The JB List | Jamming On The Porch

There’s something about porches that screams live music. Whether it’s all the songs with “Porch” in the title such as Umphrey’s “Front Porch,” Pearl Jam’s “Porch” or Widespread Panic’s “Porch Song,” or the gentle breezes that whip by as you jam with your friends on acoustics while sitting on the porch.

Just yesterday we came across rare footage of former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts jamming on a porch in 1974 (see below), so it had us thinking about other similar clips. With that in mind we’ve prepared a JB List containing seven “porch jams.” Let’s get down to it:

1. John Bell and Michael Houser -“Driving Song”

It’s been 11 years since Houser passed away and we’re still missing Mikey. This footage comes from the documentary The Earth Will Swallow You.

2. G. Love -“500 Mile Girl”

G. Love, an artist who has an album called Front Porch Loungin’, has shared a few porch jam videos on his YouTube channel including this performance of “500 Mile Girl.”

3. Alvin Lee -Family Jam

The late great guitarist Alvin Lee of Ten Years After jams out on the porch/patio of a family gathering in 1986.

4. Stanton Moore, Skerik and Marco Benevento -Porch Jam

One of the best clips we came across in our search for porch jams features Galactic drummer Stanton Moore, saxophonist Skerik and keyboardist Marco Benevento jamming on a front porch in New Orleans during Jazz Fest ’12.

5. Phish -“Back Porch Boogie Blues”

We took liberty in including this Max Creek cover from a private party Phish played at in 1987 as the setting is more of a backyard than a porch, but we won’t tell if you don’t.

6. Megaflame at Burning Man

This clip wins for best setting as members of San Francisco’s Megaflame perform on a porch that was built at Burning Man 2012.

7. Dickey Betts -Private Home Video ’74

As mentioned in our intro, this brief clip set us off on our search for porch jams. According to the commenters on YouTube, the footage finds Dickey Betts and friends jamming outside of his Macon, GA home in 1974 and was originally aired on Britain’s The Old Grey Whistle Test for a special dubbed Macon Whoopee. We did some digging and found the entire special. There’s more of Dickey’s private home jam starting at the 16:50 mark and running through the 23-minute mark: