Klose & Porter - Two For The Show

Sometimes there are numerous roads that lead to the same destination. The paths singers Jann Klose and Willy Porter have taken to get to the stage at the Fairfield Theatre on April 22nd is perfect evidence of this.

Klose has been a traveling man. Born in Germany and raised in Kenya and South Africa, Klose came to Cleveland as an exchange student, eventually moving to New York. Essentially living on the road, he’s performed over 200 shows in the past two years. “I think the need to travel,” he explains, “I think it’s part of the reason I became a musician.” Porter, on the other hand, credits his career to his deep Wisconsin roots. “Wisconsin is cold in the winter,” he notes, “and people are forced to stay in their houses.” For Porter this meant plenty of time to work on music. “The weather was really a good thing for me that way as a kid.”

Although both Klose and Porter have full bands, they’re going to be doing solo sets, armed only with their guitars, on the 22nd. According to Porter, “for the musicians there really are no limitations to where they can go musically in a solo performance. The audience also has the opportunity to be more involved in what is happening because there is simply less to focus on visually.” Klose second this, adding “it’s just the guitar and the voice. Strip everything else away and leave it up to the imagination of the listener.” Porter continued “we listen so much with our eyes now that a solo show can be pretty amazing to witness. It takes a lot of skill to pull off a solo live show. In a band you can hide and fade into the fabric of what is happening in the tune.”

The visual element is something both artists are keenly aware of. In fact, Klose is about to release a video for the latest single of his album, Reverie, titled “Doing Time.” The video was done in stop motion, “so it took us two days to shoot three minutes and forty seconds,” and he shot it in New York with students from the New York Film Academy.

Musically, both are men with guitars, but Klose and Porter have some notable differences when it comes to their work. Klose leans more towards the pop end of the singer/songwriter scale, while Porter is closer to the folk side of things. Porter’s latest album, How To Rob A Bank, illustrates his love of good satire and differing opinions. He notes, “posing questions and developing strong characters in my tunes has always been the key for me. I don’t claim to have any answers, but I do see that we have, as a culture, been repeating ourselves over and over. I find that interesting.”

One thing Klose sees that’s been repeating itself over and over at his shows is the reaction crowds have to his music. Some artists want standing ovations, but Kose likes the snuggling ovations he oftentimes sees. “Not to brag or anything, but when I see couples, when I start playing they get a little closer to each other.”

Different paths to the stage for Klose and Porter have led to different ways of connecting with people. The 22nd will also mark another kind of connection for the two performers - it will be the first time they meet.

By the end of the night it’s more than likely that won’t be the only connection each them has made.

Story originally ran in the FairfieldWeekly.