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XPN Welcomes Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Presented by Electric Factory at Electric Factory

September 23, 2011

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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-mike 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 its 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 rootsy sound and Potter's impressive vocal work, which drew comparisons to everyone from Janis Joplin to Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams, and Bonnie Raitt.