Jeff Porter’s latest CD, “ Even With The Wind,” captures much of what his fans love about the well-traveled singer, songwriter, and story teller: flowing melodies, distinctive guitar licks and deft keyboard work, and easy-on-the-ears vocals that tell each story with an honesty you can’t fake.

But the CD, as great as it sounds, only hints at what you get from an evening with Jeff Porter. The songs are his stories, but when he’s right there singing them, somehow they become our stories, too. The love we feel for the people who mean the most to us. The beauty that pokes through in a day’s most mundane moments. And the best laughs – the laughs we share with friends, and get when we step back and see ourselves and all the flaws that make us wonderfully human.

That’s what you get when you hear Jeff Porter in person.

There’s plenty else to know about him, as there should be for someone who has been making meaningful music for 40 years, from concert halls in Norway to clubs and festival stages around his native Kansas City and throughout the United States. His many musical endeavors include the Grammy nominated Blue Riddim Band and his current spot as lead guitarist for The Rainmakers. He has twice been inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame, and his songs have been recorded by Jamaican legends The Skatalites, New York hipsters The Slackers, and rising country star Sara Morgan.

Jeff’s songs run from reggae and R&B to country and folk, and he shifts seamlessly from one to another. But they’re always his – his versions of the songwriter’s great rule to, “tell the truth and make it rhyme.” And they always have his rare combination of artistry, humanity, and musicality.