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Willy Porter Pours Fuel on a Musical Feast with 'Cheeseburgers and Gasoline'

Photo by Rodney Bursiel

Learn how to win a copy of Willy Porter's new CD here.

When we were setting up an interview with Milwaukee musician and songwriter Willy Porter, we tried to remember whether he'd ever been on Lake Effect. Then of course, it dawned us: he's on every day - as the writer and performer of our theme music.

But we haven't had him in to do a wide-ranging interview - which is a shame, because his material is so wide-ranging. His latest CD, "Cheeseburgers and Gasoline," runs the gamut, ranging from his finger-style guitar expertise to a cover of a Peter Gabriel song, to the elegance of the song he played in studio C1 for Mitch Teich, a duet with co-writer Carmen Nickerson called "Iowa Sky."

He says even after all these years, he relies on a simple factor to determine if his songs feel authentic.

"Sometimes it's just a believability factor, that as a singer, you can get into all the characters," he says. "And also, the music continues to pay off in terms of just playing it.  It feels good under your hands.  It feels good in your heart, and it feels good coming out of you."

Porter will play a benefit concert for Advocates of Ozaukee Friday night at the Cedarburg Cultural Center. You can hear the other tunes they played as supplemental audio below. Our interview and performance was engineered by John Strelecki.

le_013113125631_2.mp3
Supplemental audio