Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

Singer, songwriter, and Hammond B-3 player Grace Potter grew up in Waitsfield, VT, where she began playing piano at the age of seven, and informed by her parents' extensive collection of some 4,000 LPs, she was gigging out locally by her late teens. She met drummer Matt Burr at an open mic session while both were attending St. Lawrence University in upstate New York in 2002, and the two formed Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. The band, now a trio with the addition of Scott Tournet on guitar, recorded its homemade debut album, Original Soul, in 2004 on their own newly created Ragged Company record label. Bassist Bryan Dondero joined just as the group began tracking a second homemade effort, Nothing But the Water, which was released in 2005. The album garnered a good deal of critical acclaim, thanks to its sturdy, throwback, and rootsy sound and Potter's impressive vocal work, which drew comparisons to everyone from Janis Joplin to Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams and Bonnie Raitt. Fiercely independent and in control of their own career, Potter and the band turned down several major-label offers before signing with Hollywood Records later in 2005. Hollywood reissued Nothing But the Water for wider distribution in 2006, and in 2007, in conjunction with Ragged Company, issued This Is Somewhere, which further refined the band's classic, organic sound. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide