NEW ALBUM COMING VERY SOON!

"Flying High" is my first new solo "album" in 4 years -  since I released "The Disappearing Man" into the wild 1n 2021.  That makes this my 7th full album.

I've been making and recording lots of music in the meantime - with the "Pambula Beach Garage Band" in The Shed in Pambula Beach; with Joe Cannon as 50% of  "The Cannon Porter Project" and with "The Safe Hands Band", as well as putting a compilation of French/France inspired music together in a short form album(ette) for the local Alliance Française  - ("Perdu dans la Traduction"). I've also been happily involved in helping my old MacJams friend Ed Hannifin with what's looking like being an epic collection of his great songs.

There are 13 songs on "Flying High": some are major remixes of older songs of mine that were pretty underdone when they were first made available to the general public; a few are new(ish) tunes that have been re-mixed but have only had limited releas previously as "singles"; and the rest are recent recordings of totally new music.

1. Flying High 03:23

2. Do For Love 03:39

3. (Icarus Wings 03:55 Bonus remix)

4. A Little Bit Older Now 04:02

5. Looking For El Dorado 04:15

6. Modern Girl 05:00

7. 10000 Miles Between Us 03:35

8. Shakin' ('Cos It's Cold Outside) 04:14

9. Les Échelles De La Mort 03:10

10. Blainville-sur-Mer (White Sea, Black Jersey) 04:12

11. Darker Side 03:13

12. Under My Skin 04:03

13. (Why Are You) Burning Down The House? 04:27

14. This Perfect Morning 03:39

I'm really happy how all 14 songs have responded to time, love and care to come up with this final collection.

"Flying High" is mainly a solo effort, but I had some excellent musicians joining me here and there.  

Thanks to: 

Joe Cannon from Sydney (NSW) (backing vocals on "Darker Side" and guitar on "This Perfect Morning").  Extra thanks to Joe for inspiation and support getting some of the songs together;

Thor Oliversen from Norway (lead guitar on "Burning Down The House"); 

Sisters Ann Cozean and Marty Ross Vining from California (backing vocals on "Burning Down The House"); 

John Libby from Boston (keyboards on "Burning Down The House"); 

Mike Watkins from Virginia (drums on "Burning Down The House" and "This Perfect Morning") and "drum inspiration" for "Darker Side"; 

Roger Ilott from Stanthorpe (Qld) (12 string Rickenbacker guitar on "This Perfect Morning"). 

Love and thanks to Jan for putting up with all the time I spent on this project.

Photo by Kerry Hines

The Safe Hands Band

In 2011, an international bunch of talented musicians (from Norway, the US and Australia) from the music collaboration community “MacJams” got together to produce an original song (with video) called .  

In April 2025, the band was reconvened to record a slightly (lol) political song called "(Why Are You) Burning Down The House".  Unfortunately Chris was unavailable on bass.

This album highlights songs recorded and released by "The Safe Hands Band": Anne, Marty, John, Thor, Mike, Neil and Chris.

Videos are available for both songs in this mini EP (links on the BandCamp page).  We hope to add more songs in the future.

credits

Mike Watkins (Virginia USA) - drums
Thor Oliversen (Norway) - lead guitar
Anne Cozean (California USA) - backing vocals
Marty Ross Vining (California USA) - backing vocals
Chris Flynn (Texas USA) - bass on "Safe Hands"
John Libby (Massachusetts USA) - keys
Neil Porter (NSW, Australia)- vocal, guitar, bass (on "(Why Are You) Burning Down The House")

license

©all rights reserved

Les chansons françaises

Prepared for the Alliance Française de La Côte de Saphir, this is a collection of my songs (from 2004 to 2024) either about, written in, or inspired by France (Ougney-Douvot, Mantes-la-Jolie, Blainville-Sur-Mer) and French-speaking Switzerland (Cernier, prés de Neuchâtel). Most are in english (or mainly english), but all are deeply influenced by our friends in, and visits to, french-speaking countries.

Merci pour tout: Daniel et Nicole; Marc, Brigitte, Karine, Bertrand, Apolline, Laurentin, Jean-Francois, et Joëlle; Marie-Thé, Pierre, Mathilde, Marceau et Gaëtan; Robert.

The first 5 tracks are the most obviously “French” one way or another. There are another 5 tracks included as “bonuses” which are more French-inspired, rather than French. 

There is no cost to download the complete "French Collection" :)

It includes one song (in french) sung by our friend from Ougney-les-Champs in Franch Comté, Marc Trannoy.

Musically, it covers the ground between folk and rock, and reflects our obsession with France - probably won't appeal to all tastes :)

My apologies to any native speakers who listen - my French accent is "interesting" at best :)

Thanks to Jan for help avec les mots français!

Credits:

Marc Trannoy - vocals and lyrics on "Je Reste sur le Sable"
Mike Watkins form Sterling, Virginia in the US plays drums on "Sur le Sable" and "Lost In Translation".
The rest of the songs are me on guitars, bass, keyboards, drum programming and vocals.

license

©all rights reserved

The Cannon/Porter Project

A collection of songs featuring Joe Cannon and Neil Porter.

Joe Cannon and I were founder members of "The Rusty Dusty Brothers" in during the mid 70's.  RDB played a wide range of country rock, and enjoyed some reputation on the Sydney music scene (mainly after I left the band it must be said).

We both took different paths through the following 39 years, although we each continued to write and ultimately record, a considerable catalog of original songs.

In 2023 we rejoined forces with some friends (from RDB and internationally) to develop a collection of our originals recorded with modern tech.

Of the 20+ songs we were working on, 4 reached final production and were "released" via BandCamp et al.  We've had radio exposure on 2SER FM's "Dirt Music" with Stuart Coupe and various community radio stations (including 2SEAFM in Eden and Sapphire Community Radio in Merimbula).

Musicians appearing are:

Joe Cannon - words & music, vocals, acoustic & electric guitars

Neil Porter - words and music, vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, post production, editing, mixing

Roger Ilott - 12 string guitar, pedal steel guitar

Lee Williams - ukulele

Mike Watkins - drums

John Drews - keyboards

Kevin Purdy - post production, editing, mixing & drums

William Bowden (King Willy Sound) - mastering

Available for purchase at the CPP BandCamp Page: 

thecannonporterproject.bandcamp.com

©all rights reserved

5 Years of Catch-up History

Greetings from Pambula Beach!

So, it's almost exactly 5 years since my last post.  Embarrassingly, it seems I forgot about this blog.  Not as though nothing musical has been happening.

I'll add some new posts as time permits, starting with:

"The Cannon Porter Project"; The "Perdue dans la Traduction" french album; and the "Safe Hands Project".