Grace Potter and The Nocturnals Update

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals:Grace Potter’s Top 10 Leggiest Looks

VH1 Divas performer and You Oughta Know artist Grace Potter  is a super talented, super hot rock star on the rise. Potter’s got pipes that’ve been compared to Janis Joplin, and her band Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were named one of Rolling Stone’s Best New Bands of 2010. Matching her powerful vocals is her magnetic stage presence, which can partially be attributed to her high hemlines and Heidi Klum-caliber gams. Here’s hoping the stems come out for Divas  on Sunday.

Prep for the show by taking a look at Grace Potter’s Top 10 Leggiest Looks.

Bands You Must See Live: Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

I saw Grace Potter & the Nocturnals almost by accident this year. They opened for the Avett Brothers at the Charlottesville Pavilion back on October 17th, in support of their self-titled album, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals (released June 08, 2010). I should have known the brothers would attract great talent to their tour, but none of us present, not the college kids, the hipsters, or the parents with their young and eager children, were ready for what Grace Potter and the Nocturnals unleashed upon us.

Grace Potter twirled onto the stage in a blur of gold sequined micro-dress, long legs, and guitars, singing like a fiery amalgam of Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, and Susan Tedeschi. Potter has an incredibly versatile range: she often channeled a rock banshee, with well-placed, melodic screams that sent chills through the crowd. She’s also a multi-instrumentalist, rocking out on the guitar and a Hammond B3 organ, among others.

I arrived in San Diego yesterday (after a long six hour flight), and I literally stepped into paradise! I’ve only been to California once before, but I cannot describe how gorgeous it is here. After getting over the initial shock of 75 degree weather, I headed to the Marine Air Corps Station, where VH1 Divas: Salute the Troops is being held. It’s such a cool venue–we’re surrounded by bright lights, jets, and lots of men (and women!) in uniform.

When I arrived, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals were rehearsing. I’m going to be honest here: I’d never listened to their music in my life. I was so impressed with Grace Potter’s vocals and performance that I immediately became a fan. I love seeing people live and falling in love with their music, and that’s definitely what happened here; I went back to my hotel room to google the band and catch up on everything I’ve missed. On their website, they say they are like “a modern-day version of Tina Turner stroking the microphone in a spangled mini-dress while fronting the Rolling Stones circa Sticky Fingers.” That description is pretty accurate, actually.

Someone tweeted that they’re excited for the rest of the world to see Grace Potter, and I definitely agree. Just as Florence and the Machine blew everyone away at the VMAs, I think the same will be true this time around with Grace Potter. Can’t wait for you guys to see their performance! Make sure you tune in Sunday at 9pm ET, but for now, watch this vid of “Paris (Ooh La La).”

Grace Potter song featured in new movie ‘Tangled’

Moviegoers may recognize a familiar Vermont voice at the theaters this holiday weekend. The new Disney 3-D animation “Tangled” got its theme song from Waitsfield rocker Grace Potter. The lead singer of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals tweaked one of her previous songs, recording “Something that I Want” for the film. She’s signed to Disney’s music label, Hollywood Records.

The comedy puts a new spin on the old story of Rapunzel, the princess with long-growing hair who’s trapped in a tower.

“I actually loved that story as a kid,” Potter said. “I had a dream of sort of [having] the Rapunzel hair, which I’m still working on. It’s getting pretty long!”

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals Grace Potter and The Nocturnals

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals is a Vermont-based band that blends funky blues, soul  and rock from the ’60s and early ’70s.[1][2]  Their recent self-titled studio album was released on June 8, 2010.[3]

Grace Potter Career

The lead vocalist is 27-year-old multi-instrumentalist Grace Potter, who attended St. Lawrence University for two years before pursuing music professionally. She plays the Hammond B3, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer Electric Piano and electric and acoustic guitars. The other members of the band are Scott Tournet, on guitars (including slide guitar) and harmonica, drummer Matthew Burr, Catherine Popper on bass guitar and vocals, and Benny Yurco on electric and vocals. Bryan Dondero played bass guitar, upright bass, and mandolin with the group until his departure in early 2009.[4]

The band was formed in late 2002 when Burr saw Potter performing folk songs in a student-run venue called “The Java Barn” on the St. Lawrence campus. Burr approached Potter about starting a band, citing James Brown and The Band as musical influences he heard in Potter’s voice and original songs. In the spring semester of 2003, Burr invited guitarist Tournet to join the group, cementing the founding members of the band that would become Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

The band has independently recorded and released one album, Nothing But the Water (2005). An older album, Original Soul (2004), was a solo release from Grace Potter. The band signed a deal with Hollywood Records in December 2005 and rereleased Nothing But the Water on May 23, 2006.[5]

In 2005, the band was nominated for two categories at the Boston Music Awards; “Best Local Female Artist” and “Best New Local Act”. They also performed at the awards ceremony.[6] In 2006, the band won the Jammy Award for “Best New Groove”[7] and was nominated for two more Boston Music Awards: Album Of The Year (major) for the re-release of Nothing But the Water, and Female Vocalist Of The Year (for front woman Grace Potter).[8] Potter, playing Hammond Organ and singing lead vocals along with guitarist Joe Satriani, Steve Kimock, Reed Mathis, Willy Waldman, and Stephen Perkins performed a cover of Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer”, at the Jammy Awards to a standing ovation at the Jammy Awards during the same appearance.[9]

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals

The band released its third album, This Is Somewhere, on August 7, 2007 on Hollywood Records and toured that fall supporting Gov’t Mule for its October and November North American tour.[10][11]

The song “Apologies” has been featured on the American television shows All My Children, Kyle XY, One Tree Hill, and Brothers & Sisters, and the song “Falling or Flying” was featured on the hit drama shows ER and Grey’s Anatomy and appeared on Volume 3 of the latter’s soundtrack.[citation needed]

The band supported The Black Crowes on their North American tour in the summer of 2008.

On August 2, 2007, the band made its network television debut on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This was followed by appearances on ABC’s Good Morning America on August 7, 2007[12][13] and CBS’ The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on August 10, 2007.

In 2008, the group opened for the Dave Matthews Band for three dates: a two-night stand at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, New York June 20–21, and June 24 at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts.[14] The band played a full set at the Mile High Music Festival on July 20.[15]

In November 2008, Bose began using “Ain’t No Time” in their North American iPod SoundDock sales displays.

Hollywood Records released the news on May 11, 2009 that T-Bone Burnett would be producing a new project with Potter, tentatively scheduled for fall of 2009,. The project was deemed as a solo collaboration and both Potter and Burnett spoke very highly of the project to the press. However by November 13, 2009, the band posted a new release date for the album, pushing it back to Spring 2010. Hollywood Records had apparently shelved the T-Bone Burnett album in favor of a true band album to be titled Grace Potter and the Nocturnals which was released June 8, 2010.[17] The 13 track album was produced by Mark Batson Mark Batson , with “Tiny Light” as the first single. The video for “Tiny Light” was shot in Los Angeles Los Angeles during February 2010 with director Paul Minor.[17]

During the 2009 Bonnaroo Music Festival, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, along with playing their own set, joined Gov’t Mule and moe. on stage for their shows. Potter and Tournet joined Gov’t Mule onstage, while with moe. they one-by-one replaced the band during moe.’s five hour set and played four of their own songs to be replaced back by moe in a musical collaboration lovingly known as “A Hostile Takeover”

In 2010, the band appeared on the soundtrack for Tim Burton’s feature film Alice in Wonderland with a live cover version of Jefferson Airplane’s song “White Rabbit”.

The band appeared at The Hangout Music Festival on May 15, 2010 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Grace Potter appeared as a guest on stage with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, singing vocals for “St. James Infirmary Blues” and joined Gov’t Mule on a cover of “Gold Dust Woman”.

In late May 2010, Vermont specialty chocolate maker Lake Champlain Chocolates created a new chocolate bar in conjunction with Grace Potter called Grace Potter Under Fire. The dark chocolate contains pistachios and red pepper flakes.

On the eve of their eponymous album release date, the band announced on Facebook and Twitter that they were going to perform a free concert on Burlington, Vermont’s Church Street Marketplace the following day. The hour-long concert attracted thousands of viewers and became a huge local media story. The band sold merchandise and hosted a meet and greet with fans for three hours following the concert.

The band released their fourth studio recording, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, on June 8, 2010. The album peaked at #6 on iTunes Top 100 album and #2 on iTunes Rock Albums Chart. The opening track, “Paris (Ooh La La)”, and iTunes bonus track “Fooling Myself” was in the Top 40 and Top 100, respectively, on iTunes Rock Songs Chart.

On July 19, 2010, as a launch to their second single from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the band premiered the video to Paris (Ooh La La) on Hulu.

“Something That I Want”, which was performed on One Tree Hill, will be featured during the closing credits of Disney’s 50th animated feature Tangled. The soundtrack was released on November 16, 2010.

Grace Potter Discography

* Nothing But the Water (2005)
* Live Oh Five (2005)
* This Is Somewhere (2007)
* Live In Skowhegan (2008)
* Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (2010)

Grace Potter Other songs

* Almost Alice (2010) “White Rabbit” (Jefferson Airplane cover)
Grace Potter Singles

* “Ah, Mary” (2007)
* “Apologies” (2007)
* “I Want Something That I Want” (2008)
* “Tiny Light” (2010)
* “Paris (Ooh La La)” (2010)

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