Judging from resume credentials, 7 Walkers clearly qualify for the title of a “supergroup”: Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, the Killer Bees’ Malcolm “Papa Mali” Welbourne, George Porter, Jr. of the Meters, local sideman extraordinaire Matt Hubbard, and honorary fifth member and lyricist Robert Hunter. There’s plenty more to the story, though.
1) In the Grateful Dead precursor, the Warlocks, Bill Kreutzmann was often referred to as “Bill Sommers,” the name on a fake draft card he used for admittance to bars. His resume also includes Jefferson Starship’s Blows Against the Empire (1970), David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971), and Powerglide’s New Riders of the Purple Sage (1972).
2) Malcolm Welbourne’s first band, local reggae institution the Killer Bees, was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
3) In the last four years, Papa Mali & the Instigators has toured with B.B. King, Cyril Neville, and Derek Trucks.
4) Cristin Miller, Matt Hubbard’s twin sister, stars in the Broadway production, Phantom of the Opera. Their father, Dr. Robert Hubbard, is a NASA consultant that invented the HANS device for professional racing and designed the crash test dummy head in his own image (that’s his face on the cover of George Harrison’s Brainwashed).
5) Hubbard previously portrayed Father Max in Miles Zuniga’s the Small Stars and appears on Black Joe Lewis “Bitch, I Love You.”
6) Lyricist Robert Hunter co-wrote much of Bob Dylan’s last album, 2009’s Together Through Life.
7) Before landing George Porter, Jr. a number of well-known bassists temporarily performed with 7 Walkers, including the Black Crowes’ Andy Hess, Ron Johnson of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, and Bonnie Raitt sideman Hutch Hutchison.
This article appears in November 19 • 2010.