Mike Welch, a guitarist, singer, and composer from the Boston region who specializes in blues, has issued multiple recordings via the Tone-Cool label under Rounder. Exceptional skill paired with his youth prompted the nickname "Monster," which actor, comedian, and Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd assigned, although the handle was retired after the second album.
Tone-Cool projects that established his path as an international touring performer comprise the 1996 set These Blues Are Mine and the 1997 album Axe to Grind.
Blues exposure began through his father's record collection, after which he started playing guitar at age eight while attempting to copy sounds from Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, and B.B. King. He also examined rock and blues-rock material by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, yet further listening to Albert King and other blues guitarists determined his true direction.
At age eleven his parents started driving him to blues sessions across Boston, where he absorbed lessons from local figures including Ronnie Earl and Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson. In 1992 he was asked to perform at the opening of the first House of Blues club in Cambridge, Mass.; co-owner Aykroyd heard him there and changed the nickname from "Little Mikey" to "Monster Mike."
Several months afterward Welch teamed with George Lewis, who hosted the House of Blues jams, to form the Monster Mike Welch Band. On his Tone-Cool releases Lewis contributes guitar, Jon Ross plays bass, and Warren Grant handles drums, supplying above-average support for Welch's biting, stinging Albert King-style guitar work.
The original material he penned for those first two Tone-Cool albums reveals his ability as an inventive blues songwriter. Whether or not he attends college, Welch holds strong prospects; the wave of attention tied to his age even produced a People magazine quotation noting "being an adolescent is more than enough blues for anyone to handle," and all signs point to a long, multifaceted career as a bluesman. He came back in 1998 with Catch Me.
