7 Walkers

7 Walker’s: A New Orleans Funky, Bluesy Sound meets the Grateful Dead

I went to the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA on April 9, 2010 to see the legendary drummer and co -founder of the “Grateful Dead”, Bill Kreutzmann play in his new band, 7 Walkers, with little expectations. But what I heard at the Music Hall was way more than I could ever expected.

The show opened with a free jam from the Louisiana native, funky bluesman, and voodoo electronic pioneer, Pap Mali, George Porter Jr., “New Orleans’s Premier Bass Player”, and keyboardist, Matt Hubbard from, Willie Nelson and Friends. Right off the bat it was clear that Papa Mali is a very different guitar player who plays by his own rules. He isn’t afraid to push the envelope in astonishing ways at a drop of a hat or play different variations of songs and tunes mixed together. Matt Hubbard is a very skilled and forthright keys man; Papa and Matt are one heck of a combo and mixed together with Bill you have a New Orleans funky blue sound mixed with the classic Grateful Dead.

Bill was happy and smiling swinging free from the start, all over his cymbals, making it look so natural and easy. It was nice to see what a powerful and unique drummer he is when drumming solo, since he usually plays side by side with other Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Heart. As for George Porter, he was right on it too, laying down a thick jazzy, colorful, carpet underneath it all. After a 15 minute jam of multi variations of “Riders of the Storm-is moments to more jazz –infected musing, the band jammed into one of the Dead’s classics, “Deal”, Everyone was chanting the chorus “Don’t you let that deal go down” to what sounded like a bluesy, jazzy, country version of the song. It was a great surprise and definitely a crowd pleaser. “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” took on a New Orleans tempo and texture, with Hubbard switching to trombone for a spirited workout, and the long jam that came next which seemed to be oozing “Other One”( The Other One’s are another band name that the reaming members of the Dead called themselves in the begging of the 2000’s) as it spilled through the Music Hall, actually turned out to be a drop cloth for a couple of quick verses of the John Lee Hooker tune “Bottle Up and Go. Ok, are you confused yet? Well it’s like the Grateful Dead say “If you get confused then listen to the music play”. (The Grateful Dead)

That was followed by the first of two consecutive tunes written by Pap Mali and Robert Hunter. (Robert Hunter is a vocalist and lyric writer for the Grateful Dead). “Evangeline”, a hypnotic love ballad with a central riff that’s slightly reminiscent of the Stone’s “Moonlight Mile” with a sneaky ghostly guitar drenched in tremolo and reverb, Bill playing with mallets instead of regular drum sticks, Porter underscoring the lead vocal bass accents and Hubbard’s piano dancing delicately through the thick atmosphere. The catchy chorus “She can make the rain clouds open up and Pour/ she can make the lightin’ flash, make the thunder roar…” It was 9 minutes of pure bliss and I still have the chorus playing in my head!

Then after a quick break, came a second tune, “7 Walkers”, which also had a slightly eerie cast to it, but mostly chugged along to a New Orleans feel. Pap Mali played a fine solo that nicely combined his slide techniques with wah-wah that reminded me of Duane Allman’s style from the Allman Brothers. His slide playing was very effective all night, even when it was more for color than show. From there, he led us into one of my Favorite songs by the Grateful Dead, “Love light” which cruised into the first of a couple of duets between Bill Kreutzmann and George Porter. And then they touched on another one of my favorites “Iko Iko” and finally ending with “Shoe Fly”. That song took me way back to elementary school. This was quite a diverse set that shocked the crowd and had them begging for more. Hearing, a few of my “Grateful Dead” favorites twisted with a French Quarter color produced a fresh sound that everyone loved. The words were familiar, and got the crowd singing but the music was exciting and new. The music was making a lot of old memories surface while new memories were being made. The 7 Walker’s are a great mixture and have been embraced by the Grateful Dead followers and their culture.

Just to touch on the second set. It opened with a pair of Dead tunes- “Bertha and Wharf Rat” (the latter giving Papa Mali a chance to show some more depth as a singer) – then went back to New Orleans for the professor Longhair Nugget “Juno Partner,” which moved seamlessly into another new Robert Hunter – Papa Mali original, the infectious “New Orleans Crawl”. There was a stand alone “I know You Rider”, which is another Grateful Dead favorite, and was followed by another new tune, “Sue from Bogalusa.” After a potent “Other One Jam” and more sparks from “George and Billy”, the show ended with two more Dead classics, “Surgaree” into “Not Fade Away.” (This is an Encore staple at a Dead Show). So this show had something old, something new, something borrowed… “And a touch of the blues”. (The Grateful Dead)