Papa Lebas (aka, Jeff Muller)

 So the guy you see above is indeed me, even if it's been a few years since that picture was taken. In that moment, I was performing at one of my favorite rooms in New Orleans, Les Bon Temps Roule on Magazine Street. That was during chapter two of my musical life, when we were living in that culturally rich city and I was playing with some incredible bands including Cool Riddims & Sista Teedy, Grace Darling, James Andrews, and Rickie Castrillo & Dreamland. I even got to perform with a few of my musical heroes, including Allen Toussaint, Cyril Neville, Ernie K-Doe, Johnny Vidacovich, Uganda Roberts, and others. It was an amazing time to be there making music, and I am grateful for it.

In fact, I am grateful for all of my myriad musical experiences. They began in Annapolis, MD, which was where my first musical chapter took place. I began playing in high school but things really took off when I started working at Paul Reed Smith Guitars for the year after high school and throughout college. I returned to the area after college and began performing around town, first as a member of Zambezi Express, then with a variety of local performers including Meg Murray, Rich Chorné, Eva Cassidy, the Dirty City Band, and others. Along the way I wrote and produced both my first album, entitled Jes Grew, and the music for the play Tipton (which was named one of the top plays in Pittsburgh in 1995). I also co-produced August West's first album, Bishop Street, and performed on some other records. Then I moved to New Orleans, but you already know about that.

Skip ahead a decade and I was back in Maryland, working with a number of acts throughout the DMV. I reconnected with some old musical collaborators and met a ton of new friends. I was working regularly with Rich Chorné, Nadine Rae, Gary Wright & Leah Weiss, Karl Straub, The Persuaders, The Pan American Rhythm Project, The Bossa Brothers, and more. I also did a ton of fill-in work, playing with bands such as Junior Cline & the Recliners, Mary Lou & the Untouchables, Dirty Bomb, Dean Rosenthal's Racket, The Grandsons, and many more.

At this point, I have played with over 100 different acts over the years, and while that number  keeps growing, I play with fewer acts than I once did. My main gigs these days include my band, Papa Lebas & Gumbo Ya Ya, my Jeff Muller & Friends series with a constantly changing case of characters, and with The Roustabouts, Wellvis (featuring Karl Straub), The Cyphers Band, Meg Murray Band, Laura Brino Band, Mary Battiata & Little Pink, The Bossa Brothers, and Gary Wright & Leah Weiss. I'll never stop because I love making music with people and the incredible community that gets built with both my fellow performers and the audience. And I still seek a variety of styles to feed my insatiable musical curiosity. I just released my first new album in quite a while, Naptown to NOLA, which features some amazing performers including Ivan and Ian Neville, George Porter Jr., Deacon John, Tricia Boutté, Chubby Carrier, Tommy Malone, Louis Michot, Ron Holloway, Bill Summers and many more. I have another album mostly written and ready to record, along with the starts for additional records, and am doing some co-writing with friends. 

There's so much to share, I can't wait for you to hear it!