Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - from ballads to jams

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have performed with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and the Dave Matthews Band. They have taken the stage at Bonnaroo and hosted the Grand Point North music festival in their hometown of Burlington, Vt.

The band's vocalist has shared the mic with Kenny Chesney and performed last month with Stevie Wonder at the Hollywood Bowl.

But it's family ties that bring the band to Norfolk.

Grace Potter's sister, Charlotte, recently was hired by the Chrysler Museum of Art to manage its new glass studio, scheduled to open Nov. 2.

"Charlotte is a phenomenal talent in and of herself," Potter said of her older sister. "I stomped my feet and insisted that we come do a show. We were supposed to have time off, but I'm dragging the band down there so I can see my sister."

Grace Potter is the middle of three children. Her brother, Lee, is a poet.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals released a self-titled album last summer, and their live shows have earned critical acclaim. Rolling Stone magazine even named them as one of the best new bands of 2010. The band will perform tonight at The NorVa in Norfolk.

"It's funny because it's come on so slowly," Potter said about the admiration during a call from Nashville, Tenn., where she waited to board a flight to perform at Lollapalooza later that week. "We take everything with a deep level of gratitude because we've worked so hard for this for so long."

The album is the band's third major label release and features the single "Paris (Ooh, La La)" along with 12 additional tracks through Hollywood Records. "We were so used to records coming and going. But now things are really churning up for us," she said.

Some describe Potter as having the sass of Tina Turner and the vocal stylings of Janis Joplin.

"They paved the way for women like me to be able to get out there and flail around," Potter said. "To be completely emotional, unbridled, unguarded and lay my whole soul bare onstage. And to feel like there is actually an audience for that - that there's actually a place where it will not only be accepted but respected and taken with the gravity that it deserves."

Potter acknowledged the comparisons as a compliment. But she wants to live by her own rules and inspire male musicians, too.

"I think that's the big thing in terms of female musicians - it sort of turns into a genre as opposed to musicianship. People think, 'Oh, you're a female singer.' So, what you have is your pile of male singers and your pile of female singers. Why is that?"

She'd like her stage performance to draw comparisons to the showmanship of Mick Jagger or Robert Plant. "I'm exploring that same androgyny while also embracing my own womanhood," Potter said.

The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin obviously influenced the singer, as did The Beatles, George Harrison's solo album "All Things Must Pass," and the three "Kings" of Blues: B.B., Albert and Freddie. JamBase, an online site for fans of live music, described a Grace Potter and the Nocturnals show as leaving the audience in a sweaty, exhausted, fulfilled mess.

"We really are a dynamic band. We can take you from a tear-jerker ballad to thrashing crazy jams. We are kind of like zero to 60 in that way," she said.

Patty Jenkins, (757) 446-2298, patty.jenkins@pilotonline.com