Prolific New Orleans bassist George Porter Jr., will be releasing a brand new instrumental album entitled Porter’s Pocket with his longstanding quartet the Runnin’ Pardners available via Color Red on February 7, 2025. Porter Jr is joined by his longtime collaborator keyboardist Michael Lemmler (Jubilation, TriFunctA), drummer Terrence Houston (The Funky Meters, Toubab Krewe), and newest member Chris Adkins (Raphael Saadiq, Mark Broussard) on guitar. This Friday, listeners can get their first taste of the new record with the release of “Tito’s Dumpling Machine.” Pre-save/Listen to the new single HERE.
Porter was a founding member of The Meters and a lifelong session musician, notably acting as Allen Toussaint’s go-to bass player throughout the 60s and 70s. Declared by Pitchfork as “one of the greatest bass players who has ever lived,” and consistently finding himself atop Bass Player Magazine and Rolling Stone’s “Top 50 bassists of all-time”, Porter was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 for his influential work with New Orleans funk progenitors The Meters.
“Tito’s Dumpling Machine,” has all the qualities that rare-groove vinyl crate diggers have always looked for from Porter. Drum breaks galore, a syncopated New Orleans pocket and a funky Hammond organ lead will more than scratch the old-school Meters itch. Porter Jr. allows his Runnin’ Pardners band to really drive the track while George does what he does best: holding down the rhythm.
The song starts with a drum groove straight out of Uptown New Orleans circa 1970, which would appear an odd choice for the lead single off a record but as Porter puts it, “my attitude has always been that the drummer defines where the song goes and so I really enjoy letting a drummer set up the tune.” Along with leading his own band and collaborating with superstars such as Robert Palmer, Patti Labelle, Tori Amos, and members of Grateful Dead amongst others, Porter’s career could also be tracked by a lineage of great drummers that he has played with including the Meters’ Zigaboo Modeliste, Russell Batiste Jr., and most recently, Terrence Houston.
An innovator of funky music, Porter gives credit to his hometown, “Before there was ‘funk’ as people call it, New Orleans musicians always had a way of using rhythm in a way nobody else was. I am just a student of Earl King and George French and that musical school and somewhere along the way, people out there decided it was ‘funk.’
Porter Jr & Runnin’ Pardners continue to perform a weekly residency in New Orleans at the renown local favorite Maple Leaf Bar in addition to an incessant touring regimen across the country at tastemaker venues and festivals. On Dec 21 and 22, the band was hand selected to open a 2 night run supporting The Black Crowes at The Capital Theatre in Portchester NY.
While Porter’s Pocket will be available to the general public on February 7, 2025, members of the Color Red Vinyl Club will receive exclusive early access to the album as the club’s December 2024 vinyl selection. The subscription-based monthly vinyl club releases original new music every month with membership perks including exclusive vinyl colorways, a 15% store-wide discount on the Color Red website, additional perks such as signed records & inserts, early access to record releases, and more. Learn more and join the club HERE.
For more information and acomplete list of George Porter Jr. 's tour dates, visit georgeporterjr.com.
