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Thank You.

by Paul Kosidowski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Willy Porter Band

You might say rock 'n' roll was born of anger and angst. You might say it was born of bluesy sexual longing. But Willy Porter rocks for the sheer joy of it.

Playing "Rita" early in his ecstatic set Thursday evening at the Potawatomi Casino Stage, Porter took his five-piece band into a double-time bluegrass rhythm and tore into the changes with a fleet acoustic solo that seemed to lift the band right off the stage.

Of course, that doesn't mean Porter's music is all sunshine and butterflies. His songwriting mines rich themes and images, and he's capable of going to the dark side, as he did with a persuasive, gutbucket vocal in "Big Yellow Pine," a deep-woods-style country ballad.

- Paul Kosidowski

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