Willy Porter's primer: 'How to Rob a Bank' hooks listeners
By: Nancy Dunham
Special to The Examiner
November 4, 2009
If you goThink about the difference between the gun-toting Bonnie and Clyde and the "Mad Hatter" -- a modern-day New Jersey bank robber armed only with a note -- and you see how the crime and its perpetrators have evolved. Perhaps you hadn't thought of this change -- really, how many of us have? -- but that attention to detail is what sets singer-songwriter Willy Porter apart.Willy Porter
Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Road, Vienna
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Info: $20; wolftrap.org
"I got to the end of recording [the album "How to Rob a Bank"] in April and didn't have the final song," he said from his Milwaukee home. "So I sat down at the kitchen table, and that tune was written in half an hour. It's funny how the events of the day transform our lives."
Little wonder that spending an evening at a Porter concert makes audience members feel as if they've had conversations with good friends. Porter's music straddles the delicate balance among universal messages in ultimately personal songs lovingly played in mostly acoustic settings.
When Porter plays the D.C. area this time, he will bring with him a full band. That mirrors, in a way, the new album, on which several guest artists including the Los Angeles-based folk/rock band Raining Jane make musical appearances.
"I just wanted to keep it as organic and real as possible," Porter said of his initial goals for the new album. "I tried to record it live off the floor. There's not a lot of overdubbing [on the song]. Everything is genuine and raw."
The stripped-down, raw versions of the songs that include other musicians and instruments -- including a cello and sitar -- give the album a rich texture.
Consider the percussion and strings on "Lemon Tree" that deepen the folk feel of the song. Or the electric guitar on "Hard Places" -- which tells the tale of war and family history -- that adds a harder, more ragged edge to Porter's traditional sound.
If there's one downside to the album, it's that it showcases the true depth of Porter's sound that has not been fully explored. It's easy to see, though, why artists from Tori Amos to Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson count themselves among his fans.
"I would love to be involved in [more musical collaboration]," the self-taught musician said about his next musical steps. "I am keeping my mind open and looking at a couple things in the offing."
