Porter-Nickerson

Porter-Nickerson are a duo that embody the best of what live music has to offer: “Bonfire to Ash” has it all: heart, grit, and the kind of raw musicianship that transforms listeners into long-time fans. Willy Porter’s searing finger-picking guitar style deftly blends with Carmen Nickerson’s lush vocals to create an unforgettable sound that resonates long after the last chord fades.

Searching for the shaman that lives inside the guitar has led Willy Porter on a musical and personal odyssey spanning over two decades, 10 albums, and multiple continents. His journey remains defined by an independent drive to evolve as a musician and human, affording him the freedom to create the next song on his own terms. Equally accomplished as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Porter’s songs weave a universal perspective about the questions, struggles, and triumphs of human existence. His live shows are guitar-driven events–equal parts grit, soul, and muscle–that are electrifying, dynamic, and wholly original in the way that Porter’s voice blends and fuses with his virtuoso fret work.

A largely self-taught musician, Porter began treating audiences to his brand of guitar playing and wry storytelling in the late ‘80’s while living in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1990, he released his first full-length independent album, The Trees Have Soul, and the touring life has flowed steadily ever since. Porter has literally logged millions of miles across America, Canada, the UK, and Europe, touring solo, as well as with various incarnations of the Willy Porter Band and in support of artists like Tori Amos, Paul Simon, Jethro Tull, Sting, and Jeff Beck.

Willy Porter, may naturally get lead billing in his new act with singer-songwriter Carmen Nickerson. But frequently her shimmering voice seizes the spotlight. With more than five years of stage and studio work under their belts, both Porter and Nickerson were excited to fuse their singular talents on a new album of original co-writes.

The songs on the new album, “Bonfire to Ash”, chart experiences that bridge the intimate with the universal. Porter Nickerson borrow from their strong stage chemistry to render the same kind of musical conversation that unfolds in performance within a studio setting. Bonfire to Ash, compiles candid snap shots of the human journey exposing ideas such as hope, regret, love, loss and connection that remain immutable against time, history or place.