Album Notes

One Band Man incorporates guitars, bass, keyboards and drums, as well as stunning multi-track harmonies, all performed by Welchman himself.

The former writer for such magazines as Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, People, and Might had long dreamed of just such an exercise in megalomania. “I’ve been playing with myself for years now, so I figured the time had come.”

One Band Man’s range is startling. Opening with a courtroom confessional (“Life is a trial/and I plead innocence” in “The Trial”), Welchman weaves in english folk (the celtic-raga outro of “Is It Okay?”), classic 4/4 rock (“Wendy”), backwards-guitar textures in the psychedelic mashup “Unforgiven,” even bottom-heavy funk in “Fender Bender.”

“I always loved the variety-show feel of the Beatles’ albums,” Welchman said. “They took such care to make each song sound different from the last. I’d hate to stay in one groove for a whole record.”

“Hildegard,” a moving tribute to the 15th century German nun, author, and theologian Hildegard von Bingen, is another example of Welchman’s penchant for off-beat topics or approaches, such as assembling 21 rhymes for “ear” (“Here My Dear”). “It keeps it fun.”

While guitar and bass came naturally to him, drums were a new challenge. He started playing them in 2002, and as he improved, changed his recording plans from having a session drummer to completing the entire “band” himself.

The album was released in May of 2007, and the word is spreading!!

Critical Reaction:
Maverick Magazine (UK)....4 1/2 out of 5 Stars: "Highly Recommended!"

Folk and Music Exchange reviews...."Mr. Welchman is a remarkable multi-instrumental musician as well as being a facile and versatile vocalist"

Americana UK Webzine...7 out of 10 stars: "at it’s root One Band Man is 12 great songs....magical moments"