Event

Monster Mike Welch in Concert

Monster Mike Welch is one of the East Coast's best-loved blues guitarists and, at 33 years old, already a twenty-year veteran of the international blues scene. As frontman or as the guitarist for New England blues legends Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, Mike has toured North America and Europe, and made several acclaimed recordings.

As a precocious 11-year-old he was invited to join local blues jams, working alongside Ronnie Earl, Luther "Guitar Jr" Johnson, Matt Murphy and Johnny Copeland.

At 13, Mike Welch opened the bill at the Cambridge House of Blues, sharing a stage with Junior Wells, Joe Walsh and actor Dan Aykroyd. It was the latter who gave him his nickname, "Monster Mike."

By the time he released his first CD three years later (These Blues Are Mine / Tone-Cool), he had already played with blues legends like Junior Wells, James Cotton, and Johnny Copeland, and won the 1995 Boston Music Award for Best Blues Act.

The rest of the 90's found Mike touring North America and Europe, and featured in USA Today, People, Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and NPR.

In 2001, Mike joined his longtime heroes Sugar Ray & The Bluetones, establishing a deep creative partnership in the blues that continues to this day. Their 2011 recording Evening garnered five Blues Music Award nominations, including Album of the Year and Blues Band of the Year.

Mike's varied career has seen him lauded as a teen virtuoso, valued as a supportive sideman, and respected as a maturing blues artist. Recent years have found Mike dividing his time between Sugar Ray & The Bluetones, guest stints (Duke Robillard, Nick Moss, Johnny Winter, Darrell Nulisch and more) and his own work in the international blues scene.