MASON PORTER

We’re all heading up to Folk Fest tonight! We will playing with the Brad Hinton Band, Friday at 2pm. Also, Tim will be joining Todd Henkin and a cast of other Philly musicians in a new Greening program for the Folk Fest. You can help too by contributing to the online fundraising efforts for the project here.

Also, just announced…Sept. 22nd at Sellersville Theater, Mason Porter will open for Grammy Award Winning North Carolina-based string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops! Tickets here.

Upcoming shows:
Aug. 28th – Johnny Brenda’s Phila., PA Old Time Brunch
Aug. 31st – Promenade Summer Concert Series Marlton, NJ
Sept. 2nd – Mo Daddy’s, Ashville, NC
Sept. 3rd – Belmont Abbey College, Charlotte, NC
Sept. 4th – The Box, Charlottesville, VA
Sept. 9th – Lancaster Dispensing Co. Lancaster, PA
Sept. 10th – The Pale Horse, West Chester, PA
Sept. 14th – Southpaw, Brooklyn, w/Wisshickon Chicken Shack
Sept. 17th – Heritage Festival, JimThorpe, PA
Sept. 22nd – Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, opening for Carolina Chocolate Drops
Sept. 26th – The Note, West Chester, PA
Oct. 8th – Frecon Pick Fest, Boyertown, PA
Oct. 22nd – Milkboy Philly (new bar/venue) Phila., PA

We’re heading north again this weekend to VT and NY. Thursday we are at the legendary Nectar’s in Burlington, VT, Friday to Abilene’s in Rochester, NY and Saturday to the Sterling Stage String Fling for the third year in a row. More details on the tour page as well as many August and September show additions.

Aug. 4th Nectar’s, Burlington, VT
Aug. 5th Abilene’s, Rochester, NY
Aug. 6th Sterling Stage String Fling, Sterling, NY

Sunday we are playing at the 2nd Street Music Festival. The event is sponsored by the Philadelphia Folksong Society.  Our set is at 3pm.  Also, before our set, we will be joining in on a special parade for kids and puppeteers. Here is a little more on the parade from the 2nd Street web site….

“Our family-friendly Fairmount stage will feature kid’s performers and workshops with Cat’s Pajamas, Philly School of Rock, Krista Parrish, and Electric Man. There will be a special puppet- and mask-making workshop with Ramshackle Enterprises, which will lead into a parade up 2nd Street with puppeteers and musicians The Great Unknown and Mason Porter, part of the Philly Folk Parade collective.”

Also, Sunday night we will be live on 88.5 WXPN at 9pm on the Folk Show w/Gene Shay.

Upcoming shows:
July 29th Brickette Lounge, West Chester, PA
July 31st 2nd Street Music Festival, Philadelphia, PA
July 31st The Folk Show with Gene Shay, xpn.org
Aug. 4th Nectar’s, Burlington, VT
Aug. 5th Abilene’s, Rochester, NY
Aug. 6th Sterling Stage String Fling, Sterling, NY

Summer is rolling along quite nicely. We had a great time at the Smoked Country Jam this past weekend. Some bands we really loved were the Stevens Family Band and the Hillbilly Gypsies.

This Friday we find ourselves in Northern, PA once again at the Bull Frog Brew Pub in Wiliamsport.

Sunday we are doing playing a benefit show in memory of Daniel Pevar the Note in West Chester. Dan was a friend of the band and local artist/songwriter/film maker who passed away this past spring. Proceeds go to the Dan Pevar memorial scholarship to the Chester County Art Association. Also playing is Hoots and Hellmouth and Rob Melso. More on this event here.

Re-order Porter month has been a lot of fun so far. Two more Wednesdays left. The week it’s the Joe D’Amico Band.

Upcoming shows:
Friday, June 24th Bullfrog Brew Pub, Williamsport, PA
Sunday, June 26th The Note, West Chester, PA
Saturday, July 2nd OATS Fest, Benton, PA
Sunday, July 3rd Elk Creek Café, Millheim, PA
Much more on our TOUR page…

We are pretty excited to announce that Boxcar Brewing Company brewed a delicious Mason Porter (a beer that is) recently. We got to enjoy some at Maysie’s Farm Fest. We are not sure what their plans for the future of this beer are, but we are hoping to see some more in the future. Much thanks to Jamie Robinson and the folks at Boxcar.

We have a busy summer ahead. We’ll be traveling to many of our favorite places and to many new spots as well. Most dates are listed on our tour page, but some are still to be confirmed, so please visit us on facebook and here at masonporter.com to keep up to date on things.

Club Reverb Friday w/Frog Holler
Friday we’re at Club Reverb in Reading, PA. Club Reverb is a brand new space and we’ll be opening the night for Berks County favorites Frog Holler. We’re on first at 9pm sharp! Also playing, The Bigger Lovers. More info here.

Re-order Porter Month at McGillicuddy’s
We’re going to have some extra fun this month…for the next four Wednesdays, Mason Porter members will be leading their own bands at McGillicuddy’s in Ardmore. Some great players will be joining each week, plus we’ll all be in each others bands at some point probably, and maybe you’ll be the band at some point, maybe we’ll be Mason Porter at some point, so yes, anything is possible. More info here.

This week:
6/7 Eagleview Concert Series, Eagleview, PA
6/8 McGillicuddy’s, Ardmore, PA
6/9 Side Bar, West Chester, PA
6/10 Club Reverb, Reading, PA w/Frog Holler. 9pm
6/11 Maysie’s Farm Fest, Glenmoore, PA

Photo by Colin Helb, Mason Porter live at The Kimmel Center, June 1st, 2011

We’re hitting the road again this weekend. Friday we’re in Brooklyn at Red Hook Bait and Tackle; a cool little bar we played at back in February. Saturday, we’re in Chester, VT at a new venue for us called the Pizza Stone. The show is being presented by Cider magazine and looks like it’s going to be a great time.

Next weekend we’re playing a double header in Lancaster, PA. 1:00pm at the Spring Gulch Folk Festival and 9pm at the Lancaster Dispensing Company.

We had a great time and a great response at the Philly Folk Fest!

“The band I was most impressed with, was Mason Porter…”
Here is a great review, with a short video, http://tinyurl.com/2vpht5p
And a great photo slide show here. http://tinyurl.com/2g2v2tk.

Upcoming shows:
Sunday, August 29th, The Note, opening for New Riders of the Purple Sage
Friday, September 17th, Steel City, w/Painted Blue
Saturday September 18th, Heritage Fest, Jim Thorpe, PA

Saturday we are playing at the 49th annual Philadelphia Folk Festival. We are incredibly excited and honored to be a part of the festival. Headliners include Jeff Tweedy and Taj Mahal. We will be playing on the WXPN stage hosted by Helen Leicht along with some great local acts including Tin Bird Choir, Ben Arnold and more. Set time 1:15pm.

To celebrate the occasion, we have put together Story of the Rifle, an album comprised of traditional folk and cover songs limited to 50 copies. The album was recorded live over the weekend of June 12th and 13th, 2010, at Second Story Sound Studios by engineer Mike Bardzic. It was mixed by Bill Moriarty and mastered by Carl Staff. The songs on the album reflect what has bound us together as musicians and friends for four years now. The songs also represent a deep appreciation for the great songs and songwriters of the past and present who have inspired us and our craft. The CD will be available in the merchandise tent at the festival Friday though Sunday or while supplies last.

Here is an interview with Philly Weekly about the album.

Here are a couple tracks to download for free:
Creole Belle
Wayfaring Stranger

This Friday we head up to Williamsport, PA to play the Bull Frog Brewery. We play 10-1.

Saturday we play two sets at the Smoked Country Jam Festival in Loganton, PA. Sets are 12:15 and 6:00.

Also, next week we’ll be at the Kennett Flash and the Midsummer Meltdown Festival

We are excited to announce we will be playing at the 2010 Philadelphia Folk Festival!!! We will be performing Saturday, August 21st as part of the WXPN Philly Local Showcase. To see the rest of the Philly locals click to the XPN blog.