Duck Time
Heaven on a Friday night: Willy Porter teaching you How To Rob A Bank
I don't know about you, but when it comes to folk music, I prefer it to be:
A) Lyrically significant and/or colorful
B) Politically rabble-rousing
C) More than a bit weird or unnerving
Most of the best modern day folkies — Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt, to name a few — combine a little bit of all those aspects when conjuring up sociopolitical wit set to a basic guitar chord progression that changes how we view our times. Willy Porter may not quite be in that company yet, but he's well ahead of most of his contemporary peers.
For the last two decades Porter has been crisscrossing the country, both as a solo act or opening for artists like Tori Amos and Jeff Beck. With every trip he seems to have filled his guitar case with more stories from the road. It was 1994 when the song "Angry Words" from his Dog-Eared Dream album caught the attention of the folkie faithful. His sticky, bluesy latest album, How To Rob A Bank is another grand addition to Porter's cannon observing the human condition, often times with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
A lyrical sampling, from the title track, "How To Rob A Bank:"
Some say I'll need a driver, a Nixon mask and gun
But let me tell you brothers and sisters that's not how you get a bank job done
You can't walk in there brazen with an Uzi like Patty Hearst
I'm gonna secure myself a seat on the board of directors first
That's how you rob a bank
I'll get some decent suits and a bogus business plan
Become well-versed in the etiquette of Wall Street Disneyland
Hit the country clubs eating peanuts and drinking Scotch
I'll talk the recent trends and fart into a velvet couch
That's how you rob a bank
Colorful ... rabble-rousing ... definitely awkward. I'm sold.
And Porter's spare approach should sound like heaven on the cozy Mucky Duck stage on a Friday night, a pint of Guinness in one hand and a scotch egg in the other.
Willy Porter, 7:30 p.m. Friday at McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Tickets: $20