GRACE POTTER GETS PLANT-KRAUSS T BONE TREATMENT

Grace Potter talks about working with Robert Plant-Alison Krauss producer T Bone Burnett on her new album and what he’s taught her about her singing.

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals are currently in the studio working on their follow up album to 2007’s “This Is Somewhere” and the album which is titled “Medicine” features the producing prowess of T Bone Burnett. T Bone Burnett, perhaps best known for producing Allison Krauss and Robert Plant’s hit debut album as well as producing the soundtrack to “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” will look to bring out the best in vocalist Grace Potter.

Artisan News caught up with Grace Potter after her performance at Bonnaroo to get her thoughts on collaborating with T Bone Burnett and how he found the essence in her voice.

“So, it’s pretty great to have a collaboration that is rooted in the positive and trying to get the best out of something, as opposed to focusing and analyzing the worst things and forcing them to get better. You just kind of ignore the bad stuff and find the best and find the essence of a musician. The essence of a song, the essence of a part within a recording. He found the essence of my voice in the simplicity. Which is what I think the biggest note he gave me was ‘You are a good singer but you don’t have to show everyone by singing 15,000 notes to get to that one root note. Just sing the basic simplist version. Like Dusty Springfield might have done and people will believe you.’ So that’s really what this record came from. It was birthed from simplicity.”

Grace also talked about always wanting to work with the legendary T Bone Burnett.

“We have been wanting to work with T Bone Burnett for years. I mean he’s been on our list ever since I saw ‘Oh Brother Where Art Thou’ and actually before that, ‘The Big Lebowski.’ Anybody who can get Townes Van Zant’s version of ‘Dead Flowers’ on a soundtrack is my kind of guy. So T Bone was always really an idol of mine and we kind of put our feelers out for a while just through different networks. People that we might know and might know him.”

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals are currently touring with dates extending September 5th in New Orleans, La. Grace Potter and her band will also be performing at the Rothbury Festival on July 5th where they will be appearing with The Dead, Bob Dylan, String Cheese Incident, Willie Nelson, and much more. Grace Potter and The Nocturnals will look to have their new album completed by the Fall of 2009.