band - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals review of 'This Is Somewhere'

-Brock Garrison

4/29/08

So more than 99% of the time, I can easily say that I run as far away from my

girlfriend's musical tastes as possible. What is it with girls and all these folksy

singer/songwriter types? I don't get it...

And then there's that other 1%, when she has her head removed from her, well, you

know... And she stumbles upon something really good...

Thus, I must tell you about Grace Potter. I am not a female country singer fan. I can't stand Faith and Shania and all that pop crap. But I really love the rootsy ones, such as Kasey Chambers, Melissa Etheridge (not so much her songs, but I love her voice), and so on. To me, this is what real country music is. Oddly enough, this album is in the rock genre on Itunes.

Backed by an INCREDIBLE band, Grace ventures through southern rock, country, and a hint of jazz - all the while rocking harder than most hard rock bands, and belts out every note like a big, black gospel singer staring straight into the eyes of Satan.

These guys and gal sound road-tested and tight as hell.

I'm constantly reminded of the recent Dixie Chicks album, 'Taking The Long Way', and the way the band sounds so organic and seems to breathe. Yeah, I'm a Dixie Chicks fan... Listen to "Voice Inside My Head" from their album and you'll be hard-pressed to disagree with me. And hey, Chad Smith from the RHCP played on it...

In fact, I like them so much, that if anyone wants to start a Dixie Chicks cover band around Cape, I will sing. Think about that for a minute... You know it would be HUGE. But I digress....

As for some songs on Grace's record;

"Aint No Time" starts off with subtle, quiet guitar and piano interplay, and along comes her beautiful voice and the steady grooving kick drum, finally exploding at the beginning of the second verse into a full out rock song.

"Mr. Columbus" begins like a pop song, and quickly shifts into a great country verse, and ends in pure rock fury.

"If I Was From Paris" - This song messed me up. First I hear some french talk and weird echo techno crap and suddenly the "oohgod" riff from hell kicks in, very Lenny Kravitz meets Helmet... And then the outro jam... Holy Rage Against The Machine...Freaking Awesome....

And my favorite track on here is "Big White Gate", sung from the perspective of an 80 year old woman on her death bed, and what she'll do to get in heaven... It's this kind of song that should be winning grammy's.

Not Beyonce...

I highly recommend this album, you will dig it... It rocks!

And Ms. Potter ain't too bad on the eyes either :)

Brocktone, signing out....

www.myspace.com/gracepotterandthenocturnals

2007, Hollywood Records