This month's Musical Elective is Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.Now, it's not often that I get to trumpet a band that hails from my adopted hometown of Burlington, Vermont (I'm technically a flatlander, in Vermont idiom). Plus, in this case, I get to see them live in concert tonight in Madison, Wisconsin! (For DC-based readers of the blog, check them out at Night of The Living Zoo on October 29th!)
The band's music is a mix of blues and good old fashioned rock 'n' roll. Its web site describes the band this way: "Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are like a modern-day version of Tina Turner stroking the microphone in a spangled mini-dress while fronting the Rolling Stones circa Sticky Fingers." Rolling Stone magazine called them one of the best new bands of 2010 saying, "The group’s third disc ... finds a sweet spot between rowdy, blues-driven live sound and tight, classic-rock songcraft.”
Highlights from the self-titled new album include "Paris (Ooh La La)," "Tiny Light" and "Only Love." The band's sound is undoubtedly buttressed by the entrance of bassist Catherine Popper, formerly with Ryan Adams and the Cardinals.
Check out the official web site at www.gracepotter.com.