{"id":1316866,"date":"2019-11-21T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1814955"},"modified":"2019-11-21T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T13:00:00","slug":"after-dark-times-grace-potter-steps-into-daylight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/after-dark-times-grace-potter-steps-into-daylight\/","title":{"rendered":"After Dark Times, Grace Potter Steps Into Daylight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"byline\"> by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/shelburnec\/\" title=\"Posts by Craig Shelburne\" rel=\"author\">Craig Shelburne<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\"><br \/>\n42m ago<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span> <\/p>\n<p>The experience of listening to Grace Potter\u2019s new album, <em>Daylight<\/em>, is similar to sneaking into her den, throwing every vinyl record and diary page into the air, then letting it all settle at your feet. Dig around and there\u2019s the exhilaration of new love, but also the devastation of acknowledged that you\u2019ve hurt people on the way. There\u2019s righteous rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, shades of country, and cool R&amp;B (especially with frequent appearances by the band Lucius), along with confessional folk and pop influences in the way she writes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLove Is Love\u201d is particularly poignant because she composed it with her new husband, producer Eric Valentine, along his good friend Mike Busbee, who died suddenly just a month before the album was released. On a happier note, Potter and Valentine welcomed a baby boy, Sagan, in January 2018, and Potter relocated from her longtime home base in Vermont to the artistic community of Topanga Canyon, California.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LegmDX-mbm4?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LegmDX-mbm4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p>During a whirlwind visit to CMT, she discussed this remarkable moment of time in her eclectic career, the influence of Patsy Cline, and her complete indifference to being categorized.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CMT: Let\u2019s start with \u201cLove is Love.\u201d The lyric that jumps out to me is \u201cyou can\u2019t explain the things it does,\u201d which is so true. What was on your mind when you were writing it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GP: I was overwhelmed by the feelings I was going through, experiencing love in a way that I didn\u2019t understand, but I also didn\u2019t want to. I was completely in submission to the experience and it really did come over me like a tidal wave. I didn\u2019t invite it. I wasn\u2019t looking for it. That\u2019s probably the part that was the most surprising about falling in love was that I was not looking for it.<\/p>\n<p>And when it hit, it was highly inconvenient. Like the most destructive thing that could possibly happen. So instead of fighting against that \u2014 although I did a lot of fighting \u2014 I eventually fell into this sort of\u2026. Eric and I both had this kind of trust fall moment where it was like, we\u2019re doing this and it\u2019s a very cathartic experience.<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo\" id=\"a71321ad\">\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;img&quot;}\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/11\/GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4-1574284724.jpg?quality=0.85&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=480\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/11\/GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4-1574284724.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=481 481w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/11\/GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4-1574284724.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=660 660w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/11\/GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4-1574284724.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=768 768w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/11\/GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4-1574284724.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=980 980w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/11\/GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4-1574284724.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1200 1200w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/11\/GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4-1574284724.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1500 1500w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/11\/GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4-1574284724.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1800 1800w\" title=\"GracePotter_PublicityPhoto_Credit_PamelaNeal_GeneralUse4\" class=\" js-srcset-img shortcode-image portrait p3x4\" alt><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"photocredit\"> Pamela Neal <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Did you think that song sets the tone for the music that follows?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Absolutely. And it was the first song I wrote with Eric after making <em>Midnight<\/em>. We took some time because I was touring and promoting <em>Midnight<\/em>, but as things were happening in our life, it was clear that I wanted to make more music with him. I really just missed him all the time. It was this weird thing that happened. So, our love had been expressed to one another a lot. It was like, if I\u2019m going to [sing about] this, this needs to be the biggest statement with the most soaring chorus ever. <\/p>\n<p>That helped out very much exponentially by the incredible Mike Busbee, who co-wrote it with us. Mike and Eric had known each other for years and Mike actually worked as a studio assistant for Eric up in the Bay area. So Mike knew and had seen every version of Eric, but then there was this new energy of a complete transformation in both of us.<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s cool to hear it from the perspective of friends who were witnessing us going through it, because not only did it set the tone for the record, but it set the tone for our lives. It set the tone for how we were going to choose to live and not just choose love, but choose the thing that is scarier. Because when you do enter and walk through those doors, it\u2019s like you\u2019re in a quantum wormhole magic carpet ride \u2014 and it still is. It\u2019s been almost five years and it still feels brand new and completely incredible.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NmItoZxzAwQ?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NmItoZxzAwQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>In your new band, you have all the guys singing, too, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, all the men and women in my band sing now. Full band vocals \u2014 and this is the first time I\u2019ve ever done this. We\u2019ve really focused on it. We do 45 minutes of vocal warm-ups for every show. We rehearse. It\u2019s a very different type of music for me to be making and one that I\u2019ve always wanted. I loved choir when I was in middle school and high school. So bringing in this well-rounded, beautiful, group vocal section was a really important part of hiring this band. Everybody needed to be willing to sing, and sing with their whole heart.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I read a review where your song \u201cRepossession\u201d was compared to Patsy Cline.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah. Well you can\u2019t help it. I mean, I think it was not an intentional direct pull from Patsy. At the time we\u2019d been listening to an AM radio station that was playing down in Arizona that was really pulling out the most incredible music. Most of it was really obscure stuff that I\u2019d never heard. From Loretta Lynn to Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, but then they\u2019d throw in the occasional Townes van Zandt and it was like someone was just going through their whole vinyl collection, you know what I mean? <\/p>\n<p>And I guess it sunk in that I needed this album to feel confessional in the way that Patsy and those songwriters who really pulled you in because of the demolition of their life. Like \u201cFour Walls\u201d and songs that just tear your heart out. I think that\u2019s what really made me feel like I resonated with this music, on a level that makes me feel like someone has been listening. And that I\u2019m not alone in this emotional journey.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VOEjztiMc9g?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VOEjztiMc9g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>On this record, you\u2019ve also got \u201cOn My Way,\u201d which is rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. \u201cBack to Me\u201d has the R&amp;B vibe, \u201cEvery Heartbeat\u201d feels almost like a power ballad\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Totally power ballad. I call it \u201cmom rock\u201d because it really is. I mean, it\u2019s a song about my life with Eric and Sagan and it was written at a time when I was finally able to enjoy \u2014 and not just weed through the trenches of awful destructive stuff and breakups and the heartbreak \u2014 and finally celebrate what it feels like to be on the other side of the rainbow right now. <\/p>\n<p>And it really does feel like I have created something here. I stood up for what I believed in. I stood up for love and I stepped out of my comfort zone and it\u2019s this incredible gift I get to wake up to every day. That song is a really important one because it marked the turning point where I wasn\u2019t angry and bitter anymore. I was ready to forget.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XYtVvGIio0Q?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XYtVvGIio0Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>All along you\u2019ve never been just the one thing, musically. From your perspective as an artist, why is that so satisfying to be able to tap into every kind of music?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t help myself. Honestly, I cannot help myself. I\u2019m so easily bored with things. Everything I hear, I get so inspired. I\u2019ve been listening to Paco de Luc\u00eda and I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m going to become a Spanish guitar player. I\u2019ve got to.\u201d Which of course, I need a lot more discipline in order to actually learn how to play Spanish guitar the way that he does. But maybe I\u2019ll fake it, you know? <\/p>\n<p>But I think creatively as an artist, I want to go in every direction because that\u2019s what creativity is. It\u2019s a flickering flame that you have to catch and sometimes it pulls left or right, or toward green, toward red. You don\u2019t really know until you\u2019re in it, what your artistry can bring out in you that maybe you didn\u2019t even know you had.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GKOuCH5YEaE?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GKOuCH5YEaE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p>And so I\u2019m not going to stop experimenting. I\u2019m not going to stop and get comfortable and cozy in one genre because I\u2019ve already ruined my chances of doing that.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, good luck anybody marketing me because I just don\u2019t belong anywhere. You listen to one of those algorithms play, like Grace Potter Radio or Grace Potter &amp; the Nocturnals Radio, it is out-of-control wrong. Weird stuff. It\u2019s just like, why is, \u201cOoh ooh ooh, I want to be like you-ooh-ooh\u201d [from <em>The Bare Necessities<\/em>] right next to this drenched-in-reverb psych rock song?!<\/p>\n<p>And the reason is because I don\u2019t care. I just don\u2019t care what people want to belong somewhere. I think it\u2019s a fearful thing to hang too closely to the aisle that you choose, or the lane that you\u2019re in, or whatever. And so it\u2019s not that I refuse to be categorized, it\u2019s that I just don\u2019t understand why we need to be.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1814955\/after-dark-times-grace-potter-steps-into-daylight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Craig Shelburne 42m ago The experience of listening to Grace Potter\u2019s new album, Daylight, is similar to sneaking into her den, throwing every vinyl record and diary page into the air, then letting it all settle at your feet. Dig around and there\u2019s the exhilaration of new love, but also the devastation of acknowledged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1316866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 13:03:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}