Boston scene has always produced great blues musicians who have become icons of the genre. This is the case of guitar player and singer Monster Mike Welch.

Since his childhood Mike felt the call of the guitar and the blues. His nickname “Monster Mike” was given to him by the actor Dan Aykroyd (Elwood Blues in the two The Blues Brothers films and the series) when Mike was only 13 years old. Along his career he has recorded with artists like Shemekia Copeland, Ronnie Earl, Danielle Nicole, Duke Robillard, Johnny Winter, Victor Wainwright, Nick Moss, The Mannish Boys and Sugaray Rayford. In 2001 he joined Sugar Ray & The Bluetones as guitar player and he was with them until 2017. Afterwards he formed an impressive tandem with singer Mike Ledbetter, although Ledbetter’s tragic death stopped his expectations.

From that moment on he began a solo career, releasing several albums and receiving numerous recognitions, like three consecutive nominations for the Blues Music Awards or winning the Boston Music Awards.

With all this experience behind him, one practically doesn’t need to listen to the album to know you are facing an excellent recording which has been produced by Mike Andersen. Monster Mike’s guitar sounds impressive, showing a fine blues technique along the thirteen songs that round up the album, some of them Mike’s own compositions, where each of them has a special meaning for Mike. As an example, “Keep Living Til I Die” was composed when her mother’s health began to decline, but she remained strong and alive until the moment she passed away or “Good To Me As I Am To You”, is an Aretha Franklin’s song that Otis Rush used to play but that he never recorded, or different song versions coming from other bluesmen he deeply admires loke Rick Estrin, Mudcat Ward, Bob Dylan, Richie Barrett or Robert Johnson… until completing each of the album songs which all have a very special meaning for Mike that, this time, he wants to dedicate them to his mother memory.

In short words, a blues recording with capital letters, that certainly will delight all listeners.