Saved by Grace ...

I love great music ... and a new generation of musicians is saving us from the rock and roll dark ages of the 80's and 90's. I discovered one of these saviours last night on the Sun Record Studios blog. Her name is Grace Potter, and she and her band, The Nocturnals, are reminding us what rock and roll really sounds like. Smokey, smouldering vocals, wild B3 chops, Rhodes rhythms, soul-searing song-writing ... and that's just Grace. Her band is equally amazing.

Check out Grace Potter and The Nocturnals on YouTube:

• Big White Gate, performed at the 8x10 Club in Baltimore.


• Nothing but the Water, performed at the Boston Music Awards.


• Here's another rockin' version of Nothing but the Water, performed at Wakarusa.

For their first two years, Grace and her band teamed up with friends to run their “Ragged Company” label from her dad’s old sign shop. In 2005, they joined forces with Justin Goldberg after reading his Ultimate Survival Guide for the New Music Industry: A Handbook for Hell. Following Goldberg's advice, Grace and her band turned down small-time record deals and instead toured incessantly to build their fan base. In 2007, they reached critical mass on the touring circuit and the major-label deals started coming in.

Their latest album, This Is Somewhere, is their long-awaited major label debut. It's worth the wait. But their previously-recorded material released on indie911.com is also groovin'.



Grace Potter and The Nocturnals have been opening for the Black Crowes on their Warpaint tour. The Black Crowes are here in Winnipeg on July 15. Grace isn't on the bill ... yet. But she's got an opening on that date.

Winnipeg needs Grace.