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Papa Mali is a singer/songwriter, a guitarist and producer. He was born Malcolm Welbourne in Vicksburg, Mississippi and grew up on the banks of Bayou Pierre in Shreveport, Louisiana. With a travelling salesman father and both older siblings grown, he spent a great part of his youth and teenage years living with his grandparents on Fountainbleau St. in New Orleans.

A musician since early childhood, he witnessed many of the city's legendary performers in their heyday:

Dr. John, The Night Tripper

The Meters

James Booker, and many more.

At the age of 13, he met North Louisiana bluesman

Johnny 'Slim' Campbell

who schooled him in the ways of traditional Delta Blues guitar styles - fingerpicking, bottleneck and open tunings. His influence was immeasurable in helping the young guitarist carve out his unorthodox approach, which has been described as "primitive modern" and "voodoo electronica".

He has been a touring musician since his late teens, cutting his teeth with soul singers, blues bands and funk ensembles throughout the south, and later touring nationally and internationally with

The Killer Bees, one of the first American bands ever invited to play Reggae Sunsplash in Jamaica in 1987.

It was around this time, while on tour with The Burning Spear Band, that he received the nickname Papa Mali, from the reggae pioneers.

Winston Rodney, aka Burning Spear

Though Papa Mali is no longer involved with the reggae scene , over 20 years later, he continues to wear the name with pride.

In 1999 he recorded his first solo outing

Thunder Chicken, for the prestigious boutique label, Fog City Records, home to Galactic, Mofro, Garage A Trois, Stanton Moore, Tim Bluhm and Ettienne deRocher. Released in early 2000, Playboy magazine called it "the best swamp music since Tony Joe White". Noted music journalist, Thom Jurek, calls it "one of the few truly wild and unruly records to come from the rock & roll tradition in the 21st century". He continues: "it feels like Buddy Guy fronting the Rolling Stones on Midnight Rambler."

Two years ago he released the long awaited Fog City follow-up

Do Your Thing, featuring some of New Orleans most beloved musicians:

Kirk Joseph - founding member and groundbreaking sousaphonist for The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - and Henry Butler, who carries on the tradition of such great New Orleans piano players as James Booker, Professor Longhair and Huey 'Piano' Smith

and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, of The Golden Eagles and Wild Magnolias fame. Both records were produced by Dan Prothero and garnered rave reviews.

Click on the screen below, for a brief documentary that takes you inside the studio and behind the scenes, for the making of Papa Mali's latest record, "DO YOUR THING" .... Papa Mali also produced Ruthie Foster's 2007 release

"The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster", putting the soul singer on the national and international charts, and cementing his reputation as a world class producer. For more of his studio work, check out the MySpace photo album titled 'A Papa Mali Selected Discography'.

Papa Mali appears in the feature length documentary New Orleans: Music in Exile, by award winning director Robert Mugge, which premiered on the Starz cable network and may see theatrical release. Papa is featured in performance w/ Cyril Neville and being interviewed about post-Katrina New Orleans. We also recommend you check out Mugge's excellent Sun Ra documentary A Joyful Noise as well as Black Wax (wherein Gil Scott Heron philosophises in a wax museum) whenever the opportunity arises.

He continues to tour 200 - 250 days a year, and regularly shares the stage with many of his musical mentors and heroes. For example: Two recent US tours with BB King.

Above, Papa salutes The King after a set of regal blues!

Four tours with slide guitar virtuoso, Derek Trucks.

Above: Papa Mali and Derek Trucks

A European tour with Cyril Neville (of Neville Bros and Meters fame).

Above: Papa Mali takes a curtain call in Bremen, Germany with Cyril Neville and Tribe 13 (Cyril wearing tie-dye)click on photo for larger image

Papa Mali is a regular feature at many of the top festivals in the US and overseas, including: Bonnaroo,

Above, Papa rocks Bonnaroo, 2004

Wakarusa, High Sierra, 10,000 Lakes, Austin City Limits, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Joshua Tree, Jamcruise, Warren Haynes Mountain Jam, The Allman Bros Wanee Fest, Oregon Country Faire, Bluescruise, Ottawa Blues Fest, and many more. He is regularly featured in 'allstar groups'

Above, with The Everyone Orchestra (feat. Jon Fishman and Marco Benevetto)

and onstage jams with the likes of Galactic, Willie Nelson, Govt. Mule, Widespread Panic, The Dirty Dozen, Marcia Ball, Page McConnell and Jon Fishman (Phish), George Porter Jr. and Leo Nocentelli (Meters) and too many others to list.

Above, The Peruvian Pedicurists (feat. George Porter Jr. and Col. Bruce Hampton)

And just in the last year Papa has formed a close friendship and musical alliance with Grateful Dead drummer, Bill Kreutzmann.

The unlikely pair have since played several amazing concerts together with more on the horizon.p>

(above)Bill, Phil and Jerry, 1967.

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PEOPLE SAY...

Here's what others have been saying about Papa Mali and his recorded output for years:

"one of the few truly wild and unruly records to come from the rock & roll tradition in the 21st century" (allmusic.com)

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‘‘ Who are these dudes? Havent heard swamp music this good since Tony Joe White. Papa definitely has Spanish moss on his antlers" — Lee Froelich, Playboy Magazine

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‘‘ laced with the kind of New Orleans groove that would make Dr. John proud" — Jay Mazza, The Louisiana Weekly

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"one of the first great albums of 2007, and quite possibly one for the ages." (jambase.com)

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‘‘Papa Mali conjures up a potent gris-gris bag of tribal rhythms and true New Orleans-style funk, peppered with judicious touches of slide guitar and more than a bit of bayou joie de vivre. The vocals are delivered with a soulful swagger, almost as if Jimi Hendrix had been raised in the swamps on a steady diet of James Brown, the Meters and scratchy Delta blues. A raucous, insinuating debut" — New Orleans Gambit Weekly _______________________________

Dan Phillips, DJ, music historian, collector of rare New Orleans records, author and host of Home of the Groove had this to say about Papa Mali and his most recent release, 'Do Your Thing': "...reverb drenched and echoplexed; overdriven and vibrant as a fever dream or lowdown, dark and ominous as moonless midnight in the South Louisiana swamp, this is a deep summer, windows open, still sweaty at midnight, heat lightning playing tricks with your mind kind of record, to be enjoyed and explored after indulging in this or that effective intoxicant of choice, or however you wish to free your mind." He continues: "This man learned serious stuff from the late John Campbell*, a blues/voodooist so intense that it still spooks me to listen to his records. As I’ve said, Papa Mali’s influences are manifold; and I could go on. But I think his modus operandi can be simply summed up. He makes music spontaneously overflowing with the spirit of the old (and, we hope, the new) New Orleans and the re-imagined Louisiana of his youth."-----------------------

"Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne is the kind of local character that would be genuinely iconic anywhere else. Here in his adopted New Orleans, though, where we historically curate a stellar permanent collection of freaks, oddities and twisted brilliance, he simply fits right in. That's not faint praise, either. The psychedelic swamp sounds on Do Your Thing are New Orleans inside and out...a magically crafted grimoire of voodoo space blues. Reminiscent of Night Tripper-era Dr. John All in all, a powerful, glowing globe of swamp gas. " - New Orleans Gambit -------------------------------- "as an example of pure modern pop-rock originality, Papa Mali should be an institution. And institutionalized." - Pittsburgh City Paper ---------------------------------------------------------------- "a thing of aural beauty... a fascinating glimpse into Papa Mali's visceral vision and spell-casting." - Austin Chronicle -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘‘ Any fan of New Orleans music needs to buy this CD as soon as humanly possible." - Hittin' The Note -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘‘ This driving, echo-drenched polyrhythmic joy ride transforms the traditional Mardi Gras march into a contemporary slice of voodoo electronica." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Papa Mali's latest album documents his pre-Katrina New Orleans summit with some of the city's most celebrated and talented players, brought together with one request: Do your thing. More than a recording session, the atmosphere that developed feels almost like a seance, as friends gather in a circle and invoke the ghosts of their pasts... look deeper, and you can almost see those spirits weaving through the air like curls of smoke, conjuring visions of snake handlers and tent revivals, spy boys and street parades, proceeding with a broke-leg swagger to a place that's less about being funky and more about being Southern. Do your thing! Beyond that, this record is a long overdue homecoming for Papa Mali, a Louisiana native. Growing up in Shreveport, he spent his summers in New Orleans with his grandparents, soaking up the musical flavor and witnessing the heyday of The Meters, The Wild Tchopitoulas, James Booker, Professor Longhair and most of the city's now-legendary acts. Although he himself has been playing the clubs of New Orleans for over 20 years, this recording makes the connection to his musical roots more obvious. Featured guests for the journey are representatives from three of the Crescent City's deepest traditions -- Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of the Golden Eagles, Henry Butler, and Kirk Joseph -- as well as Victoria Williams (also a Shreveport native) and Chuck Prophet."