PAPA MALI
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"WHEN IS YOUR NEW CD GONNA DROP?"
The question began popping up about a year after Thunder Chicken raised its ragged neck and crowed the arrival of a new millenium in the swamp. A couple of years passed. "When is your next record coming out?" seemed to be on the lips of everyone I met. Much like that boy who cried wolf, I had several false starts, complete with 'jump-the-gun announcements' and mostly followed by hem-hawing, backpeddling and crow eating. Yes, it's true. I had written a bunch of new songs during this time, and even recorded nearly two CDs worth of self-produced (and unreleased) material. But something was missing.
That 'something' was producer Dan Prothero, who in fact, was not missing at all, but was doing his best to keep up with the demands of a small label that had, in a few whirlwind years, gained a massive audience. Dan and I became friends along the way. Fog City Records and their roster of artists grew, as did their legions of fans and their reputation for excellence. And so, it was agreed - Dan would produce my follow-up.
But when? As busy as he'd become, Dan was and is, in my opinion, the only producer who could nurture these songs from their infancy into their fully realised state. His unmistakable sonic imprint and vision had elevated Thunder Chicken to a level that would be hard to top. And after those earlier, failed attempts to capture that kind of magic on my own, there was only one thing to do. Wait. Be patient. When the soul is ready the answer will come.
Well, friends, I am here to bear witness and testify - the waiting has paid off. 'DO YOUR THING' not only delivers on the promise of my first record, it documents more than a few journeys and transformations that have occured since then. It features friends, some of them legendary. It gets inside my life and spills into yours. It slices, dices and crawls on its belly like a reptile. It's seductive and sexy... a mesmerizing and provocative trip into a dark night sky spiked with creamy overtones of hope and majestic clouds of everlasting fuzzy redemption. The audio equivalent of a warm mudbath on Jupiter. Sure, it's just a little bit strange... but in a familiar, comforting sort of way. And best of all? IT'S HERE!
HOW TO TURN ON IF YOU'RE JUST TUNING IN
Allmusic.com had this to say about the record that started it all, my debut, Thunder Chicken:
‘‘ According to legend, Thunder Chicken is the moniker for a kind of fortified wine that helped Malcolm 'Papa Mali' Welbourne evolve, from his early years as a crazy music-freak kid with a six-string slung over his shoulder to the swamp-funk-hoodoo-slide-guitar-choogler he's become. Along with his smoking band, he concocts a back-alley brand of Louisiana parade sass that meets bluesy Austin, Texas grit in a gumbo of the deeply greasy variety; it becomes something joyfully lusty and intoxicating in its own right.
Thunder Chicken is one of the few truly wild and unruly records to come from the rock & roll tradition in the 21st century."
Maybe more telling (and certainly even more flattering) is what drum legend Zigaboo Modeliste said some time back: "My wife and I listened to Thunder Chicken fifteen times in a row on Christmas day." Is there any greater compliment?
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THUNDER CHICKEN
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Booking: Crescendo Artists,
2805 Wilderness Place Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80301 / (866) 746-2665
Management: Brandon Mann