Country Fried Rock 1509: M. Lockwood Porter From Oklahoma Roots to California Rock
Summary
In this episode from 2015, we sit down with M. Lockwood Porter to talk about his new album 27, which is set to release in the UK and Europe this coming spring. We get into the nuts and bolts of songwriting, and what it’s like juggling life as both a solo folk artist and a band member.
Porter shares stories from his journey, starting out in Oklahoma and later finding his voice in the Bay Area music scene. We also talk about the themes behind 27, especially the ups and downs of building a music career while navigating your late twenties.
He opens up about the creative collaborations that helped shape the album, and what it’s like to take those songs from the studio to the stage. It’s a thoughtful look at growth, change, and staying true to your voice as an artist.
What We Wrote in 2015
Max Porter performs as M. Lockwood Porter, in homage to his grandfather and to make it easier to find him on the Internet. Partly based on a childhood dream to leave Oklahoma and live in California, and partly pulled by his network of friends and musical colleagues, Porter claims both areas as home. His recent album, 27, honors Chris Bell of Big Star, and will be released in the UK and Europe late Spring 2015.
Show Notes
- Host Sloane Spencer welcomes singer-songwriter M. Lockwood Porter to chat about his latest album, 27, which is set for release in the UK and Europe this spring.
- Porter shares his journey from growing up in Oklahoma to finding his musical footing in the Bay Area, where he’s become part of a rich, supportive creative community.
- We explore how his musical style has evolved, from punk and hardcore roots to a more reflective, folk-inspired sound that still carries a raw edge.
- A big focus of 27 is the experience of being in your late twenties, the uncertainty, growth, and emotional weight that comes with that stage of life.
- Porter talks about how his songs shift from studio versions to live performances, often reworking full-band tracks into solo sets while keeping their emotional impact intact.
- He opens up about the meaning behind his professional name, which honors his grandfather, Marcus Lockwood Porter, a touching nod to his family and its influence on his art.
- The conversation also dives into what it’s like to be an independent artist today, including the importance of maintaining a strong online presence and carving out a recognizable identity.
- As the episode wraps up, Porter reflects on the upcoming European release of 27, sharing both excitement and gratitude for the growing support he’s received from fans back home and abroad.
This episode is a thoughtful look at artistic growth, the personal stories that fuel creativity, and the balancing act of making meaningful music in a fast-paced world.
Links
- M. Lockwood Porter
- M. Lockwood Porter on Bandcamp
- Black Mesa Records
- You may also like our conversation with Andy Gabbard
- After you buy music or see a show, we would love your support with a few dollars in our Tip Jar
- Sloane Spencer now hosts a Gen X sleep podcast, Sleep with Rock Stars
Takeaways
- We dive into M. Lockwood Porter’s musical journey: from his early days in Oklahoma to finding his creative stride in California.
- He gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his new album, 27, and what inspired the songs.
- Porter shares the story behind his name, how adopting “M. Lockwood Porter” is a personal tribute to his grandfather.
- He talks about how life in California, and the music scene there, has shaped his sound and sparked new collaborations.
- We explore what it’s been like for him to shift from full-band performances to more stripped-down, solo acoustic sets.
Throughout the conversation, Porter opens up about the themes that run through his music, especially the reflections and realities of life in your late twenties.
Mentioned in this Episode
- M. Lockwood Porter
- John Calvin Abney
- Hidden Trail Records
- Black Mesa Records
- Big Star
- Wilco
- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
- Grateful Dead
- Drivin n Cryin
Recommended If You Like
Country Fried Rock, M. Lockwood Porter, 27 album, Oklahoma musician, Bay Area music scene, indie rock podcast, solo folk troubadour, touring with a band, singer-songwriter interviews, rock music storytelling, music career challenges, mental health in music, songwriting process, live performance adaptations, Hidden Trail Records, Black Mesa Records, music industry insights, acoustic rock transformations, contemporary folk music, West Coast music tours
Transcript
Welcome to Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Sloan Spencer.
Speaker A:This week I'm talking with M. Lockwood Porter.
Speaker A:Originally from Oklahoma, but in the Bay Area of California for the last several years.
Speaker A:Porter's recent album, 27, is getting ready for a UK and European release this spring.
Speaker A:We talk about writing a rock record and touring both with a band and as a solo folk troubadour.
Speaker A:The songs work either way.
Speaker A:We'll find out more from M. Lockwood Porter today on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:My guest today on Country Fried Rock is Max Porter, known professionally as M. Lockwood Porter.
Speaker A:Hey.
Speaker B:Hey.
Speaker B:How's it going?
Speaker A:So tell me how the name thing came around.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:When I was getting ready to put out my first solo record, I started thinking about what I was going to call it, whether I was going to use my own name or some variation on that.
Speaker B:And right around that time, my grandfather on my father's side passed away at the age of 99, and his name was Marcus Lockwood Porter.
Speaker B:My name is Max Lockwood Porter.
Speaker B:And in his professional life, he always went by M. Lockwood Porter.
Speaker B:So kind of as a tribute to him, I took on that moniker.
Speaker B:Also, it helps that it's easier to Google and find a domain name for that than for Max Porter on its own.
Speaker B:So that became the name.
Speaker A:What a great tribute to him.
Speaker A:And wow, 99.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you're totally right about both Googling and getting a website.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Unfortunately, it seems like that becomes more and more of a concern these days.
Speaker B:So you see a lot of singer songwriters out there with three names, and I sort of think that might be have something to do with it that confuses some people.
Speaker B:Sometimes I think, you know, Max is my name and that's how I like people to refer to me.
Speaker B:Pretty casual.
Speaker B:It's sort of like IM Lockwood Porter is the name of my band.
Speaker B:My name is Max.
Speaker A:Where are you from originally then?
Speaker B:Yeah, I grew up in a small town near Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I lived there till I was 17.
Speaker B:And once I graduated from high school, I moved away.
Speaker B:And now I live in Berkeley, California, in the San Francisco area.
Speaker B:I've been here for about six years.
Speaker B:It's pretty cool.
Speaker B:Like, growing up, I always kind of idealized California.
Speaker B:I'd never really been out here most of my childhood, but I always kind of had this childhood dream of living out in California.
Speaker B:Now I'm out here and it's great.
Speaker B:The world seems so small when you're talking about music because everyone's on tour and everyone's playing at the same Venues, you know, you end up sharing a bill with one person and they know someone else, and it's just kind of this whole pretty small world where everyone knows each other.
Speaker A:You've been in California now for a while, so that's kind of your home base.
Speaker A:What developed for you musically in California?
Speaker B:Well, I've been playing music since I was really young, like 12 or 13.
Speaker B:And I actually kind of came up playing in, like, punk and hardcore bands in the Tulsa area.
Speaker B:And that's actually how I first met John Moreland, who's also been on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker B:I met him when I was, like, 13 or 14 years old, and we stayed in touch since then.
Speaker B:So that's really where I first started playing music.
Speaker B:And then as I moved around, like, in my late teens and twenties, I kept playing music.
Speaker B:After I graduated from college, I moved out here and was just playing music like I always have.
Speaker B:But I started taking my own solo project more seriously in the last three years or so.
Speaker B:And it's just been, you know, I started out playing my first solo gigs out here, met people in the scene out here, but then also because, you know, I knew people from Oklahoma when I was growing up, they were kind of following my stuff as well.
Speaker B:So it's almost like I have kind of two home bases, one out here in California and the other one back in Oklahoma, just because I have so many music contacts from when I was, you know, a teenager playing in bands out there.
Speaker A:Hey, y', all, this is Sloane Spencer, the host of Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:We've had an incredible year with more people finding us on the radio and our podcast than we ever imagined.
Speaker A:Thank you all so much.
Speaker A:Careful what you wish for.
Speaker A:You just might get it.
Speaker B:Hey, this is Max Porter from in Lockwood Porter, and you're listening to Country Fried Rock.
Speaker B:I was just on tour with a friend of mine, John Calvin Abney.
Speaker B:He and I played some shows in Oklahoma, and I have just as many fans out there as I do here in California.
Speaker B:So it's pretty nice to be able to feel like you can be on tour but still have a quote, hometown show, unquote.
Speaker B:Where else?
Speaker A:Well, so you said that you've been kind of focused on your solo thing for about three years.
Speaker A:What was that transition like?
Speaker B:I've always been writing songs ever since I was in my first bands, but I always kind of saw myself more as a.
Speaker B:As a lead guitar player, and I was playing lead guitar and just a bunch of different bands out here in California and just writing my own stuff on the side.
Speaker B:And then a friend of mine named Peter, he was playing drums in a band I was playing guitar in, and he's also a recording engineer, and he was just getting his start about three years ago.
Speaker B:And I had a bunch of songs, a big backlog of songs that I hadn't done anything with.
Speaker B:And one day I was just like, hey, Peter, we should record these.
Speaker B:We should make, like an ep.
Speaker B:And then that EP turned into a full length album.
Speaker B:And then I was like, well, now I have an album.
Speaker B:I should start playing shows and then start playing shows and just kind of snowballed from there.
Speaker B:And what started out as sort of this lark turned into my main.
Speaker B:My main project.
Speaker A:The first time through there, it was album, then playing out.
Speaker A:And so what changed for you as you moved into what now is 27, that first album?
Speaker B:First of all, some of the songs were like five years old at the time that we were recording that album, and some were brand new.
Speaker B:It kind of spanned this big period of my life, where I was coming from, and it was almost kind of like a studio creation.
Speaker B:It was mainly me and my friend Peter recording all the parts.
Speaker B:And we'd have some friends come in and do, you know, do some parts here and there.
Speaker B:But it was mainly just the two of us kind of going crazy in the studio and just figuring out what we could do just on our own.
Speaker B:And then I started playing gigs and I put a band together out here and I started writing new material almost as soon as that first record, Jude Is Gone, came out.
Speaker B:And then I just got excited about the new group of songs, and I got excited about the band I was playing with and just started thinking, like, I really want people to hear this version of my sound.
Speaker B:And so I turned around and pretty quickly put out a second record.
Speaker B: out Judah's Gone in summer of: Speaker B:So it happened pretty fast.
Speaker B:It was mainly just I was so excited about the way that this band was sounding and the new songs were sounding.
Speaker A:So you used some of the same players then when you recorded?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:It was pretty much as close to live as you can get.
Speaker B:Still doing some overdubs.
Speaker B:I played guitar, and my friend Peter played drums.
Speaker B:My roommate Bevan played bass, and a guy named Jeff that started playing with us plays keyboards.
Speaker B:And then I did some guitar overdubs.
Speaker B:And my friend Jules did some pedal steel and some guitars as well.
Speaker A:Hey, y', all, this is Sloan Spencer, the host of Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:Those of y' all who Listen on our podcasts.
Speaker A:It's a quick hit of just the conversation.
Speaker A:If you want the full radio program with all the songs that we talk about, ask for it on your local radio station, joining 20 other stations across the country.
Speaker A:Get the goods at country fried rock dot org.
Speaker B:Hey, this is Max Porter.
Speaker B:My website is mlockwoodporter.com and you're listening to Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:And so then, now that it's been out for a few months, what is changing for those songs?
Speaker B:Those songs, I went out on the road with pretty much the full band right after the album came out.
Speaker B:Whenever you go out on the road, the songs just get tighter and they kind of change a little bit.
Speaker B:And then I just came off of a three week solo tour with my friend John Calvin Abney, and I was adapting these songs that I wrote with a band to a solo setting.
Speaker B:And a lot of them really changed when I started playing out more solo and some of them turned into small acoustic, folky songs.
Speaker B:And I've really kind of learned how to take those rock songs and put them in that format as well.
Speaker B:So it always seems like I write the album first and then when I start playing live, the songs change.
Speaker B:But it's kind of fun that way.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:Well, yeah, because on the album I would say half the songs at least are.
Speaker A:I would say, are rock songs.
Speaker B:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker B:That was kind of how how I envisioned that album is.
Speaker B:You know, I wanted it to sound like, I mean, some of my favorite artists are like Bruce Springsteen with, with the E Street Band and that big sound, or like Wilco with all their kind of like crazy experiments and arrangements and stuff.
Speaker B:And I wanted to play around with some of that stuff.
Speaker A:Well, all right.
Speaker A:Normally I ask this towards the end, but on yours, it's noted.
Speaker A:Tell me about the art of the album.
Speaker B:My best friend since I was five years old is a guy named Joe Casey.
Speaker B:And we grew up together in this town called Skiatook, which is north of Tulsa.
Speaker B:Really small town.
Speaker B:I moved out here to the San Francisco area about six years ago and about three years ago he moved out here and we ended up living together.
Speaker B:So we've been best friends since we were five and we, we still live together out here in California.
Speaker B:And he's a graphic designer, so he's done all my design for everything that I put out.
Speaker B:And so it's, it's just really casual.
Speaker B:I really respect him as an artist and designer.
Speaker B:We just, you know, we'll just get together whenever I'm working on something and like, have a few beers and talk it over, and I'll play him some of the songs and.
Speaker B:And he'll come up with an idea and we'll just kind of run with it.
Speaker B:So for the art for 27, I had already recorded the whole album.
Speaker B:I was listening to it all the way through.
Speaker B:And whenever I'm naming something, I'm trying to think of common themes and something that's gonna tie it all together.
Speaker B:And I had just turned 27, and I have a song on the album called Chris Bell, which is about Chris Bell, who was a member of the band Big Star, one of my favorite bands.
Speaker B:And he died at the age of 27, like so many rock and rollers did, under pretty tragic circumstances.
Speaker B:And there's a lot of songs on the album about how hard it is to try to get music career off the ground and also just dealing with what life is like in your late 20s.
Speaker B:So I thought 27.
Speaker B:It kind of like came to me in a flash that 27 would be a great unifying title for the album.
Speaker B:When I mentioned that to Joe, he started playing around with it.
Speaker B:We tried, like, using A portrait as the COVID We tried a bunch of different things.
Speaker B:And then one day he just really suddenly had this idea, scrapped everything we'd been working on and just had this idea for a neon sign as the COVID 27, because it's so simple.
Speaker B:It's kind of also harkens back to the first Big Star record because they have that neon sign on the number one record record.
Speaker B:And it just worked, you know, Looked great when he put it together and showed it to me, and it's eye catching.
Speaker B:And so we rolled with it.
Speaker B:And I love the Replacements and I love that song, Alex Chilton.
Speaker B:That song kind of was what sparked the idea for writing the song Chris Bell, because I was like, there's a song about Alex Chilton.
Speaker B:But Chris Bell was also really important to the songwriting and production of that first record, and he should get some credit, too.
Speaker B:A part of it was that that documentary came out.
Speaker B:You know, when I saw that, I was just so moved by seeing all the footage of his siblings talking about him and just the way that everyone talked about him.
Speaker B:Both was inspiring and kind of broke my heart.
Speaker B:I mean, those songs that he sings on are so incredible, and they touched me so much when I first got into Big Star.
Speaker B:But honestly, to tell you the truth, I didn't realize those were Chris Bell's songs and not Alex Chilton's songs until much, much later.
Speaker B:That was kind of what got me thinking that, like, really, someone should do something to make sure people know that he had a lot to do with Big Star too.
Speaker B:When that first Big Star record came out, all the reviews, you know, all the press talked about Alex Chilton as being the main genius behind the band.
Speaker B:And I think that's part of what drove Chris Bell into the sort of depression and funk that he went into after that.
Speaker A:Longtime listeners know that we have a ongoing commitment to a musician's mental health center and suicide prevention program called Nucci's Space in Athens, Georgia.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Sloan Spencer.
Speaker A:You can keep in touch with us on Facebook, but I really like Twitter, where we are at country fried rock ending with R O K. And if you want to see pictures of my shoes, my dog and my lunch, stop by Instagram.
Speaker A:But whatever way you like to hang out, stop by and say, hey, this.
Speaker B:Is M. Lockwood Porter.
Speaker B:My new record is called 27 and you can get a copy at black mesarecords.com in the recording.
Speaker A:What led to you, the studio, and how did those kind of decisions do develop 427?
Speaker B:The band I put together, we just.
Speaker B:We started playing out more and we were playing around San Francisco and we did a few short runs up and down the west coast and it was just gelling really well.
Speaker B:And I was writing a bunch of new songs and we just, you know, we had enough songs to start thinking about making a new album.
Speaker B:My drummer, Peter, is also a recording engineer and he was working at a few studios in San Francisco.
Speaker B:And one of the studios he was working at was a place called Hyde street, used to be called Wally Hyder Studios.
Speaker B:And that's actually where Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young did a lot of stuff on Deja Vu.
Speaker B:And Credence did a bunch of stuff there.
Speaker B:The Grateful Dead did American Beauty there.
Speaker B:I mean, it's just a really awesome place.
Speaker B:And I'd been in there before with Peter when he was working on other stuff.
Speaker B:And, you know, it's just like a tiny little studio.
Speaker B:It's not anything really fancy or expensive or anything.
Speaker B:It's just like a really cool little studio with a great sound.
Speaker B:And he was already working there, and so we decided to track it there.
Speaker B:Just everything we played in that room just ended up sounding classic, you know, as soon as we listened to the rough mixes, it just came together really easily and really fast compared to other recording projects I've done.
Speaker B:It was very low key, very casual, and came out sounding great, I think.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Okay, so this is the Same Peter that you worked with before?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:His name is Peter Laberton and he's one of my best friends.
Speaker B:He's one of the best drummers I've ever played with and he's a great engineer and.
Speaker B:And he's my roommate too, so it's pretty handy for me.
Speaker B:I can just like write a song and then like, go down in our basement where we have a practice space and play for a little bit and figure it out and then be like, okay, let's record something nice to have.
Speaker A:That available to you.
Speaker B:Yeah, I recommend it to any burgeoning singer songwriters out there.
Speaker B:Just get a friend that can do everything you can't do and make sure.
Speaker A:One of the guys in the band is also a mechanic and then you're set.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:Maybe if you had someone who also was like a tax attorney.
Speaker A:So the new supergroup for independent musicians, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you all are still working in your own roles as producers?
Speaker B:Yeah, it was pretty collaborative, especially between me and Peter and then the other guys in the band were, you know, were there the whole time and were suggesting arrangement ideas and production ideas.
Speaker B:So it was pretty collaborative.
Speaker B:I mean, it is, you know, my name on the project.
Speaker B:So ultimately I have the final say, but it was just a bunch of friends getting together and playing some songs.
Speaker A:Where did you mix it?
Speaker B:We actually mixed it our house.
Speaker B:At the house.
Speaker B:I live in Berkeley.
Speaker B:We have a rehearsal space set up in our basement and then there's a little side room where Peter has his computer and does all the mixing.
Speaker B:It was kind of a mix of hi fi production at this legendary studio mixed with some home recording and home mixing.
Speaker A:You did the big tour with the band, then you did a run by yourself.
Speaker A:But you've got other stuff coming up too.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, I'm taking a little bit of a break.
Speaker B:I'm actually writing a bunch of new material.
Speaker B:I don't know exactly.
Speaker B:I don't have a plan for how I'm going to release it, but after that tour I did with John Calvin Abney solo, I wrote some stuff on the road and then I got a bunch of ideas.
Speaker B:I'm kind of holding up to work on new material right now, but I have some west coast dates coming up with the band.
Speaker B:I'm roughly planning on doing some touring in the summer, in the fall, but I am just starting to book that stuff.
Speaker B:Oh, and also a label based out of the UK called Hidden Trail Records is re releasing 27 in the UK in Europe on April 24, I believe.
Speaker B:So that's another thing that I'm pretty pumped about because I've never had anything released over there before.
Speaker A:We have fantastic audiences in the UK and the rest of Europe for this show, so yay.
Speaker A:Glad to hear that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker A:So how did that relationship come about?
Speaker B:Well, so Hidden Trail is pretty indie label based out of Brighton, and one of the guys that runs it is a guy named Jeremy, and he also writes for a blog called Some Of It Is True.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, that blog reviewed my first record, Jude is Gone.
Speaker B:When I was getting ready to put out 27, I contacted everyone that had written about my first record, including Jeremy.
Speaker B:And we talked back and forth in the period between when I put out Jude Is Gone and when I put out 27.
Speaker B:Anyway, so we kind of had a.
Speaker B:Had a relationship.
Speaker B:We had already started and I was just like, I'm putting out this new record.
Speaker B:I'm interested in figuring out how to get more people in the UK and Europe to hear it.
Speaker B:I was wondering if you had any ideas.
Speaker B:And Jeremy, he responded.
Speaker B:He's like, well, I have this one idea.
Speaker B:I have a record labeled I really like the record.
Speaker B:Maybe maybe we could work together to put it out.
Speaker B:That's how it started.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Another friend of mine from Oklahoma that now lives out in California decided to start a record label to put 27 out on vinyl.
Speaker B:So the record label is called Black Mesa Record.
Speaker B:We did it on like translucent blue vinyl.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that's.
Speaker B:That's available.
Speaker A:What Wilco record.
Speaker B:Ooh.
Speaker B:I like a lot of them for different reasons.
Speaker B:Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is probably the best Wilco record, but I have a soft spot for being there.
Speaker A:Max Porter, AKA M. Lockwood Porter, thank you so much.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Safe travels.
Speaker A:Take care.
Speaker B:Thanks a lot.
Speaker A:Bye bye.
Speaker A: untryFriendRock.org Copyright: Speaker A:All rights reserved.
Speaker A: Our: Speaker A:Got a great band you want to hear on Country Fried Rock?
Speaker A:The best thing to do is tweet us at Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:That's Country Fried R O K. You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on itunes.
Speaker A:Just search Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:Country Fried Rock radio programs are distributed to public radio through the public radio exchange prx.
Speaker A:Org.
Speaker A:Our Country Fried Rock stinger is from Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts.
Speaker A:Ever he been helping us some Country Fried Rock.
