NC TOUR DATES Oct. 16: Asheville Oct. 17: Charlotte
by Clay Howard
In the music business, back in the Golden Era, there existed a working business model: Release a record and tour incessantly to promote it; get on festival bills; get opening slots on big tours; pick up gigs on days off, anything it takes.
Just work your ass off and promote the music you love enough to put on wax. This old model is making a comeback in today’s broken music industry.
Last December, I took my wife to Asheville to the 20 th annual Warren Haynes Xmas Jam. I was going to see Jackson Browne and Peter Frampton and really could care less who else was on the bill… little did I know. The first band to hit the stage was Grace Potter & the Nocturnals.
From the first song I was hooked. Young, eager and honestly thrilled to be playing, the four-piece band fronted by 24-year-old vocalist/guitarist/organist Grace Potter worked the old model on me. I was on iTunes the next day, buying their latest release, This is Somewhere.
Sure, Frampton was great. And Jackson Browne was… well, Jackson Browne. But the first act on the bill, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, are the band that hooked me. This is Somewhere has been the most played album in my music library this year, filled with rock anthems and introspective ballads both. Potter’s vocals, which have been compared to Bonnie Raitt, have that earthy realism absent in the majority of today’s music.
Clay Howard: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. Grace Potter: Oh, of course, absolutely.
CH:I have to tell you, in preparing for this interview, I realized that your CD, This is Somewhere, was played more than any other music in my iTunes library this past year. GP: Really, that is awesome. I love hearing that stuff.
CH: The songs on this CD show a maturity that certainly belies your age. “Big White Gates” with its story of redemption, and “Ah Mary,” with its obvious political statements are great bookends for the CD. From what well do you draw the inspiration for songs such as these? GP: Those songs fell out of me. There are songs that come, and when they hit you, they hit you hard. And my goal as a songwriter is to bring somebody into a world.
People listen to music to escape, or to augment and bring more meaning to their lives, so even when you are dealing with death or politics, you should do it with a smile on your face. For the song “Big White gate” in particular, I was taking experiences and a rich life history that my grandmother had. At the time of her passing, she was doing a lot of reflecting. She didn’t actually live the life I wrote for her, but I felt that her soul and her spirit deserved a fantastical story. So I gave her one. CH: The thing that drew me in to this CD was the fact that this is just a great rock record. It doesn’t seem that you were trying to fill a niche, but were just writing the tunes that you needed to write at that time. Much like the great records I grew up listening to: a cohesive body of work, a powerful collection of songs, regardless of style.
Take Zeppelin III for example: totally a left turn from their second album, but somehow cohesive and the right thing for them to do. Same kind of feeling with This is Somewhere.
GP: Thank you so much. I have to say, we did listen to Led Zeppelin while we were making the record, and that album was something that we referred to, to try and get some of the sounds we were getting, or working with the engineer to try and get a certain tone, we would refer to Zeppelin III quite a lot. CH: The music on your latest CD definitely shows inspiration from those classic albums of the seventies,
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Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
