The Big Easy in Buffalo
Papa Mali
Malcolm Welbourne's personification "Papa Mali" is a salute to his home territory of north Louisiana. Malcolm was raised in Shreveport, where absorbing the blues along Bayou Pierre was just as much a matter of course as chasing the mosquito fogging truck with friends – and equally intoxicating. He spent his summers with grandparents in New Orleans digging that city's rhythm (and blues) and after hearing the Wild Tchoupitoulas and the Meters on the streets of New Orleans at age eleven, he developed an early and ongoing attachment to Crescent City funk.
Although Papa Mali is a solo artist (performing on stages as diverse as Tipitina's and Bonnaroo), slide guitarist, singer/songwriter and acclaimed producer (Lavelle White, Ruthie Foster, and Omar & The Howlers), he can also be seen regularly collaborating with some of the most respected musicians on the scene today, including his longtime drummer extraordinaire Robb Kidd, Cyril Neville, Galactic, MOFRO, Robert Walter, Otis Taylor, George Porter Jr, Johnny Vidacovich, Anders Osborne, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Kevin Russell, and Double Trouble.
Listen to Papa Mali: http://www.papamali.com/ (music links are on the homepage)
Band website: http://www.papamali.com/