Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne (born May 6, 1957) is an American record producer, guitarist, singer, and songwriter who grew up in
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...
, United States, and lives in
, United States.
His debut recording ''Thunder Chicken'', produced by
Dan Prothero
Dan Prothero is an American, New Orleans-based independent record producer, recording engineer, and record collector. He has been called "the true king of raw" by AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
for his emphasis on live performance, vintage analog recording technique ...
, has been referred to as "one of the few truly wild and unruly records to come from the rock & roll tradition in the 21st century".
Biography
While still in grade school, he was conning his cousin to take him into the
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...
so he could buy every element of
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...
's outfit from the front cover of
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
''
High Tides & Green Grass''.
He had taken up the guitar at age four, and was learning to play rock and blues by the time he was eleven. At the age of twelve he witnessed
The Meters performing on the back of a flatbed truck in
on
Mardi Gras Day. This would influence the young musician.
John Campbell took him under his wing when Welbourne was 14, and around that time he started taking the blues seriously. By the time he was 17, he had left home and was hitch hiking around the south, playing guitar on the streets for passing change, playing in
juke joint
Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United States. A juke joint ...
s, forming short-lived bands or backing up blues and soul singers.
A trip to Jamaica in 1977 exposed him to reggae music, and a few years later he teamed up with Michael E. Johnson and formed The Killer Bees in 1980. They continued to play for many years, eventually becoming one of the first American bands to perform at
Reggae Sunsplash
Reggae Sunsplash is a reggae music festival first staged in 1978 in the northern part of Jamaica. In 1985 it expanded with the addition of an international touring festival. The festival ran annually until 1996, with a final event in 1998, befo ...
in
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, h ...
in 1988. Earlier, while on tour with
Burning Spear
Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots ar ...
aka
Winston Rodney
Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots ar ...
and his band, he received the nickname, Papa Mali from the reggae pioneers. By the time the Killer Bees disbanded, Papa Mali went solo.
Upon the release of his debut album ''Thunder Chicken'' he remarked that for the first time in his adult life, he was finally able to reflect warmly on the years growing up in Shreveport. In 2007, he released the follow-up, ''Do Your Thing'', also on the Fog City imprint and produced by Dan Prothero. The album included work by Big Chief
Monk Boudreaux
Monk Boudreaux (born Joseph Pierre Boudreaux; 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States) is an African-American musician and Big Chief of the Golden Eagles, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. He is widely known for his long-time collaboration with ...
and the Golden Eagles
Mardi Gras Indians
Mardi Gras Indians (also known as Black Masking Indians) are black carnival revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana, who dress up for Mardi Gras in suits influenced by Native American ceremonial apparel.
Collectively, their organizations are called ...
,
Kirk Joseph
Kirk Joseph (born 1961) is a jazz sousaphone player from New Orleans, Louisiana. The son of trombonist Waldren "Frog" Joseph, Kirk Joseph began playing the sousaphone while a student at Andrew Bell Middle School, and took part in his first profess ...
, and
Henry Butler
Henry Butler (September 21, 1948 – July 2, 2018) was an American jazz and blues pianist. He learned piano, drums, and saxophone in school. He received a college degree and graduate degree and taught at the New Orleans Center for Creative ...
. By now, Papa Mali was performing at many of the top festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
On New Year's Eve of 2008/2009 Papa Mali, Matt Hubbard and former Neville Brothers bassist
James "Hutch" Hutchinson
James Hutchinson (born January 24, 1953) is an American session bassist best known for his work with Bonnie Raitt. Though his work takes him nearly everywhere he primarily resides in Studio City, Los Angeles, CA and Haiku-Pauwela, Hawaii.
Ca ...
performed with Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann in concert at the Pauela Cannery in
Haiku-Pauwela, Hawaii
Haiku-Pauwela ( haw, Haikū-Pauwela) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States, consisting of the village of Haiku, Hawaii and the hamlet of Pauwela. Haiku itself is an unincorporated community. The population was 8, ...
.
In 2009 he formed a new band,
7 Walkers
7 Walkers was an American rock band featuring former Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, guitarist Papa Mali, multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard, and bassist George Porter Jr.
History
The band formed in 2009 out of informal collaborations ...
along with
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
drummer
Bill Kreutzmann
William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued ...
,
The Meters bassist
George Porter Jr. (initially with bassist
Reed Mathis
Reed or Reeds may refer to:
Science, technology, biology, and medicine
* Reed bird (disambiguation)
* Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times
* Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales
* R ...
) and multi-instrumentalist, Matt Hubbard. Their self-titled debut was released on November 2, 2010 on Response Records. The songs were co-written by Papa Mali and
Robert Hunter. One of these songs, "King Cotton Blues", featured a duet by Papa Mali and
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...
. The record was recorded in Austin, and produced by Papa Mali.
Papa Mali's latest album is ''
Music is Love'', released in 2015 is produced by veteran roots producer John Chelew on the
429 Records label. ''Music is Love'' features drummer
Johnny Vidacovich
John Joseph Vidacovich Jr. (born June 27, 1949) is an American jazz drummer and a member of the band Astral Project with James Singleton, Tony Dagradi, and Steve Masakowski.
He has also worked with Bobby McFerrin, Stanton Moore, Charlie H ...
, Bassist Casandra Faulconer and features Mike Dillon and Dave Easley on backing vocals.
Papa Mali performed at SXSW 2015 on Friday, March 20 at 4:30 and Saturday, March 21 at 4:00.
Selected discography
* The Killer Bees "Scratch The Surface" 1985 - Beehive Records
* Killer Bees "Groovin'" (1987) - Jungle Records
* Michael E. Johnson and The Killer Bees "Live in Berlin" (1988) -
Rykodisc
Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.
History
Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...
* The Killer Bees "All Abuzz" (1997) - Mozelle
* Papa Mali and the Instigators ''Thunder Chicken'' (2000) –
Fog City Records
Fog City Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco. Founded in 1996 by producer/engineer Dan Prothero, the label's first release was ''Coolin' Off'' which helped the career of New Orleans-based band Galactic. This was followed ...
* Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers "Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers" (2001) -
Catamount
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...
* Papa Mali ''Do Your Thing'' (2007) –
Fog City Records
Fog City Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco. Founded in 1996 by producer/engineer Dan Prothero, the label's first release was ''Coolin' Off'' which helped the career of New Orleans-based band Galactic. This was followed ...
* Malcom Welbourne, slide guitar on
Omar & the Howlers
Omar And The Howlers is a Texas based electric blues and blues rock band, The original Howlers was formed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1973. Three years later they moved to Austin, Texas. The band has regularly toured European countries. "Boogie Man" (2004) -
Ruf Records
Ruf Records is a German independent record label, which was founded in 1994 by Luther Allison’s manager, Thomas Ruf, to promote Allison's career.
The motto of the blues label is "Where Blues Crosses Over". The company's office is located in ...
* Papa Mali "Music Is Love" (2015) -
429 Records
As producer
*
Ruthie Foster
Ruthie Cecelia Foster (born February 10, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter of blues and folk music. She mixes a wide palette of American song forms, from gospel and blues to jazz, folk and soul. She has often been compared to Bonnie Raitt ...
, ''The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster'' (2007) Blue Corn
*
The Greyhounds
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, "LIBERTY" (2005) Luther
*
Lavelle White
Lillia Lavell "Lavelle" White (born July 3, 1929) is an American Texas blues and soul blues singer and songwriter. After performing most of her adult lifetime, White released three albums, the first of which was issued in 1994, when she was aged ...
, "INTO THE MYSTIC" (2004) Antone’s
*
Omar & the Howlers
Omar And The Howlers is a Texas based electric blues and blues rock band, The original Howlers was formed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1973. Three years later they moved to Austin, Texas. The band has regularly toured European countries. , "BIG DELTA" Blind Pig (2002) Blind Pig
*
Omar & the Howlers
Omar And The Howlers is a Texas based electric blues and blues rock band, The original Howlers was formed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1973. Three years later they moved to Austin, Texas. The band has regularly toured European countries. , "THE SCREAMING CAT" (2000) Provogue
With 7 Walkers
* ''
7 Walkers
7 Walkers was an American rock band featuring former Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, guitarist Papa Mali, multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard, and bassist George Porter Jr.
History
The band formed in 2009 out of informal collaborations ...
'' (2010) Response Records
References
External links
Official WebsiteFog City Records presents: Papa MaliPapa Mali collectionat the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
's live music archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mali, Papa
1957 births
Living people
American male singers
American funk guitarists
American male guitarists
American funk singers
American blues guitarists
American blues singers
Singers from Louisiana
Songwriters from Louisiana
Slide guitarists
Guitarists from Louisiana
7 Walkers members
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
American male songwriters