Multiplul nominalizat şi premiat la Blues Music Awards, virtuozul chitarist Monster Mike Welch (SUA), deja un veteran al scenei internaționale de blues, va concerta de asemenea în premieră în România în cadrul Brașov Jazz & Blues Festival.
El a colaborat de-a lungul unei cariere de peste trei decenii cu numeroși muzicieni de blues legendari, precum Johnny Winter, Sugar Ray Norcia sau Ronnie Earl, dar Welch, care a fost poreclit “Monster Mike” de către celebrul actor Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers) pe când avea doar 13 ani, și-a dezvoltat propria identitate muzicală, făcându-se cunoscut pentru tehnica impecabilă, tonul său puternic și abilitatea de a transmite emoție prin muzică. Considerat unul dintre cei mai talentați chitariști de blues ai generației sale, Monster Mike Welch (n. 1979), a fost invitatul lui Joe Bonamassa, alături de care a cântat în concertul din Massachusetts, în noiembrie 2023.
With three decades of touring and recording under his belt, Boston-based blues guitarist Monster Mike Welch is a seasoned veteran of the international blues scene. Given the nickname “Monster Mike” by actor/Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd at the tender age of 13, Welch has since carved out a niche as a highly accomplished and in-demand guitarist. To date, Welch has released several albums under his own name and in 2001, he joined the ranks of one of New England’s most beloved blues institutions, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, where he stayed until 2017, recording five albums and racking up multiple Blues Music Award nominations for the band in that time. In addition, Welch has recorded with Shemekia Copeland, Ronnie Earl, Danielle Nicole, Duke Robillard, Johnny Winter, Victor Wainwright, Nick Moss, the Mannish Boys and Sugaray Rayford, among others. Welch left the Bluetones in 2017 to focus on his partnership with Mike Ledbetter, which led to seven Blues Music Award nominations and the formation of the Welch Ledbetter Connection within the first year. Welch has received three consecutive Blues Music Award nominations by the Blues Foundation for Instrumentalist-Guitar beginning in 2016, a Boston Music Award for Best Blues Act, and is an inductee of the Rhode Island Music Hall Of Fame. In 2023, Monster Mike Welch embarked on the next phase of his career when he signed with Gulf Coast Records to make new music.