Willy Porter brings his guitar and his stories to Cafe Eleven on Jan. 30

The Wisconsin fingerstylist and WAMI Hall of Famer plays a 200-capacity room on A1A in late January, with songs from his 13th album, The Ravine.

There are guitar players you go to hear, and there are guitar players you go to watch, and Willy Porter is both. For one Saturday at the end of January, he'll be doing it in a room of about 200 people in St. Augustine.

Willy Porter plays Cafe Eleven on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2027, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20–$30 through Eventbrite. The date was announced Oct. 19, and Cafe Eleven holds 200.

Porter is a singer-songwriter from Mequon, Wisconsin, and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, according to his Wikipedia biography. He taught himself most of what he plays. His own site says he started out in the late 1980s while living in Madison, winning over crowds with his guitar playing and wry storytelling. Those are still the two things he does best.

His recording career goes back to 1990's *The Trees Have Soul*. The breakthrough was 1994's *Dog Eared Dream*, whose song "Angry Words" became an AAA radio staple. In 2005 he started his own label, Weasel Records. His latest album, *The Ravine*, came out in 2023 and is his 13th. Its making was hard. Porter has said the title track draws on the place he grew up, and on loss. Co-producer Mike Hoffmann, a Milwaukee producer, died while the album was being made. "It took me about five months to sort of find the ground and figure out how to finish this album," Porter told WUWM. The Carpe Diem String Quartet also played on the record. That same year, the Wisconsin Area Music Industry announced his induction into its Hall of Fame.

"It took me about five months to sort of find the ground and figure out how to finish this album."

Why this room: Cafe Eleven is a 200-capacity seated room, and that's where a player like Porter belongs. His show rests on two things, intricate acoustic guitar work and the stories he tells between songs. Both need an audience close enough to catch them. In an arena you'd miss half of it. At Cafe Eleven you'll be close enough to see his hands.

When to get tickets: $20–$30 for a player with 13 albums and a Hall of Fame plaque is a fair deal. With only 200 seats, a late-January Saturday could sell out. Buy through the Eventbrite link sooner rather than later.

Bring a friend who plays guitar. They'll spend half the night trying to work out how he does it, and the other half laughing at the stories.

Sources: Willy Porter at Cafe Eleven — JamBase (jambase.com); Willy Porter — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); About Willy — willyporter.com (willyporter.com); Willy Porter live at Lake Effect — WUWM (wuwm.com); Willy Porter at Cafe Eleven tickets — Eventbrite (eventbrite.com); Willy Porter at Cafe Eleven - Eventbrite (eventbrite.com)