,,she’s got so much to do but she still makes time for me, I’m a luckier man than maybe I should be”.

On Bob Dylan’s “Dear Landlord”, Milgate plays both piano and organ, as once again Welch takes a great melody and interprets it as an instrumental, with some wonderful guitar phrasing. “I Just Don’t Understand” was written by Marijohn Wilkin and Kent Westberry in 1961, and later covered by The Beatles, as Welch howls “well you say that you need me, like an ocean needs air, what I don’t understand is how you can hurt me, I just don’t understand, you told me baby, while holdin’  my hand, how you can hurt me I just don’t understand”.

“Some Other Guy” was written by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and Richie Barett,  and first recorded in 1963, as Milgate plays a Wurlitzer piano solo, and Welch whines “some other guy now is takin’ my love away from me…some other guy now is making me very, very, mad, took the best girl I ever had, some other  guy now”. “The Whole Idea of You”, was inspired by the love Welch shares with his wife as he chirps “hold, hold me, help me lose my mind…I love, love, I love  the way you kiss…I love everything you say and do, I love the whole idea of you”. On the closer “Burial Season” written by bassist Michael “Mudcat” Ward and recorded by Sugar Ray and The Bluetones in 2003, Welch croons “it’s gonna be a very good burial season”.

In 2023 Monster Mike Welch released the Blues Music Award nominated  “Nothing But Time”. “Keep Living Til I Die” is his latest and it should garner Welch additional accolades. Welch remains one of our most brilliant guitarists as he continues to explore the fretboard. This comes highly recommended.

Richard Ludmerer

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