Willy Porter and Carmen Nickerson will perform with Andy Goessling at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Bluestem stage. Tickets cost $20 and are available at the door and at Eventbrite.

Currently playing shows together, Porter and Nickerson are both known for their solo work as singer-songwriters.

Porter said their collaborations started about five years ago after a member from his band recommended that he look into singing with her. Porter said they have had on-stage chemistry together ever since.

“It just clicked instantly for us, so it’s been really fun, musically,” Porter said.

Porter believes their collaboration during performances on stage and when they write songs together is mutually beneficial. 

“We really push each other, and I think that’s really been the best part of it,” Porter said. “I come from this improvisational background, musically, and she has that. But she’s much more into structure and form, so she’s forcing me to be more consistent, and I’ve learned a ton from that process.”

The two have recently been working on an album that will include duets. The album’s release is scheduled for October. Porter said they are currently working on the final parts of the record’s production.

“The shift in the narrator’s voice when it’s a duet is something that’s both very powerful and can be really challenging,” Porter said. “To write a movie in three and half minutes is the challenge and that’s something we are both really up for.”

Porter explained what he hopes the night will bring and what type of feel he wants to give the audience.

“I think that our show is really all about hope and about people and their faith in each other and in themselves,” Porter said.

Folk musician Andy Goessling from the acoustic band Railroad Earth will headline with the duo. The group has been together since 2001 and has played at venues around the country, including the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo.  

While Goessling spends a lot of time touring and playing music with others, he also takes the stage as a solo act at a few shows during the year. 

“This is actually something new I’ve been doing,” Goessling said. “I’m really always playing in a band, so I’ve really been trying lately — the last couple of years — to do a bunch of the songs I never really get a chance to play.”

Along with his original music, Goessling also plans on playing covers of songs. He said a lot of the influences for his music came from songs he heard growing up, specifically the type of artists his older brother listened to. 

“[My brother] listened to a real wide variety of stuff that I got a chance to listen to,” Goessling said. “I heard a lot of early ’60s rock ‘n’ roll and English folk music, things like Jethro Tull and a band called The Incredible String Band.” 

Goessling is a man of many instruments and said he knows how to play about 30 instruments. These range from stringed instruments such as the banjo and mandolin all the way to woodwinds such as the saxophone and flute.

He hopes to showcase some of the instruments he’s been playing for most of his life during the upcoming concert, including a German-stringed instrument called the zither. 

“One of the first instruments I played, because my Mom had one in the attic, is the zither, and the other one I started in school was the clarinet,” Goessling said.

Goessling will also play with Porter and Nickerson. This will be their second collaboration together, with the first taking place last year at Bluestem, Goessling said. 

Goessling explained that Porter and Nickerson’s music fit well with his style, and he thinks the three will collaborate just as well during this year’s show.

“[Porter’s] originals worked really well with my style,” Goessling said. “Whatever he pulls out I’m sure it’s [going to] be good in context for the both of us.” 

Like Porter, Goessling also has high hopes for this show. He wants to give the audience something special by showing them new types of music they may not have heard before. 

“I guess really it’s the opportunity to expose them to some new stuff.” Goessling said. “I’m just hoping they get a chance to listen to some of the influences I have and that it gives them a chance to listen to some new music when they go home.”

Visit the Bluestem site to find out more about the show.