Grace Potter

Grace Potter possesses a big, passionate voice and a gift for wandering America’s musical landscape as if it were a private playground. A proud Vermont native born in 1983, the tenacious singer, organist, and guitarist rose to prominence as a member of the roots-rock outfit The Nocturnals, Potter’s full-time job from 2002 through 2014. Yet even back then, she possessed a fierce independent streak. Besides releasing two solo albums in the early 2000s, she collaborated with The Flaming Lips, Gov’t Mule, Walt Disney Pictures, and Kenny Chesney, with whom she notched two country hits: 2011’s “You and Tequila” and 2015’s “Wild Child.” The latter dropped the same year as her third solo album, Midnight, a glittery eruption of funk, rock, and disco worlds removed from Nashville’s twang. Potter wielded the element of surprise yet again on the deeply personal follow-up, Daylight. While the record’s earthy blend of gospel, Memphis horns, and Stones-y rock ’n’ roll echoes The Nocturnals, Potter finds new grains of pain and redemption in her sublimely rough-hewn voice—because that’s what great singers do: reinvent themselves.