West Coast American roots outfit with rich acoustic tones, Back pOrchEstra offers fresh yet retro genre-blending and genre-bending with a broad range of mostly original and some historic music featuring the stellar SF Bay Areans: Candy Girard (Delaney Bramlet, Tanya Tucker, Clint Black, Jerry Garcia) on violin, Gary Potterton (NRPS, Texas Chainsaw) on guitar and dobro, Tim Eschliman (Etta James, The Blues Project, Commander Cody & His Western Airmen, Jesse Colin Young, The Christmas Jug Band) on vocals & resonator guitar, Bowen Brown (John Lee Hooker, Tommy Castro, Rhythmtown-Jive) on drums, Beau Beaullieu (California Honeydrops, Gator Beat) on bass plus special guest Kathy Kennedy (Big Bang Beat, Smokey Robinson) on vocals and Mingo Lewis Jr (Vinyl) on percussion.

This year we have just now released our 2nd American Roots Album, "Stories In The Heart" and are starting url our new release tour.
listen now!: https://orcd.co/5xga7nr
Single out now too, "Ever Think About It:" https://orcd.co/qo5579q

Review from NRN, New Releases Now: https://www.newreleasesnow.com/album/back-porchestra-stories-in-the-heart
Vince's Hot Picks (Best of 2026): Back Porchestra returns with Stories In The Heart, a warm, mostly unplugged roots record that blends country blues, New Orleans swing, Tex-Mex, and soul.

"San Francisco roots collective Back Porchestra returns with Stories In The Heart, a warm, road-worn album that leans into rich acoustic tones while freely bending genres without ever breaking the feel. Built around a mostly unplugged framework, the record draws from country blues, roots rock, Zydeco, Tex-Mex, New Orleans rhythms, Motown soul, singer-songwriter traditions, and even Brazilian textures, all woven together with an easy confidence that sounds earned, not assembled.

At the core is Tim Eschliman, whose seasoned vocals and resonator guitar bring gravity and grit shaped by years sharing stages with artists like Etta James and Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. He’s surrounded by a Bay Area roots dream team: Bowen Brown on drums, Candy Girard on violin, Beau Beaullieu on bass, and Gary Potterton on guitar and dobro. Together, they give Stories In The Heart its loose swing and lived-in chemistry, favoring feel over flash and letting the songs unfold naturally.

The album’s extended cast adds even more depth. Guest vocals from Kathy Kennedy bring a touch of classic soul lineage tied to Smokey Robinson, while percussionist Vicki Randle, known for her work with Jay Leno’s Tonight Show band, adds subtle rhythmic color. Piano from the late Austin de Lone and additional percussion from Mingo Lewis Jr. round out a sound that feels expansive without ever getting crowded.

What sets Stories In The Heart apart is its sense of balance. Resonator guitar, violin, bass, drums, percussion, dobro, and Telecaster create a flexible, roots-forward palette that allows Back Porchestra to move between styles fluidly. The songs echo traditions without reenacting them, keeping one foot in the past and the other firmly planted in the present.

As Americana Highway’s Jeff Burger observed, Back Porchestra evokes artists across decades and genres, sharing DNA with bands like Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks and Asleep at the Wheel. With Stories In The Heart, they prove that roots music still thrives when it stays curious, collaborative, and grounded in the simple power of great players trusting the song."

Our last album, "Voices In My Head (Genre Whiplash)" made the Top 100 Albums of 2022 at Alt.Country Specialty Chart ..choose your music service: https://orcd.co/dw640r4

"It's one fine album" - Ben Fong-Torres (Rolling Stone, Almost Famous)

"...everything from alt. rock to cajun, to country, to Brownie Ford era Western Swing. But the thing that keeps this set together is their excellent songwriting full of smooth never-miss-a-beat lines and vivid imagery. It's a studio album but it sure does have a back porch jam band feel to it" - Calvin Powers, WHUP-FM, americanamusicshow.com,

more at... https://www.BackpOrchEstra.com

BandCamp: https://backporchestra.bandcamp.com

youTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOTwG2XEiO2O8c0dEI-7hlpI8nr7apiNf (full playlist)

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/backporchestra.bsky.social

Reverb Nation: https://www.reverbnation.com/backporchestra

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BackPorchEstra/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/backporchestra/