Grace Potter Records w/T Bone Burnett

Nocturnals will also be touring all summer leading up to a fall release for the album.

By Blurt Staff

BLURT faves Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have recently been in Village Recorder in West L.A. working on their third album. Helming the project: none other than T Bone Burnett you may have heard of the guy). They're shooting for a fall release from the band's label, Hollywood Records.

"T Bone's a legend but also a genuinely effervescent personality, which is what I look for in anybody, especially a producer," said Potter, in a statement, who explained that Burnett's name has been at the top of the band's wish list since it formed in 2002. "We've been putting out feelers for a while," she says. "In the end, it was Bob Cavallo [Chairman of the Disney Music Group] who called him and said, ‘T Bone, you owe me 25 bucks.'  He was referring to a golf match they'd had like 20 years ago. How funny is that?" Soon thereafter, Burnett, Cavallo and Potter got together for breakfast. "They both have such spectacular histories, and for the first 45 minutes they just traded stories. I thought it would just be a ‘getting to know you' meeting, but at the end, T Bone said, ‘Let's go make a record.'"

Potter and Burnett have been sifting through the raft of material the band has amassed since 2007's This Is Somewhere (there's also been the live EP Live In Skowhegan, reviewed by BLURT). Potter indicated the new songs ranged from "feel-good to salty Americana to swaggering soul with a backbeat. T Bone put the project in cinematic terms. He told me, ‘You and your voice and your songs are the movie; I'm just gonna score the movie.' Since then we've been riffing back and forth: I'll shoot a song demo to him on MP3, and he'll get me notes back within a few hours. He has a really interesting sense of the big picture, but has an acute sense of subtle detail. It's such a huge relief to find a producer of T Bone's caliber we can totally put our trust in, not just because of the records he's made, but because of the person he is. Now it's happening, and we're excited and ready!"

In between recording and mixing the new album, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals will be on the road (including a stop at Bonnaroo) previewing songs from their upcoming album.

Tour dates:

May 16      Dana Point, CA                Doheny Blues Fest                              (headline Renaissance stage)

May 17      Birmingham, AL                Alys Stephens Center                         **Grace Potter solo

May 28      Baltimore, MD                  8 X 10                                               *headlining

May 29      Millvale, PA                     Mr. Small's                                         *headlining

May 30      Lexington, KY                   The Dame                                          *headlining

June 4        Enterprise, AL                   BamaJam                                           (Alternative Stage)

June 5        Live Oaks, FL                   Wannee Festival                                (Mushroom Stage)

June 6        Savannah, GA                 Livewire Music Hall                             *headlining

June 8        Isle of Palms, SC               The Windjammer                               *headlining

June 11      Knoxville, TN                   Sundown in the City                           *headlining

June 12      Manchester, TN                Bonnarroo Music Festival                   

June 20      Millville, NJ                      Southern Shore Music Festival            (Carmel Green Stage)

June 21      Croton on Hudson, NY      Great Hudson River Festival              

June 25      Albany, NY                      Alive At Five                                      *headlining

June 27      Fort Smith, AK                  Riverfront Park                                 

June 28      Fort Smith, AK                  Neumeier's Rib Room                         *headlining

July 3         Telluride, CO                   Red, White & Blues                            *headlining

July 5         Rothbury, MI                    Rothbury                                           (Sherwood Court Stage)

July 17       Alta, Wyoming                 Grand Targhee Americanan Festival 

July 18       Park City, UT                   Mountain Town Stages                       *headlining

July 24       Floyd, VA                        Floyd Festival                                    (headline Main Stage)

July 26       Bridgeport, CT                 Gathering of the Vibes                      (Main Stage)

Sept. 5       New Orleans, LA              Project 30-90                                   

[Photo Credit: James Minchin III]