Grace Potter and the Nocturnals is a Vermont-based band that gained national attention with its last album,This Is Somewhere. They’re a neoclassic rock & roll band possessing bona fide chops, a natural sense of dynamics and a palate containing all the useful colors, and these qualities allow them to stretch out onstage, to riveting effect. Perhaps their greatest asset is the ability to transcend genres, never content to settle into one predefined sound. GPN were once the up-and-coming darlings of the modern jazz and blues scene, receiving incessant comparisons to Norah Jones and Lucinda Williams. Yet their magnetic live shows and dedication to the road earned the band a warm welcoming from the jam-band community, leading to two nominations at the 2006 Jammy’s. At the same time, This is Somewhere is a testament to the band’s true roots – pure rock music. The influence of predecessors The Band, The Rolling Stones, and Little Feat is clear. Still, GPN’s raw passion and uncompromising politics more directly evoke the memory of the great Neil Young & Crazy Horse, whose Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere served as one of the inspirations for the album title.
The lead vocalist is 25-year-old Grace Potter who attended St. Lawrence University for two years before heading off into the world of music. She plays the Hammond B3, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer Electric Piano, and electric and acoustic guitars. Also in the band are Scott Tournet (guitar/slide guitar/harmonica), and Matthew Burr (drums).Catherine Popper (Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Hem) is the band’s new bass player, replacing Bryan Dondero, while their friend and fellow Vermonter Benny Yurco, who also plays in Blues & Lasers, guitarist Scott Tournet’s experimental rock project, will be added as rhythm guitarist on all upcoming tour dates.
After completing work on their T Bone Burnett-produced third album for Ragged Company/Hollywood Records, which is now in its final stages, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will hit the road this summer with the new configuration.
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