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The siren of Windy City blues sings for herself first.

Wednesday Oct 10, 2007.     By Nola Akiwowo

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The wind pushes through 10 East Walton Street on Monday night, making its way down the set of stairs leading into the Underground Wonder Bar. This cozy hole in the ground hosts a few regulars watching a muted Cubs game and giving newcomers little more than a second's glance.

At 9:05 p.m., a petite woman walks in the door toting a guitar that seems as tall as she. "It's Jen Porter!" some guy sitting at the bar announces, and everyone turns to look her way. Most hoot and holler, despite the fact there's a live performance going on. She waves happily and disappears into the center of an ingratiating cluster of guests and cocktail servers. Ten minutes later, Guinness in tow and everyone greeted, this Chicago live music mainstay sits at a table with me as she and her fans await her weekly 10 o'clock show.

Seven years ago, the raspy-voiced redhead entered the city as a 25-year-old musician with some lofty aspirations. An Oak Park native, Jen Porter wanted to share her music with Chicago, but her University of Michigan studies and stints with Ann Arbor bands January's Loft and Sluice had left her somewhat out of the Chicago scene.

The classically trained piano player had already completed her first solo effort, 1999's Faces, as she pondered where to pursue her musical growth. New York could have hosted this artist with an earthy prowess akin to Janice Joplin's and whimsical lyrics comparable to Carly Simon's or Natalie Merchant's. But she wanted to live in a large city that fostered the creativity of its musicians and offered access to live venues. Chicago was an easy call.

"I knew more people in Chicago," she tells me between quick drags of her Nat Shermans, "and I felt this city offered more support altogether."

She led a duplicitous life for two years, paying the bills with an administrative nine-to-five gig at a downtown real estate firm, then mustering up the energy at night to play every venue she could get into. The staunch determination paid off, and in 2003 she was voted Best Local Musician by the Chicago Free Press.

Since then it's been quite the musical ride, as she plays originals and covers with her group, the Fabulous Trio, at local venues like the Underground Wonder Bar and The Cubby Bear. She can also be seen at Sluggers, fighting it out on a dueling piano. You may even spot her singing the national anthem at Sox games. Nationally, she's performed on the same stages as Michelle Shocked and The Chantels, and opened for Lifehouse at Greensboro's 2005 St. Patrick's Day Festival.

When she's not busy gigging, she's creating on her own terms. "Music is for me first. I'm writing because this is what I want to do," Porter says about songwriting.

She's admittedly a musician who enjoys taking her time with her compositions, letting the creative process come to her as it will. "The songs that fall out, those are the most popular," she notes. It's why fans may have to wait two or three years between original releases to take home an album.

Since arriving in Chicago, she's produced It's About Time (2002) and Moving On (2006). Both albums feature her bold treatment of blues and rock with some fun and thoughtful wordplay. The latter even includes production by Ed Toth, the drummer for the Doobie Brothers.

But sitting down and talking to her one and one, no one would ever get the sense she's let her home-grown fame go to head. That's why a strong following shows up each Monday night, martinis in hand, to hear her Fabulous Trio play some, well, fabulous tunes.

Jen Porter plays live every Monday night at the Underground Wonder Bar.