The Greatful Dead with a New Orleans accent
Published: Thursday, May 27, 2010
By Don Wilcock
For years Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann had a natural affinity for one of that band’s staple songs "Sugaree." "I finally figured out a funny thing. I had always wondered where I really felt that groove from, and (I realized) those are old Fats Domino grooves."
It’s no exaggeration to say Kreutzmann has been "born again" as the leader and drummer in a band that reeks of Fats Domino’s New Orleans.
The band – called 7 Walkers – that plays Revolution Hall in Troy tonight is the Dead reborn with a New Orleans accent. 7 Walkers covers Dead standards like "Deal," "Bertha" and "Warf Rat," and Dead lyricist Robert Hunter has written at least one album’s worth of new songs for the fledgling group. But the singer/lead guitarist Papa Mali is a New Orleans native, and the bass player is George Porter from one of the Crescent City’s premier bands, The Meters. To say that Kreutzmann is pleased with his latest aggregation would be an understatement. He is absolutely giddy with joy.
"I think he (the late Dead patriarch Jerry Garcia) would be really happy today with what I’m doing with Papa Mali," says this founding member of the world’s pre-eminent psychedelic band.
"I’ve always loved New Orleans style music, period, and wonderful, incredible musicians have come from there. My mother was born in New Orleans and, as they say, if your mom was born in New Orleans, you’re from New Orleans no matter where you were raised. (Kreutzmann was raised in Pal Alto.) All the years I’ve played with the Dead I’ve sort of longed for playing another kind of music besides wonderful Grateful Dead music, which I love tremendously, especially when Jerry was alive. And that for me was the real Grateful Dead."
Papa Mali sounds a lot like another New Orleans staple, Dr. John. Songs like Robert Hunter’s spiritual "7 Walkers" from which the band takes its name simply add an extra dollop of spice to Kreutzmann’s San Francisco treats. "Deadheads were big fans of New Orleans," says the famed drummer. "The Meters, the Neville Brothers, so on and so on, and Galactic. I could name ’em forever, The Radiators. Anyway, they’re also Deadheads and love the Dead. So, this for me is like the bringing of those two together, and I love that, and I think that’s the richness of life when you bring the best flowers into the bouquet."
The new band had its genesis in a chance meeting between Kreutzmann and Papa Mali at — of all places — the Oregon Country Fair, a yearly must attend event for Kreutzmann’s girlfriend and her daughters. "She knows the people that run the fair, and there’s this whole deal there that after the fair closes for the daytime people, the people that run it stay there and party all night and play music all night which we did. It’s a really cool thing. It’s like the wildest Grateful Dead parking lot in the universe."
Coming from a member of the band who’s played every Dead show for the last 45 years, that’s a strong endorsement. "I felt so at home at night one night, I was in an altered state, and it was dark, no moon or anything, and everybody had glow sticks, or they had paint on, and I was just having the best time of my life. It brought back memories of Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests is what it did." Kreutzmann and Papa Mali whose claim to fame is as former leader of the reggae band The Killer Bees became instant musical soul mates that first night. Their new group is touring in anticipation of their first CD release due August 1st.
You can tell Kreutzmann has found something in Papa Mali he hasn’t felt since Jerry Garcia passed in 1995. "I just always felt really close to Jerry’s rhythm, and when he played rhythm guitar, man, you knew exactly where it was at. You knew everything — and same with his lead playing. After (Mickey Hart and my) drums in space (section of the set) sometimes he would come on stage himself and do these incredible guitar parts. I don’t even want to call them solos. It’s almost beyond soloing. It was more like he was opening his heart and his soul to everybody that could hear it including me. I would be back stage dripping wet from the drums, and my mind would just be out there because he would really testify in those moments, and those were the times I really think I heard him the best when he was playing solo out there."
http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/05/27/entertainment/doc4bfd8bac9d30d5674...
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