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Papa lValrcRATETUL orln rynrcrsr RobertHunter doesn't lend his verse tojust anybody. So, after decades
of working with Jerry Garcia-and with BobDylan on his most recent album-Hunter'sselection of Papa Mali as the interpreter ofhisnewest batch of songs is nothing short ofknighting the 5z-year-old, fifth-generation,Louisiana-raised musician.
"l have been writing songs with RobertHunter," Papa declares, giving each word itsown beat, as if to validate them. "This is a huge
deal for me. I told mywife that I couldn't havebeen any more knocked out than if I had got-ten lyrics from NeilYoung. How can this bereal?"
At the moment, Papa has prepared a deli-cious combo ofjambalaya, buttered cabbageand rolls, that when washed down with a zz-ounce Heineken aids him in making sense ofthis reality. He's moving around his kitchen inan apron that reads "Bobby Blue Bland, TheWorld's Greatest Blues Singer," and recountinga full-circle musical odyssey that began withhis devotion to the Dead and has brouqht himinto their imer sanctum.
It all started in Shreveport, where Papa,born MalcolmWelbourne, was weaned oneverything fromWilson Pickett and SolomonBurke to ErnestTubb and Ferlin Husky. By hisearly twenties, he was playing in a reggae bandcalledThe Killer Bees. It was then that he
acquired his nickname from Burning Spear'sband-"Papa" because he wasalready a father of four (he's since added twomore) and "Mali" because it's Jamaican forMaIcolm.
During the last decade, he released twogroove-oriented albums under that moniker.First was Thunder Chicken, a nod to classic blues,funk and New Orleans-style music, withgrease-fried takes on Clifton Chenier's "BonTon Roulet," Buddy Guy and Junior Wells's"Man of ManyWords" and Dr. John's "Walk onGuilded Splinters." Zieaboo Modeliste, drum-mer forThe Meters, is said to have played thealbum 15 times in a row one Christmas Day."In the years right after Thund er Chicken," Papasays, "a lot of serious cats started comingaround."
Therein lies the difference between thatalbum and .its follow-up, DoYourThing: on thelatter Papa got to jam with his musical heroes,including Kirk Joseph of The Dirty Dozen BrassBand, Big ChiefMonk Boudreaux ofthe MardiGras Indians and New Orleans piano legendHenry Butler. The album, glued together bythe drumming of longtime Papa collaboratorRobb Kidd, is traditional music filteredthrough a psych-rock prism.
That brings us to last year, when Papaplayed the Oregon Country Fair and theboy{riend ofone ofhis ardent fans changedhis career forever.
"I did my set andwalked backstage," Papasays, "and there's [Grateful Dead drummer]Bill IGeutzmann, and he's like, 'What are youdoing for the next couple of days?"'
Offtheywent for musical and spiritualbonding that eventually ied them to Hunter.The lyricist began e-mailing songs to Papa a
few months ago so that Papa couid write themusic to go alongwith them. The goal is torecord an album ofthese songs withKreutzmanl as a project that is separate fromtheir current groups.
"The only coaching that I got fromRobert," Papa says, "was, 'Keep the melodysimple. Don't try to oversell the chorus. Let thelyics sell the chorus.' So he's basically givenme total freedom to do whatever I want. Andyet, I feel like I have this enormous responsi-bilityto kind ofkeep a tradition alive."
Papa played some ofthe sonqs after din-ner. "King Cotton Blues" is a meandering jauntthat could have been on Garcia's solo albumGarcia. "The New Orleans Crawl" is a carefreebar anthem with the refrain "All for one andone for all, let's do the New Orleans Crawl."And "Louisiana Rain" is a cry?tic ode repletewith rain-like sound effects.
So far, Hunter has likedwhat he's heard ofPapa's demos, so much so that he's written a
song expressly for Papa."It's a great song," Papa says, "I've got my
work cut out for me." a
BY MICHAELIiOINSKI
aa"The only coachingthatI got from RobertlHunter]was,'Keep themelody simple.Dont try to oversell thechorus. Let the lyricssellthe chorus."'
OCTOBER 2OO9 REI,TX 37
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