Monday, June 13, 2011

Saving Grace

Personally I feel music has hit a decline.  It isn't what it used to be.  In the days of the Baby Boomer's prime, music was more than just a song on the radio it was a lifestyle, a movement and it was thriving.  So these days I am always looking for a musical saving grace and it just so happens I found one in Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  The band has been around since 2004, but with their self titled release last year they really hit the mainstream and saved many of us from the radio dominating likes of Kesha and T. Swift.  The band is fronted by multi-instrumentalist Grace Potter who has the vibe of Grace Slick and soul filled vocals reminiscent of Ms. Joplin.  Scott Tournet plays slide AND harmonica so obviously he is oozing with the most cool points, but coming in a close second is (gasp!) a girl bass player?!??? Catherine Popper.  Benny Yurco rounds them out on electric and Matthew Burr, who founded the band with Potter, plays drums.  The album was originally set to be a collaboration with the great T-Bone Burnett (which we hope will still happen at some point), but was produced instead by Mark Batson who is known for his work with Dave Matthews Band.  Unlike DMB where every song tends to sound the same, Batson was able to capture the many different sounds and styles of the group, here you get it all:  Blues, Rock and lots of Soul!  The second single off the album "Paris (Ooh La La)" starts the record off running and it just keeps getting better.


I recently caught a live performance of the group at this year's Bonnaroo courtesy of http://www.vevo.com/ which streamed live at the festival.  You can check out some of the footage by clicking HERE
 


Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Self Titled (Hollywood)
Release Date - June 8, 2010
Producer - Mark Batson