{"id":121895,"date":"2014-01-31T01:04:42","date_gmt":"2014-01-31T08:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/porchlights-on-a-roll-2\/"},"modified":"2014-01-31T01:04:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-31T08:04:42","slug":"porchlights-on-a-roll-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/porchlights-on-a-roll-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Porchlights on a roll"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Porchlights, Wild Bill Kneebone and Deb Hilton, pose in the middle of Highway 145 as it runs through Dolores.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The hardest-working couple in the local music scene is hands-down Wild Bill Kneebone and Deb Hilton of the Porchlights.<\/p>\n

With two live DVDs, five CDs, and a new album simmering in the studio, the popular Dolores guitar duo is showing no signs of slowing down, consistently booking weekly gigs all over the Southwest, and traveling through rain and snow in a road-weary Subaru.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the road for thousands of miles, changing clothes outside in a blizzard, cold pizza for breakfast, that\u2019s us!\u201d Hilton says. \u201cOur catch phrase is \u2018It\u2019s sooo glamorous!\u2019 But it\u2019s all worth it when we play the gig, and the real fun begins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mingling with greats, the talented Porchlights hold their own, performing opening acts for Little Feat and Cross Canadian Ragweed. They\u2019ve also shared the stage with Bruce Hornsby, Yonder Mountain String Band, Big Head Todd, Derek Trucks Band, Steve Kimock, and Pete Sears of Hot Tuna.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in a diner in Flag, there was a buzz for the upcoming Little Feat show,\u201d Kneebone recalls. \u201cThe band walked in and overheard the staff saying \u2018can\u2019t wait for tonight\u2019. They jokingly asked, \u2018Why, who\u2019s playing?\u2019 and the staff yells out \u2018The Porchlights, man!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone had a laugh, and the Porchlights and Little Feat swap stories of life on the road and the music business before and after the gig.<\/p>\n

In a way it was a full-circle moment. Wild Bill recalls meeting Deb during one of her solo shows at a coffee house in Flagstaff in 1995.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first heard her voice, I knew she was someone special. I told her if she ever needed someone to produce her first album, I would love to do it,\u201d he says. \u201cI got the job, it turned into our album, and we have been together playing music ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening to the Porchlights is an engaging, personal experience that feels close to the heart. Deb\u2019s insightful, catchy lyrics and smooth rhythm guitar are in sync with Kneebone\u2019s melodic, jamming-in-the-pocket, guitar leads.<\/p>\n

Their songs have a crescendo aspect to them, taking the listener on a journey through the valley of life\u2019s trials and tribulations, then sparking inspiration through a nugget of wisdom or cheery observation on a climb to the mountain top.<\/p>\n

The creative power of the couple is attracting attention. During an improvisational song made up on stage at Blondie\u2019s in Cortez four years ago, the couple found a hit they named Blondie\u2019s Stomp.<\/p>\n

The song is a fan favorite now, and was picked up by a soon-to-be-released film about Ed Abbey and river runners called Wrenched.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just got the call that our song will be in the movie, so it\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d Kneebone says.<\/p>\n

The Porchlights play 125 performances a year, he says, and \u201c60 are hard to get. That is the toughest part, doing the bookings. But when we get on stage, each gig is sacred to us. We relax and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Songwriting is a never-ending process with its ups and downs, Hilton says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get on the road, our songs stretch out and find their depth. They take on a unique signature,\u201d she said. \u201cOthers are like a struggling house plant. You have to be willing to let go and put them back into the compost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deb jumps on song ideas quickly, firmly believing that \u201cif you don\u2019t, the idea floats away and becomes someone else\u2019s inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Porchlights formed their own label, Ravenrock Records, and produce their music at Friendly Eddys Studio in Dolores.<\/p>\n

Their diverse repertoire includes 60 originals combining elements of rock, bluegrass, guitar instrumental, folk swing, jam, swing, and they play covers as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom bluegrass to Pearl Jam,\u201d Kneebone says. \u201cEvery time we see the audience, I\u2019m reminded that we\u2019re living the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their saying \u201cThe Porchlight is On\u201d rings true to life.<\/p>\n

For everything Porchlights, including tour dates, CDs, and DVDs for sale, and Dolores merchandise visit their excellent website at http:\/\/porchlights.20m.com\/index.html<\/p>\n

Locally, their next shows are March 1 at the Mancos Opera House, and then March 14 at the Durango Brewery.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engaging musical couple \u2018living the dream\u2019 on the road<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-121895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121895"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=121895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}