The OA’s next issue is a love letter to Southern art! ️✨

Pre-order your copy today or find it on select newsstands starting March 19!

SUBSCRIBE Shop Donate Login

’TIL THE DAY I DIE: BUD WELCH

’Til the Day I Die is a visual exploration of gospel and the blues, shot on Super 8mm film. Leo “Bud” Welch is an 84-year-old Mississippi bluesman who has spent most of his difficult life working on farms, cutting down trees by chainsaw, and living in a one room shack in Bruce, Mississippi. He often wonders if a better life waits for him once this life on Earth is over.


 Credits:
Directed, Photographed, and Edited by Nathan Willis
Produced by Matthew Aughtry and Nathan Willis
Special Thanks: Roger Stolle, Vencie Varnado, and Leo "Bud" Welch

For more, read the 18th Southern Music Issue: Visions of the Blues





Nathan Willis

Nathan Willis is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in the American South. He has created documentaries for MSNBC, Vice, Fusion, and the Academy Award–winning production company Participant Media.