10352 - PAPA MALI - MUSIC IS LOVE (2015)
PAPA MALI
''MUSIC IS LOVE''
MARCH 17 2015
54:49
**********
1 Lonesome Road (Mississippi FredMcDowell) 03:51
2 I'm A Ram (A. Green, Mabon ''Teenie'' Hodges) 03:30
3 Make A Way (D. Carson, Malcolm ''Papa Mali'' Welbourne) 04:25
4 Bottle Up and Go (Huddie Ledbetter) 04:16
5 Let's Burn Down The Corn Field (R. Newman) 04:14
6 Wild Gardenias (Malcolm ''Papa Mali'' Welbourne) 04:45
7 Music Is Love (David Crosby) 04:58
8 Bought and Sold (Body and Soul)(S. McNally, Malcolm ''Papa Mali'' Welbourne) 05:56
9 Spike Driver 04:57
10 Go Down Water (Louis Maistros) 04:45
11 Cane River Waltz (Malcolm ''Papa Mali'' Welbourne) 04:08
12 For Free (Joni Mitchell) 05:01
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REVIEW
Papa Mali’s next album is set for release on March 17 via 429 Records. He recorded Music Is Love at The Living Room in New Orleans with producer John Chelew (Blind Boys of Alabama, Vic Chesnutt, Richard Thompson and John Hiatt). Joining Papa Mali in the studio were Johnny Vidacovich (drums), Mike Dillon (vibraphone, tablas), Casandra Faulconer (bass), Dave Easley (pedal steel), Josh Paxton (Hammond organ, piano, farfisa) and The Harmonaires (vocals).
Today Relix premieres the title track from the forthcoming album, which David Crosby originally recorded on his If I Could Only Remember My Name album (Crosby co-wrote the song with Graham Nash and Neil Young).
Papa Mali explains that he decided to record the cover through the input of his producer: "John Chelew has a real talent for listening, watching and then getting inside the mind, heart and soul of those he chooses to work with. Like the Artist & Repetoire guys of a past era, this process enables him to match the artist with the perfect song - one that will enhance the original material, while also providing a touchstone for the well of inspiration that those originals sprang from. This gift permeates all of his productions and is perhaps, most evident in his first Grammy-winning collaboration with The Blind Boys of Alabama, Spirit Of The Century. Who else would think to pair the longest-running gospel group of all time with the songs of Tom Waits, Ben Harper and The Rolling Stones? Pure genius! Suddenly, these master vocalists (who had been recording since 1936) had crossed over to a new generation of fans and were on everybody's 'hot' list.
"In choosing material for Music Is Love," he adds, "John and I spent countless hours just hanging out, playing guitars, talking about the art of making records and listening to stacks of vinyl. He had first been introduced to my music through the songs I had written with Robert Hunter and recorded with 7 Walkers, so this was our goal - to further explore and redefine the swampy roots of my Louisiana upbringing with the psychedelic West Coast sounds that he and I had both come of age with in the late sixties and early seventies. One night we were taking turns spinning records at my place, when John pulled out David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name. The look on my face must have spoken volumes, because we both became elated, excited and reverent, as though he had miraculously stumbled upon a sacred artifact. When the needle came down on that first song, we instantly knew we had our title track, the song that somehow ties the rest of the album together and tells the story of who I am, where I've traveled and where I'm going."
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Richard Skelly
Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer Papa Mali certainly puts his own distinctive spin on American vernacular music and it shows in his live performances and on several of his excellent solo albums. Far from a straight-ahead bluesman, Mali plays an enticing blend of blues, funk, swamp music, and soul, not unlike several other musicians who call New Orleans home. Mali lives in Austin, not New Orleans, but he was raised in Shreveport, LA and made frequent visits to family there throughout his youth.
Like so many others of his generation, Mali was most strongly influenced not by the Beatles, but by the bluesier, rootsier sounds of the Rolling Stones, and it was from there he worked backward to discover the songwriters from so many tunes the Stones covered. He began playing guitar at age four and was learning his favorite blues and rock tunes by the time he was 11. As a 12-year-old he saw the Meters perform at a Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, and as a young teenager, the late blues-rock guitarist John Campbell took him under his wing and he learned a great deal from him; Campbell later moved to New York and cut some soul-stirring, powerful albums for PolyGram. In his late teens, Mali left home and traveled around the South, playing in juke joints and on the street for change and backing up touring blues and soul singers. In 1977 he took a trip to Jamaica and became fascinated with reggae music; he later teamed up with Michael Johnson to form the Killer Bees in 1980. the Killer Bees were one of a few American reggae-rock bands to play at Reggae Sunsplash in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 1988, and while on tour with Jamaican reggae musicians in the States, he received his nickname, Papa Mali. After the Killer Bees broke up, he pursued a musical career on his own, playing an amalgamation of blues, swamp rock, reggae, and New Orleans funk.
Papa Mali's albums include his debut, Thunder Chicken, and followed up with 2007's Do Your Thing. His second solo album included contributions from New Orleans musicians Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, sousaphone player Kirk Joseph, and legendary blind piano master Henry Butler.
In 2009, he formed a band, 7 Walkers with Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard. Their 7 Walkers self-titled debut was released in November, 2010 and features a duet with Willie Nelson. In more recent years, Papa Mali has gotten behind the console as a record producer. He produced the 7 Walkers' debut recording and also produced fellow Texas singer/songwriter and roots musician Ruthie Foster's The Truth According to Ruthie Foster for Blue Corn Music, a small, Houston-based label. Mali has also worked as a producer for other Austin-based musicians, including vocalist Lavelle White and guitar slinger and vocalist Omar "Kent" Dykes.
**********
WIKIPEDIA
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
''MUSIC IS LOVE''
MARCH 17 2015
54:49
**********
1 Lonesome Road (Mississippi FredMcDowell) 03:51
2 I'm A Ram (A. Green, Mabon ''Teenie'' Hodges) 03:30
3 Make A Way (D. Carson, Malcolm ''Papa Mali'' Welbourne) 04:25
4 Bottle Up and Go (Huddie Ledbetter) 04:16
5 Let's Burn Down The Corn Field (R. Newman) 04:14
6 Wild Gardenias (Malcolm ''Papa Mali'' Welbourne) 04:45
7 Music Is Love (David Crosby) 04:58
8 Bought and Sold (Body and Soul)(S. McNally, Malcolm ''Papa Mali'' Welbourne) 05:56
9 Spike Driver 04:57
10 Go Down Water (Louis Maistros) 04:45
11 Cane River Waltz (Malcolm ''Papa Mali'' Welbourne) 04:08
12 For Free (Joni Mitchell) 05:01
**********
REVIEW
Papa Mali’s next album is set for release on March 17 via 429 Records. He recorded Music Is Love at The Living Room in New Orleans with producer John Chelew (Blind Boys of Alabama, Vic Chesnutt, Richard Thompson and John Hiatt). Joining Papa Mali in the studio were Johnny Vidacovich (drums), Mike Dillon (vibraphone, tablas), Casandra Faulconer (bass), Dave Easley (pedal steel), Josh Paxton (Hammond organ, piano, farfisa) and The Harmonaires (vocals).
Today Relix premieres the title track from the forthcoming album, which David Crosby originally recorded on his If I Could Only Remember My Name album (Crosby co-wrote the song with Graham Nash and Neil Young).
Papa Mali explains that he decided to record the cover through the input of his producer: "John Chelew has a real talent for listening, watching and then getting inside the mind, heart and soul of those he chooses to work with. Like the Artist & Repetoire guys of a past era, this process enables him to match the artist with the perfect song - one that will enhance the original material, while also providing a touchstone for the well of inspiration that those originals sprang from. This gift permeates all of his productions and is perhaps, most evident in his first Grammy-winning collaboration with The Blind Boys of Alabama, Spirit Of The Century. Who else would think to pair the longest-running gospel group of all time with the songs of Tom Waits, Ben Harper and The Rolling Stones? Pure genius! Suddenly, these master vocalists (who had been recording since 1936) had crossed over to a new generation of fans and were on everybody's 'hot' list.
"In choosing material for Music Is Love," he adds, "John and I spent countless hours just hanging out, playing guitars, talking about the art of making records and listening to stacks of vinyl. He had first been introduced to my music through the songs I had written with Robert Hunter and recorded with 7 Walkers, so this was our goal - to further explore and redefine the swampy roots of my Louisiana upbringing with the psychedelic West Coast sounds that he and I had both come of age with in the late sixties and early seventies. One night we were taking turns spinning records at my place, when John pulled out David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name. The look on my face must have spoken volumes, because we both became elated, excited and reverent, as though he had miraculously stumbled upon a sacred artifact. When the needle came down on that first song, we instantly knew we had our title track, the song that somehow ties the rest of the album together and tells the story of who I am, where I've traveled and where I'm going."
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Richard Skelly
Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer Papa Mali certainly puts his own distinctive spin on American vernacular music and it shows in his live performances and on several of his excellent solo albums. Far from a straight-ahead bluesman, Mali plays an enticing blend of blues, funk, swamp music, and soul, not unlike several other musicians who call New Orleans home. Mali lives in Austin, not New Orleans, but he was raised in Shreveport, LA and made frequent visits to family there throughout his youth.
Like so many others of his generation, Mali was most strongly influenced not by the Beatles, but by the bluesier, rootsier sounds of the Rolling Stones, and it was from there he worked backward to discover the songwriters from so many tunes the Stones covered. He began playing guitar at age four and was learning his favorite blues and rock tunes by the time he was 11. As a 12-year-old he saw the Meters perform at a Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, and as a young teenager, the late blues-rock guitarist John Campbell took him under his wing and he learned a great deal from him; Campbell later moved to New York and cut some soul-stirring, powerful albums for PolyGram. In his late teens, Mali left home and traveled around the South, playing in juke joints and on the street for change and backing up touring blues and soul singers. In 1977 he took a trip to Jamaica and became fascinated with reggae music; he later teamed up with Michael Johnson to form the Killer Bees in 1980. the Killer Bees were one of a few American reggae-rock bands to play at Reggae Sunsplash in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 1988, and while on tour with Jamaican reggae musicians in the States, he received his nickname, Papa Mali. After the Killer Bees broke up, he pursued a musical career on his own, playing an amalgamation of blues, swamp rock, reggae, and New Orleans funk.
Papa Mali's albums include his debut, Thunder Chicken, and followed up with 2007's Do Your Thing. His second solo album included contributions from New Orleans musicians Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, sousaphone player Kirk Joseph, and legendary blind piano master Henry Butler.
In 2009, he formed a band, 7 Walkers with Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard. Their 7 Walkers self-titled debut was released in November, 2010 and features a duet with Willie Nelson. In more recent years, Papa Mali has gotten behind the console as a record producer. He produced the 7 Walkers' debut recording and also produced fellow Texas singer/songwriter and roots musician Ruthie Foster's The Truth According to Ruthie Foster for Blue Corn Music, a small, Houston-based label. Mali has also worked as a producer for other Austin-based musicians, including vocalist Lavelle White and guitar slinger and vocalist Omar "Kent" Dykes.
**********
WIKIPEDIA
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********