Legendary drummer and co-founder of the Grateful Dead, Bill Kreutzmann, (who played every show in the band’s illustrious 30 year career as well as The Dead incarnations since) first met funky bluesman and voodoo electronic pioneer Papa Mali at a festival in 2008. Bill recalls in a recent interview, “We first met at the Oregon Country Fair last year. He was the headliner on the main stage, and I sat there and watched him and went, ‘This guy's for real man, I like this guy.' Then we met, after that he came over to my trailer that I was staying in and you couldn't separate us, we talked for hours. It was just one of those natural things, you know? You can't plan it, you can't make it happen. And then we started playing together.” Since that meeting the band has played numerous shows including shows in Oahu and Maui for Halloween, a New Year’s Eve run in Maui, a Midwest festival tour, Austin City Limits Festival and numerous other events.
Bill and Papa recently entered a studio in Austin and recorded a new CD featuring bass virtuoso Reed Mathis (Tea Leaf Green, JFJO) and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard (Willie Nelson and Friends). Reed and Papa first shared the stage in 2008 during a string of Mardi Gras shows in Colorado called The Big Easy Blowout which raised thousands of dollars for both the New Orleans Musicians Clinic and Tipitina’s Foundation and also featured Page McConnell (Phish), Russell Batiste (Funky Meters, PBS), Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (Wild Magnolias, Golden Eagles) and many others. The synergy between the two was immediate and powerful. Matt Hubbard joined Bill and Papa for their last several tours and adds his unique flavor to every tune. Together they will rock a mighty sound that will incorporate several tunes from the Grateful Dead repertoire, Papa Mali originals, some New Orleans and Southern songbook interpretations and a brand new batch of Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan lyricist) originals that were co-written with Papa Mali. The CD is expected to be released in early 2010 and will be touring heavily to support the new music.
7 WALKERS: BILL KRUETZMANN FEAT. PAPA MALI & FRIENDS
Sat June 5, 9:00pm | Tickets on sale now through the Fox Theatre box office
Internet 24-7 at www.foxtheatre.com
