Front Porch Blues
Joe Hastings
Billy Boy Somers
Front Porch Blues has enjoyed great success, playing at the establishments and festivals along the Treasure Coast of Florida. They topped it all off by winning the Treasure Coast Blues Society Regional IBC (International Blues Challenge) Challenge in September of 2019 and representing the TCBS on Beale Street in Memphis at the King's Palace in January of 2020. What an experience!
I’ve had an interest in all genres of music since I was very young. Blues, Motown, Big Band – 50’s, 60’s, 70’s Rock & Roll were big influences. I grew up in the Maryland/Wash D.C. area. My brother & I owned an architectural restoration company that we sold in 2007. Moved to FL in 2011 and hooked up with Billy in 2015 (a friend of 40 years). He’s been a blessing more than words could explain. Started playing the blues harmonica when I joined the Merchant Marines, played hand percussion (conga’s bongos djembe, cajon) in a Christian band at local Christian coffee houses in the late 90’s early 2000’s. I have a beautiful wife, 2 beautiful children & 2 grandchildren who love music as much as I do! I look forward to what God has in store for Front Porch Blues.
Thanks for visiting, Joe Hastings
After playing guitar in a band in the Washington D.C. area in the mid-60s, playing mostly “British Invasion” music, it was “basement jamming” into the early ’70s. The guitars were then packed away, not touched for 40+ years. I was consumed with my career as a home builder/designer/carpenter (and my passion for fishing!) in the historic Chesapeake Bay town of Reedville, VA. But I always knew after retirement that music would somehow again become my passion. Little did I know what was about to happen.
I moved to Florida in late 2011, dusted off my guitars, and in 2015, I started getting together weekly with Joe Hastings, who I have known for over 45 years. The music began sounding good, and in early 2017 we became the duo "Front Porch Blues".