Leo ‘Bud’ Welch
I Don’t Prefer No Blues
BIG LEGAL MESS RECORDS BLM0510
Still raising Hell at 82!
Trust me; you’ve got to love Leo ‘Bud’ Welch even if you don’t like his version of grungy Swamp Blues. After singing in Gospel choirs for over 50 years and working in a lumber yard for 35 retired in 1995 and he then was ‘discovered’ in 2013 and recorded his debut album of Primitive Gospel songs later that year and a year later he is following that with a Blues album, so raw, heartfelt and authentic it should come with a Mississippi River and bourbon scented scratch n sniff cover.
Opening track Poor Boy has a whiff of Gospel about it but is pure Blue Collar Blues from the heart and Soul as he duets with Sharde Thomas from the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band.
Next up, the electrified Girl in the Holler takes us to a place your Mother warned you not to venture. Welch’s voice paints a picture that will leave you not only wide eyed but open mouthed; and just about prepares you for the songs that follow.
In the best traditions of the great Bluesmen Welch sings about sex, lust and rock and roll; using metaphors like rusty nails but you always know what he really means. On Going Down Slow, Welch’s voice is only slightly less dirty than his guitar licks and later on the footstompin’ Pray On he manages to sound borderline evil……on what just might be one of the sexiest Blues song I’ve ever heard.
The album ends; all too soon, with Leo giving Muddy and the Wolfman a run for their money on the classic Sweet Black Angel.
Everything here sounds like ‘one takes’ and even if they aren’t, I don’t think there are many overdubs here at all; as this is the Blues in its rawest form, this music is designed for late night listening in a smoke juke-joint somewhere slightly dangerous; even if that is just in your mind.
Who said they don’t make them like this anymore?
Released 24th March 2015
The Rocking Magpie 