The road takes Grace Potter to Indian Ranch to 'share the love'
Three-time Grammy-nominated rock 'n' roll songwriter, vocalist and instrumentalist Grace Potter is back living in her native state of Vermont after being in California, and has a number of upcoming New England tour dates including a visit to Indian Ranch in Webster on August 4.
"There's something about the energy of New England. It seems like the right time to bring it back home and share the love," Potter said during a recent telephone interview.
Her latest album, "Mother Road," features Potter singing with plenty of characteristic loving verve. She has been described by SPIN as having "one of the best living voices in rock today."
As she the road takes her to such places as South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset (July 31), BankNH Pavilion in Gilford, New Hampshire (Aug. 1, 2 and 3), Indian Ranch (Aug. 4), and Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis (Aug. 6), Potter, 41, now has a large number of songs she can now draw on.
'They're early reflections of who I've become'
"Mother Road," released in 2023, is her fifth studio solo album, and she also has four studio albums with her former band Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.
Potter said she'll mix old and new material at Indian Ranch, but there are certain recognizable sign posts in the songs of then and now.
"It's been been cool to go back to my catalogue. They're early reflections of who I've become," she said.
A song "Deliverance Road," written when Potter was 17, has the traveler's emotion, as the lyrics state, of being "headed down to where nobody knows me." The traveler sees and hears characters and relates her story.
"Mother Road" came out of a solo road trip Potter took in 2021 on Route 66 when she felt the need to get away from an emotional crisis. She had suffered a miscarriage and was hit by depression, compounded by the Covid pandemic.
She took a total of three cross-country solo road trips and one with her family (husband Eric Valentine and their young son) as part of a relocation from California back to Vermont. The title track which opens the album has the emotion of “wherever I’m headed don’t let it be down." The album has characters and stories and a feeling of catharsis.
Potter noted that a lot of her projections, especially of traveling hopefully in songs such as "Deliverance Road," have come true, "whether it was intended or not, I don't know .. They've really taken shape and feel very connected to my new self," she said. "I was always in the place — am I going to discover anything new in my journey either by traveling or running away?"
"Mother Road" is named from a line from John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" in which he refers to Route 66 the “the mother of all roads ... the road of flight.”
'My God, we had fun'
The cross-country trips that led to "Mother Road" were "about reflection. Taking the time to understand everything in my life," Potter said. "It was important for me to take stock."
When she initially hit Route 66, which she had traveled before over the years, it was not with an over idea of gathering material for a new album, she said.
"If anything I was searching for a movie," she said.
"I wasn't sure what was going to come yet. Even if live music was a thing anymore." With COVID she felt "nothing is sure anymore."
However, she would jot down impressions and thoughts along the way on Route 66. And when she started writing the songs that would become the numbers on "Mother Road" the process was very quick, she said.
"When I got them down in song form it didn't take long at all."
The upbeat mood of "Mother Road" is probably encapsulated in the refrain to the song "Good Time" when Potter sings "you can't keep a good time down." The stories and characters include road warrior Lady Vagabond, and a hell raiser named Bridget.
Asked about the recording of the album, Potter said, "My God, we had fun." "Mother Road" was produced by Potter's husband and recorded at RCA’s studio A in Nashville and Topangadise in Topanga, California. Personnel included Benmont Tench (keyboards), Nick Bockrath (guitars), Tim Deaux (bass), Dan Kalisher (pedal steel) and Matt Musty (drums).
"It was so amazing to be with those friends who I trust so much," Potter said.
"Mother Road" could also become a movie. "The movie is all the characters in my songs," she said. She has recorded numbers that have been part of the soundtrack of television shows and movies. Potter has been building a soundtrack for a prospective movie version of "Mother Road" and taking meetings with film executives, she said. "It may just be an indie. I've been meeting with studios.'
As for appearing in the movie herself, she said "there's a character there that feels like me" but it is not a major character. "I think that's to be determined. I don't need to be in the movie."
Potter would be happy being part of a creative process and collaboration. "I like building content and handing it over to the wider community," she said.
She has collaborated on a number of different music ventures in the past. In 2016 her collaboration on the song "Wild Child" on Kenny Chesney's album "The Big Revival" received award nominations from the Academy of Country Music, CMT Music and the Country Music Association.
'Indian Ranch is going to be such fun'
Potter was born and grew up in rural Washington County in Vermont. Her parents had a collection of over 4,000 albums and she started playing the piano at the age of seven. She was performing locally by her late teens and while a student at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, met drummer Matt Burr. The two would go on to from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and the band received critical acclaim. Potter and Burr would later marry, but the band disbanded after their divorce.
Potter and Valentine lived in California and still have a home there. Regarding moving back to Vermont, Potter said "It's my home. I'm based in Vermont half of the year. This is where I really grew my foundation ... It's a really special place, especially in the summer."
As for being back on the road touring, "it really resonates with me," she said.
The Aug.4 show at Indian Ranch will be her first time there, but she was told that the audiences are enthusiastic.
"That's all you can ask for," she said. "Indian Ranch is going to be such fun."
Grace Potter
When: 1:30 p.m. Aug. 4 (doors open 12:30 p.m.)
Where: Indian Ranch, 200 Gore Road, Webster
How much: $45.50 to $69.50. indianranch.com
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: The road takes Grace Potter to Indian Ranch to 'share the love'
