Twenty-seven years after his debut album at age 17, Monster Mike Welch delivers maybe his finest disc but with Nothing However Time. Co-produced with multi-instrumentalist Child Andersen, it options bass legend Jerry Jemmott, who labored with Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, and numerous others.

A commanding guitarist and music scholar, Welch flirts with heroes from Magic Sam to George Harrison, within the grooves in addition to in dialog.

Having gotten recognition at such a younger age, did you undergo any id crises?
Once I was 21, I wasn’t pleased doing what I used to be doing, so I took a while off. I did two semesters at Berklee School of Music – an amazing expertise, having had years as an expert musician. Folks go to music faculty not figuring out who they need to be. For me, I knew what gaps I had in my training. However in my second semester, David Maxwell requested if I needed to do some dates with James Cotton, and Mudcat Ward requested if I needed to hitch Sugar Ray and the Bluetones. Being a sideman allowed me to make music for the sake of constructing music. I feel it might’ve been a way more troublesome transition if I’d continued the identical path I’d been on as a youngster. That’s after I began coming into my very own.

Talking of Cotton, there’s an argument to be made for Luther Tucker being the right hole-in-one blues guitar participant when you think about all the things he did and the very fact all of it got here out sounding like him. From enjoying on the Little Walter information within the ’50s to with the ability to completely kill it when Cotton performed soul tunes, there’s a lot there.

When it comes to influences, are there any that may shock individuals?
Richard Thompson is one. I didn’t hear him till I’d been enjoying guitar nearly 20 years, however the sheer freedom, dancing on the sting, and the fearlessness of bending strings and breaking past the confines of the fretted word.

I didn’t play slide guitar on this document. Something that feels like slide is bent. In “If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day,” there’s stuff that feels like slide, and a few of that’s positively impressed by Richard Thompson. He’s utilizing it to sound like a cross between bagpipes and pedal metal; I’m utilizing it to sound like slide guitar or the human voice.

What’s your method whereas doing that?
The easy model is method every word from a half-step beneath, pre-bend it, and that means that you can get the vibrato going flat and sharp. In case you’re simply including vibrato to a stationary word, you’re solely going sharp. With slide guitar, there’s a a lot higher vary going up and down from the word. As a result of I’m approximating blues slide, it’s a bit of extra forgiving. When Muddy Waters performed slide, his intonation was excellent however not right (laughs). When nation gamers mimic pedal metal with mechanically exact bends, each word must be in tune. I’m searching for one thing rawer.

What gear did you utilize on the album?
Principally, I performed the blue Japanese Strat I’ve had since my teenagers, with Lindy Fralin pickups and a USA Customized neck. I purchased it new in 1992. I ended up utilizing Child’s amps, largely an unique tweed Bassman. On “I Ain’t Sayin’” and “Shedding Each Battle,” it’s a Vox AC30.

“I Ain’t Saying” feels like early B.B. King.
I didn’t even notice I used to be doing it on the time, however he’s so vital to me. My vibrato is all the time wider and looser; Otis Rush is a transparent instance of that. Once I was very younger and heard Clapton and Hendrix and Mick Taylor with the Stones, I all the time tried to get this vast vocal-like vibrato that wasn’t actually the way in which they performed. Once I later heard Otis, it was like, “That’s the sound I’ve been making an attempt to make.” Ronnie Earl is somebody who put all of that stuff collectively, however you’ll be able to inform it’s him from the primary word.

As a child, there have been one or two Clapton interviews that outlined my musical style for a very long time, as a result of that was the primary time I heard about Freddie King and Little Walter, or Ray Charles Reside At Newport. However Blues Breakers Clapton had a really particular melodic sense that was totally different from any of his influences. In “Little Woman,” that ascending line is attractive, and it’s not one thing Freddie King would’ve ever performed.

What made you resolve to do “I Me Mine”?
The Beatles information had been the primary issues that obtained me excited by music, and that’s nonetheless a few of my favourite music. “I Me Mine” is mainly a minor-blues ballad that turns right into a blues shuffle, and I regarded to see if this was one thing {that a} bunch of blues individuals have coated. I heard it nearly as an Otis Rush factor. There was one thing liberating about it, as a result of I’m going to do songs I like, and blues is how I categorical myself.

This text initially appeared in VG’s September 2023 situation. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.