The songs you know. The kind of show you remember.

I have a friend, a fellow musician, who is a fan of soft rock music. I was not—or at least I didn’t know yet that I was. He talked about this music often, and the truth is that myself and others would kid him in a good-natured way about the fact that he liked it. After all, we were ‘rock guys.’ In mid-2018 I became aware of the Yacht Rock radio station on SiriusXM, and out of curiosity I put that station on in my car. My expectation was that by listening to it, I would have further resolve and ammunition to poke fun at it, and my friend—but that’s not what happened.

About a month later I realized that the silly station was still on my radio. Not only that, during those weeks I had come to realize that these were really good songs. They were well crafted with good musicianship and great vocal harmonies—but above all, they made me feel good. I knew these songs; they were surprisingly familiar despite not having heard so many of them for decades. I knew the words, and as I already said—but it bears repeating—they made me feel good.

It occurred to me that many, many other people were feeling the same way about this music. They were rediscovering it, remembering how good the songs were, and in fact, this music even had its own dedicated and popular radio station to prove it. At this time, I was very actively performing live music in South Florida. Having performed more than 100 shows in the prior 12 months, I was aware of what music was being offered to the public and realized very quickly that no one was doing this—yet the audience existed in this region that I believed would appreciate and support it. And so this musical concept was born.

In late 2018 I created a plan and a song list and set out to gather the musicians and vocalists that would be able to passionately and accurately recreate this music. Having been very active in the music scene in the region for about 15 years, I knew lots of musicians, but this project required a special group. First, the vocals were critical. To deliver these songs accurately, they needed four-part harmonies—people who could not only sing lead vocals, but harmonize in a group. I needed several keyboards, saxophone, flute, a rock-steady drummer, and a versatile guitarist who was capable beyond question, but secure enough musically to be involved in a project that did not feature guitar playing.

Beyond all of that, I needed these musicians to buy into the concept and be willing to commit to months of rehearsals before we could go out and perform and earn. Finding professional working musicians who have the willingness and ability to do that is no easy task. It was an ambitious undertaking trying to assemble this group, and it did not happen quickly or easily. But after months of looking, meeting, auditioning, and waiting, the We Are YACHT ROCK crew finally came together. After lots of homework and rehearsals—and then more homework and more rehearsals—the band was performance-ready.

Now, nearly ten years later, We Are YACHT ROCK is among the longest-running yacht rock tributes in the entire country. With a wonderful group of dedicated and accomplished professional musicians who I am honored to work with, we pay tribute to this now-appreciated genre. The band’s reputation continues to grow as it maintains a busy performance schedule throughout Florida.

Tom Porter — YACHT ROCK Captain (& bass guitarist)