There was a good chance we would never hear from Grace Potter again.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals broke up a few years ago.

Her marriage dissolved and isolation she went.

Four years later the music started exploding from her, which now has resulted in a new

album, a new tour, a new marriage, and a whole new outlook on her life.

Grace Potter is our guest this week on the What Podcast.

It starts right now.

The What Podcast, which bands this year that matter.

I'm Brad Steiner, that's Barry Courter along with Lord Taco.

A little on location today, Mr. Barry Courter.

I found myself in Austin, Texas and I'm really smart.

I'm doing this outside in the middle of the day in Texas heat.

Are you doing it just because you're jealous of the whole Mike Daly?

I mean, I know he had the best background and it is an audit.

Is there like this is about I am I'm I'm traversing the country trying to find a one up Mike Daly's

background.

Yes, I could have just used a green screen, but no, damn it.

I am looking for my own best Mike Daly background.

I was in Austin doing a event with the Black Pumas and you know, this this band is just

one of those stories where they just come out of nowhere in maybe one of the hardest

years to ever break a band.

And they've sold out five nights stubs.

They're selling out three nights at Brooklyn Steel.

This thing is just exploded for this band.

And now you're finding them on, you know, festival lineup after festival lineup.

It's pretty remarkable to see.

And by the way, one of the most I'll put it this way, one of the strangest feelings I've

ever had standing amongst a sold out crowd at Stubbs with sweating people.

Yeah, tell me about that sweating and cheering and it was just odd, you know.

Well, that's why I'm asking that, because that's what we're heading into.

And I haven't done it yet.

That's an interesting perspective.

Yeah, I didn't.

I don't know if I don't know if it really hit me.

It felt so natural and so normal that I didn't even realize it was weird until about midway

through when a girl like shoved her way in front of me.

And then I said, oh, my God, somebody touched me.

Oh, my God.

I've just been touched.

And I don't know.

It was just it was I think it was odd in the way that it felt so normal.

If that makes sense.

Yeah, that's that's why I'm asking.

It's going to be interesting because I mean, I've had shots and I've been in environments

where you know, you don't think about it and then you see one person or several in a mask

and you remember, oh, hey, you know, this isn't over.

This thing is still happening.

So yeah, you know, it was I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's weird that I didn't

even notice.

Yeah, I think that's what you know, it's more than just being normal.

It's that I didn't even consider it.

Yeah.

Well, you know, you spend a whole lot of your life not living this way.

Yeah, that's why I'm asking.

It's going to be curious how we how because of shows and festivals and everything like

that.

I'm very curious to see how it acts.

You can't it's kind of like an all in or not thing.

It's the old like I mean, I've used the analogy so many times.

It's like having a peeing section in a swimming pool.

It's still funny.

No, it's it is true.

I mean, the family afterwards and not just the family, but some people on the Instagram

after they saw the video of the crowd, you know, hit us up and was you know, they were

pretty perturbed and irritated, you know, that, you know, we would put ourselves in

such, you know, such a situation like that that was so dangerous.

But you know, my theory on this and I don't know if I'm if I'm right, I don't even know

if I'm the majority.

I don't I guess I don't really care.

But at some point, we got to rip the bandaid off here and give some of these things to

try or else, you know, we're going to be stuck, you know, living in fear forever.

That's right.

You know, and at some point we've got to at least give it a go.

We've got to at least try.

I agree.

I agree.

And I think you and I are both in that same boat where early on it was like, stay home,

be safe, wear a mask.

And now it's you know, we got to got to do it.

Yeah, I mean, and you know, we've done everything that we can do.

We've gotten the shots.

I like mine so much.

I got all three vaccines.

I did all the masking.

But at this point, I I don't even carry a mask with me anymore.

I know that's not the wife does.

But I have forgotten a mask probably every day for the last week and a half.

It's interesting.

I I debated whether I had an interview, a couple of interviews the other day and left

it in the house and I'm just going to go take it because I don't want to put them in that

spot.

Yeah, I know.

I mean, if I walked in and they were all mask up, then I needed a mask.

Well, it's weird going to a restaurant where they say masks are required until you sit

down and nobody on the staff is wearing a mask.

Right.

You know, that bad boy is coming off.

I am not bothering with your dumb rules when you don't even follow them.

So far for me, it's the other way.

I walk in and all the staff has their mask.

Of course, half of them have it, you know, below the nose.

So it's right.

I'm also in Texas, though.

Let's just remember I'm in Texas.

Yeah, the rules are a tad different here.

You know, the other thing about the show, there was such an interesting conversation

I had with Eric and Adrian from Black Pumas.

They said before the show that the moment they hit the first note, they were going to

be really, really emotional.

And he was going to probably break down and cry the minute that he hit the first note

on his guitar.

That sort of sent chills down my spine.

And watching that happen, you could I mean, it doesn't feel freeing exactly because there's

still some trepidation there.

But I think the emotional toll is something I hadn't necessarily considered, you know,

how they're going to process what they're doing.

Right.

And then just, hey, this is going to be fun.

Hey, this is going to be good.

I'm really excited to do this.

This is going to be sort of like an emotional moment for a lot of these bands.

And, you know, I don't know many other artists inside outside of country music that are like

the Black Pumas that are doing so many shows so early, all sold out.

Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I haven't looked at those numbers or anything.

But I'm not I'm not surprised to hear him, you know, plan to be emotional only because

I've talked to so many artists for this whole year.

I say so many far fewer than before.

And this sounds so trite and simple.

But they're just they're people like everybody else.

They've been and we're going to talk to one here in a minute.

You know, they thought it was going to be one thing and it ended up being another.

And just like everybody else, whether they're a restaurant owner or a business, I mean,

a tire salesman or whatever, they all have said the same thing.

We found out what's really important.

And it means different.

That means different things for different people.

It could be time with a child, time with an older family.

It could be the business.

It could be whatever.

But the point is, they found out what's really important.

So I'm not.

I know what you mean.

And it's touching, but it's not surprising.

Yeah.

The other thing.

Yeah, go ahead.

Sorry.

Just one more thing is that's the other thing that's become the reality of this last year

is it's everybody.

And I don't think we've really talked.

I don't think a lot of people have talked about it.

It's not just Barry in Chattanooga or Brad in New Orleans who's gone through this horrible

thing.

It's everybody all over the world.

So there's kind of this come.

I don't know.

I don't know what it is yet.

I haven't put a point on that.

It's a collective experience that we don't necessarily have very often.

There's very few moments throughout the year where we're all doing the same thing at the

same time.

It's like the Super Bowl and COVID.

That's pretty much all.

Anyway, the other big piece of news from my trip in Austin is Barry.

Last night I wore a hat.

You lose a bet.

No, the kind people, the manager of Black Pumas was nice enough to give me the commemorative

five nights sold out Stubbs Black Pumas hat.

And you know what?

I think that I pulled it off.

I have it with you.

We're not going to, you know, not doing that.

No, I am not.

Don't feel that comfortable.

But is it like a 10 gallon hat?

Is it a cap?

Not, not a cowboy hat.

No, but it's one of those like really hipster millennial hats, you know, where all the kids

keep the brim really flat and it's a really tall, you know, I don't know how to explain

it.

It's not a dad hat.

It's one of these millennial flat brimmed hats with a patch on it.

You know what I mean?

I think you pulled it off.

I think I pulled it off.

But the problem is like I have to cover up the hair, which is always a problem.

But secondly, I've got such a small head.

My head doesn't hold a hat.

Like I can't find a hat that makes any sense with the shape of this head.

I have the complete opposite.

Yeah.

Absolute complete opposite.

You're trying to fit a hat on a C380.

It is not working.

By the way, the hair doesn't stay on.

For those for those just joining us, welcome for those who have been here forever.

Welcome back to what podcast diving into music festivals and music culture and all of the

behind the scenes industry talk that we can find.

You are in for a treat today because an artist that has been on our list for a few years

just because we love her has agreed to chat with us for a little bit.

Grace Potter coming out of her, I guess, her own isolation has basically been on a whirlwind

trying to see what her career and her life is outside of the nocturnals and those albums

and that relationship that she was in with her husband.

She got out of that and her band.

And now she's sort of isolated herself for a few years.

And now she's sort of coming out of it with a new album.

She's touring again.

She's on festival lineups.

And I just love her so much.

And I love the way that she writes.

I love her live show so much.

This was one of those that was on our list really early when we started the show, Barry.

Yeah.

A little spoiler, especially for you.

I got to talk to her probably a month ago because she came close.

She came to play the Caverns here, which is right near Manchester, as a matter of fact.

And she's a great, great interview.

She's a lot of fun, very open, very giving.

And you had those interviews where at the end you kind of apologize and say, I'm sorry,

I kept you on the phone for so long.

And the other person says, I could do this all day.

All day.

Those don't happen very often.

But I hope I don't set her up and she's, you know, having a bad day, but she was great.

Who are these losers?

She's looking at her wrist the whole time.

You know, she was terrific.

And yes, she's she's great.

Yeah.

Very excited about this.

So here we go on the What Podcast, one of our favorite artists, at least appearing on

lineups this year, Grace Potter on the What Podcast next.

Hello.

There she is.

How are you?

I'm great.

Grace, how are you?

It's so lovely to see you.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm just putting some dishes away.

I'm going to stop planking around here in a second.

No, I love it.

I love I love the real life.

Look, where are you?

Are you at home?

Are you just I'm in Vermont.

Yeah, this is this is my view right now.

I've got dark beds going and I've been shoveling mulch all morning.

So yeah.

Yeah.

So you're telling me that truck isn't always parked in the yard?

It does look pretty good.

Maybe I should I kind of like it.

Yeah.

All right.

I like it.

So just just a quick thing.

Being in Vermont, at what point did you ever think about not living in Vermont?

Yeah.

I mean, I lived when I bought my house in Laurel Canyon.

You know, I was there and that was where I lived.

That was my home, diggity home for like seven years.

Yeah.

And we bounced back and forth.

But I stayed in my like my little tiny barn house that I had renovated that used to be

my dad's sign shop.

And it's where like me and the Nocturnals used to rehearse there.

And then all I did was add in a couple of beds and it became our house for a while.

But you know, that's not really like a home home.

That's not where you go to be home forever.

And I knew that Vermont was going to be a forever place.

But I actually wasn't planning on moving back from California for another like 10 years.

But with the pandemic, it just kind of felt like now's the time, you know?

Yeah, it has started.

We all have started asking our questions really much earlier than we thought of where we want

to plant our our roots and stay.

Yeah.

You know, you've got I can't tell you how many people I know live in New York through

the pandemic.

It's basically said, why am I here?

Yeah, I can't.

How many of those people?

Certainly.

And it's you know, because when you have the whole point of living in any city is that

human contact and that cultural connection that you get from knowing that like you could

just wander out into the street and meet a stranger that is has a more interesting story

than you.

You know, any given day of the week, you could go and meet somebody amazing in this weird

wild world.

And then that gets taken away.

And then the rest of it's kind of like, oh, this is pretty inconvenient.

You know, city city life.

I'm paying twenty eight hundred dollars for a hundred square feet.

That's right.

I have to be in all the time.

That's right.

Yeah.

Why am I doing that?

And you know, the people that are fleeing some of these spots, I will say we moved to

New Orleans and got and got two days after Mardi Gras last year and two weeks before

a global pandemic sent us all home.

So I got two solid weeks of living in New Orleans.

Right.

And it was weird in that the that culture thing that you're talking about, that that

connection that you have with the city.

You know, New Orleans had it and has it, you know, in spades.

It's just blowing out of every building.

But sometimes I would walk around New Orleans and like, man, I feel like I'm in Charlotte.

Yeah.

Just even even New Orleans was cut down and lost some of its magic through it.

It's a quiet it's you know, it's I like the thing I like about New Orleans, though, is

that, you know, even when there's a pandemic and I maybe I'm wrong.

I haven't been there during the pandemic, but I did read and also listened to a lot

of podcasts and radio shows about the culture.

Was it the what podcast?

It wasn't was it?

I know.

Maybe.

Well, there was basically just that a lot of barkeepers just kept their bars open for

themselves and kept the music playing out out the speakers of their windows just so

that you could feel that spirit of the music through town, even if there was no one gathering.

You know?

Yeah.

And you know, it's not it's not a meek place and it's not for the meek and it's not going

to be silent.

So we we did our best.

And you know, it took a little it took a little bit of time to get used to.

But once they figured out the work around, they always find a work around.

We are humans are incredibly adaptable, aren't we?

But in New Orleans, it's just on another level.

It's like no one's going to get in the way of my party.

No, not having to not have even if I got to do it in my yard.

Like I've said this forever.

I work at a radio station that obviously competes against WWOZ.

But what WWOZ did with with Jazz Fest last year and what they did again this year, they

did a jazz fest in place and it was electric.

And the entire city was listening to it all at once.

We talked about this a few minutes ago that communal experiences just don't happen in

this country anymore.

Yeah.

And the fact that we were all doing it together felt real.

You couldn't walk down my street without having somebody have a jazz fest in place party in

their yard.

That to me is is remarkable.

It's absolutely remarkable.

And if there's one thing like I said this about Trump when he got elected, he's going

to be good for us in that he's going to make us all have to realize what's important for

us all.

And we're all going to we're all going to start reevaluating how we interact with this

stuff.

COVID is going to do the same thing.

We're all going to we're all going to be together for something.

And that was the sort of the what happened last night.

I went to the Black Puma show.

And for the first time in a year and four months, I was sold out show.

And what Adrian and Eric said before the show is that when they hit that first note, they're

going to cry.

Yeah.

And it's going to be that sort of emotional release for them.

Was it for you when you finally got back on stage?

Absolutely.

I mean, it was wild.

Last year, I sort of agreed to be the guinea pig of the music industry at large because

we didn't know what was going to happen or how it was going to be.

And I just I'm confident in my ability to perform live under pretty much any circumstance.

And so I just felt like I would be a good candidate to try these things out.

And I remember playing the first chord at a drive in theater setup.

And it was really emotional.

It was I mean, I totally just you know, I didn't break down and stop the song.

But you know, I just sort of wept gently through it.

That's actually kind of sweet, though.

Yeah.

It's kind of adorable.

I was going to ask you and I talked about a month ago before your Cavern show.

Yeah, I remember.

Yeah.

And you said that you had spent the time kind of to Brad's point, you had spent a lot of

the time reconnecting with fans, the live streaming and all of that sort of thing.

So yeah, and not even really reconnecting, but like connecting for the first time.

Right.

Right.

So maybe now that you've been out a month, what's the how does it feel?

I mean, you just said that first note, but now that you've actually been playing live

for you're one of the pioneers, as you said, you've been the guinea pig.

What's it what's it like actually getting out and playing to a live audience now after

what we've been through?

I mean, it depends on the show, because every show is totally different.

There have been shows where I think the configuration of where everybody gets to set up is more

conducive to the live performance.

And there's others where it's more conducive to the human experience of being together

again, because as I'm sure any ticket buyer knows that, like, you know, as you're looking

at the schedule of concerts coming up, you're buying tickets, but you're also planning potentially

reunions with people that you haven't seen in over a year.

You know, so music is such a cause for gathering back together and like, oh, my God, our favorite

band is playing.

Let's meet at X point and, you know, go see the show.

So one of the things that happened that could never happen if it weren't for the pandemic

is that there's a lot more talking from the audience because everybody's just seeing each

other for the first time.

And I think as we as humans know that when you haven't seen someone, there's a lot to

catch up on.

But also the excitement of a concert makes you yell a little louder and, you know, gets

a little more energized.

So I was hearing like full on conversations from the audience, but I'm not I'm not a finicky

performer.

I'm not I'm never, ever going to shush the crowd.

I just don't believe in shushing people.

I think I got shushed a lot as a kid.

So I have like a bit of a tic with being shushed.

So I would never I would never I would never shush anybody.

But it was kind of like I've made this analogy a couple of times, but it's it's a it's a

good one.

It's like it's like being in a kitchen for Thanksgiving dinner where a bunch of relatives

are reconnecting for the first time.

I'm just the turkey in the oven.

So like, you know, like it's like everybody's really excited for me.

They want you to say, hey, do I need to give you guys a minute?

Yeah, no, totally.

I mean, I would you know, I definitely enjoyed it because I really was then able to understand

and see the connection of all these humans, because when everybody's gathered together,

it's just this massive, you know, group of faces that kind of wash over you energetically

and visually that, you know, that's a very amazing feeling.

But you can't really distinguish who came with who.

And when you have the pods, you can.

And then my mind kind of goes nuts.

And I start like making up stories about what's going on with each pod and who came from where

and how complicated it was to make it all happen.

And, you know, I really believe in that human experience.

And I'm just honored that, you know, my my music would be the thing to bring them together.

Well, you said something fascinating a second ago that you were the guinea pig and you don't

you didn't.

I'm a guinea pig and I'm a turkey.

So I've got that.

And that you don't go into live performances at all timid, but you don't really.

Seem as though a kind of person does anything very timid.

Not really.

No, maybe maybe maybe taking an eye exam.

Oh, my God, that puff that puff of air makes me cringe.

I hate that puff of air.

I'm very timid in an eye exam.

Got it.

I have a question along those and totally shifting gears just because I want to ask

because I just watched it before.

Was it more difficult?

Totally shifting gears.

Was it more difficult to do the video for release or to do the song?

Because it's so emotional.

That video is just the most intense piece of work I've ever been a part of.

And really, you know that thank you for the shift in gears because I actually was I was

just going over it yesterday.

I reconnected with the director, Catherine Fordham, who, you know, when you go through

the story of my life and then you hear that song.

I think one thing that she picked up on was that the song is is more about one specific

moment in my life.

But the video is about the whole thing, like the big picture.

And she didn't really know my story.

She just, I think, adapted the storytelling that she found and connected with in that

song, but also on the whole album Daylight.

And I think she wrote it into the treatment for the video in such a thoughtful, profound

way.

And, you know, it took a long time to shoot the video.

I had to train to be able to pull that boat across.

Try pulling a boat full of water and seaweed across a sandy beach.

Just give it a whirl.

It's not super easy.

Well, that and to be able to cry on.

I mean, there's a lot of acting going on in that.

I wasn't acting.

That's the difference is that I that moment was really spiritual, also because there had

been these fires.

You know, the Woolsey fires came really, really close to my home and also took the home of

a dear friend of mine.

And we were right beneath where her house used to be.

And you know, having the fires blaze through, you know, in Southern California when they

did and watch the destruction, but also the recreation that it had caused.

It was a pretty pivotal emotional moment as I'm dancing around this fire.

And there's like fire marshals and police officers and like all kinds of people had

to be there to make sure that everybody in Southern California knew that we had had a

permit for the fire.

Fires are not really they're kind of frowned upon.

Yeah, they're not a good idea.

They're not a good idea ever, especially not in California.

That made it even more emotional and special, I think, to to be able to really have that.

Yeah, real quick, by acting, I didn't mean like pretending because it was clear it was

emotional.

I just meant there's a lot of emotion and.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

And very little makeup and hair.

And you know, there was no wind machines.

There was no fog machines.

There's no there's no magic tricks happening in that video.

It really is happening as you're seeing it.

And I think that was a profound choice as well to just really let it be what it is and

let my story speak for itself in many ways, just through the lyrics of the song, but also

through the visuals.

And yeah.

And for those who don't know exactly your story, I don't want to go through it too much.

I mean, you do such a wonderful job everywhere you go when you talk about this sort of stuff.

But when the nocturnals ended and your marriage did as well and you went into your own isolation

of sorts.

Right.

Yeah, I did the lockdown before the lockdown because I didn't know about that.

There was going to be a lockdown later.

I should have saved it.

Well, you were well practiced.

Let's just put it that way.

You're well practiced.

Yeah, no, my my relationship in my personal life as well as in my public life fell apart

in front of everybody.

And it was a really, really difficult thing.

And it was also it happened mainly because I wasn't able to separate my music career

from my real life because they were completely entangled.

And I also wasn't able to separate the pain that I was feeling from music.

So I kind of blamed music for all of the things that had gone wrong and and backed away from

music in every possible way.

And when I say that, I mean, like I called my management.

I was like, I'm done.

I called Benny, my my guitarist and my dear friend and said, like, I cannot promise you

when or if this is going to come back again.

And that and then there was three years that went by with very little thought or discussion

as to what was going to happen next.

And I didn't worry you.

It didn't scare you.

Oh, it scared the crap out of me.

Of course.

Yeah, no, I was really I was devastated.

And when you're broken like that, it's weird how time just kind of goes into a warp.

But I had other things to be scared about, too, like getting restraining orders and going

to court.

There were other issues and dramatic things occurring in my life that took precedence

over that.

And in the midst of all that as well, having this incredible blossoming love with the love

of my life and now my husband, Eric Valentine, there was just no room, no space for me to

share any of that with with the outside world.

It was very intense.

Well, you laid a good foundation because that's sort of where I was going to go.

And I know this is going to be personal, but I think that, you know, you you're able to

understand what I'm saying when you have to go through all of this again and you have

to write the album and go on tour with these songs and do interviews like this and then

talk about this freely.

You must be in a wonderful place, both mentally and with your current relationship that can

withstand these kinds of things.

Just keep getting poked at and poked at and poked at.

Well, it's just to jump on to the point of my question about the video.

I mean, that was so powerful to be to Brad's point.

I mean, yeah, you know, you could have said, you know, I don't want to people say things

all the time to me, like my album has allowed them to assess things in their life that felt

too uncomfortable to touch before that.

And that's a really beautiful gift that I didn't mean to give anybody else.

And nor did I really realize how much I needed it myself.

But music is medicine.

And for me, the process of unfolding my my feelings from the past and my hopes and manifestations

for the future came through music.

And you know, and then I put the album out, which it was was totally terrifying.

I had no idea when I wrote a lot of these songs that they were going to be heard by

the public.

And my my intention when I was writing this music was that it helped me to heal because

I've always found that when I write it into a song, it becomes more true.

So if I'm really mad about something and I write a song about it, then I'm going to be

angry about it forever.

And then if I write a song about wanting to heal from something and I can put that into

words and put it down, it does start to feel like part of the my DNA changes as I reassess

my relationship with a feeling or a memory.

It's interesting to hear an artist talk about I didn't write this for someone else or, you

know, that and to have people come up and say this song helped me so much.

I interviewed Amanda Shires several years ago and she said something like people are

constantly coming up and thanking her for saving Jason Isbell's life.

I don't get that.

You know, I'm like, you know, I just did what I did because he's my husband.

And I said, well, maybe it's because his music has meant so much to people that you're helping

him help them.

I think it kind of took her back.

She said, I hadn't really thought of it that way, which I find interesting because she's

a songwriter.

You know what I mean?

But a lot of times, yeah, you don't see it from the when you're on the inside of it.

It's not always easy.

And it's also not always easy to give yourself credit for things that you didn't mean to

do.

So I think, again, through through the process of opening up my story and and as you said,

like sort of continuing to poke at the beast of my life and the things that have challenged

me mentally, I am in a good state.

I am in a stable state where I feel comfortable knowing what those events led to, which is

my present life.

And I have a whole huge amount of gratitude every morning when I wake up feeling that.

But I have I have my off days.

And as I don't know if you guys know, but this month is mental health awareness month.

And that's been a big part of my journey as I've grown up with a sibling with pretty severe

mental challenges and and mental health and therapy has been so stigmatized over time

that daylight for me as an album was was my therapy.

But I didn't know it.

And then as it's come out and I've had these conversations, especially the tough ones that

are that are kind of the conversations that are more stigmatizing because people are like,

I'm feeling crazy.

I'm feeling unstable.

I'm feeling insecure in a way that I never did before.

Covid has popped up a whole lot of feelings and fears and thoughts and regrets.

And all of a sudden, things are creeping into people's lives that haven't been that way

before.

And that's been part of my journey is trying to encourage people that it's OK to not be

OK and it's OK.

And you're not alone.

Share that and that you're not alone and there's there's help there.

You know, and you said it.

But the hardest thing that some people have to do is even finishing the sentence.

I'm feeling blank.

Yeah.

And you know, for look, I will go to the moon and back about how much I love my therapist

and how, you know, life changing she has been.

Shout out, Gail.

Shout out, Gail.

Yeah, Gail.

I mean, I really do love your heart, Gail.

And the best part of it was not just the fact that I could start answering the sentence

or finishing the sentence rather.

I'm feeling blank.

Yeah.

Then I got to understand other people and how they might be feeling something right.

It gave me this ability, almost this superhuman ability to see others.

And if I'm going that deep inside of me to try and figure out what I'm thinking or feeling

or going through, man, I can't imagine what that person's doing and it just allows me

to just become a better human being for everybody involved, not just myself.

Absolutely.

And to take away the judgment.

It's easy to like so many cuts you off in traffic and you get really pissed.

Right.

You just want to, oh, what is their problem?

They're doing this to me.

They're not doing anything to you.

In fact, somebody in their life is bothering them and they're so busy thinking about that,

that maybe they didn't even see you there.

But I think that that forgiveness and that compassion doesn't just happen.

It's not a natural biological occurrence in humans.

We are fight or flight, stress response type people.

And that's just part of our makeup.

So we have to really work to go deeper into some of those darker feelings and address

them.

But there's a way to do it and everybody is different.

So cracking the egg open and letting it slowly is not always the right thing for everybody.

And I think in my case, writing daylight was a long and very oozing egg for many years.

It was just like growth, yo, all over me along those lines because it kind of adds to it.

I think one of the other things you said to me when we talked about a month ago and I

still think about it, we were talking about a lot of people have used this pandemic as

a time to practice and get better and all that.

And you said you hated practice and you don't do scales and all that.

I mean, I can do one right now.

So what was that?

I mean, what was the for someone who basically, as you said, turned it off for three years

and not a practicer, not a, you know, was it like riding a bike?

I mean, what was the, how did that?

I mean, there's definitely moments in my life as I get up on stage now without a band where

I go, oh my God, I am ill prepared for this.

I really should have run these songs before I got up here.

And then I'm looking out and there's a thousand faces waiting to hear something.

So I am humbled by the solo performance and I have actually been dipping back into the

gift that I have of music and reassessing that and just sort of, yeah, turning it over

and trying to understand what is it about it that I'm lucky to have and what is it about

it that I'm going to continue to push forward on and try to improve.

So that's happening right now.

But when you write that album and like you're sitting down on a piano right now.

So when you have to go through all of these things and to use your analogy, yet another

term animal analogy, you crack the egg open all comes oozing out.

Is it starting there on the piano?

Is it starting with lyrics?

Is it starting on an acoustic guitar?

Where does it be?

Sometimes it just depends on the day.

And to be honest, when I'm feeling creative, it's all about the proximity of whatever the

closest instrument is.

That there is no magic to it whatsoever.

I'm that, but I can be musical even without an instrument.

You know, I could beat the car horn and find a pitch that I think is somehow the right

pitch for a song and that will just set me off.

And I'm lucky to sit down and I have a lot of focus when I'm in the midst of chasing

down a song because otherwise I'm quite ADD.

But when I have a song that really feels like it's worth finishing, I can dive in.

So it's not a piecemeal thing for you.

When you go in, you go all in and you straight up wait until it's done.

Depending on how successful I think the song is.

If it's not worth chasing, sometimes I'll tuck it away and say, maybe this is a piece

of another song that's still waiting to be written.

But I save everything.

And I don't really categorize it because I don't write music according to genre.

You know, I don't write a rock song and then write a sad ballad.

I have a feeling and usually it'll come out in like three or four songs and then I'll

just sort of pick the best one.

Do you have somebody that you trust as like almost a song doctor?

Do you have a song doctor?

Do you have somebody just since?

Oh, yeah.

Hey, what do you think about this?

My husband, Eric Valentine, is the greatest producer I've ever met.

I definitely whether we got together or not, romantically, I was going to make records

with him for the rest of my life.

But I knew when I met him that I felt comfortable even playing him my most embarrassing crappy

demos.

He is my conciliary of musical moments and musical choices.

Yeah.

Nice.

And when you when that when you started writing again, was it one moment like all of a sudden

I got to do this or did it just ease its way on out or it eased its way out?

And again, I didn't even really realize like the song release I had written while I was

moving out of my house in Laurel Canyon that I had lived in with my ex husband.

And it was my last day there before the new renters were going to be moving in.

And I took a bath and I sat there and I hadn't written music or sung a single note in a long

time.

But I was feeling just really like I wanted I was feeling contemplative and almost it

was almost a prayer.

And as I was sitting there, I just started singing.

And I apparently had my phone nearby enough to press record at some point.

But that sat then in my inbox of my voice memos for another year and a half before I

opened it back up again and considered it really was a little bit of both.

Yeah.

That moment came quickly.

But then it said, OK, interesting.

Yeah.

But that but that moment of reopening that memo, did you remember what you had or were

you pretty scared to hit play?

I was terrified.

Yeah.

I mean, it was from that era of my life where I didn't know if I ever wanted to make music

again.

So I just assumed that everything if there was something from that date that it was probably

pretty angry.

And the odds of it being a voice memo of some phone call with my lawyer, it was equal parts.

Like it could have been there was a lot of other things going on in my life.

And I was recording a lot of things.

None of them had titles.

So a huge amount of this was kind of going back through the time capsule of my life and

figuring out what was what.

And yeah, there were there were a lot of voice memos that weren't songs at all.

And they were really not pleasant to listen to because it was like, you know, personal

security officers and just crazy, dramatic, unnecessary things that I wanted to be able

to tuck away and well, actually delete forever.

But I'm really glad I didn't hit delete on that one before listening to it.

Yeah, it does.

It does make me feel a tad panicky just thinking about it.

Yeah.

Could have been anything.

But to be this entire tour that you're doing is just you.

Right.

Yeah, this is a solo.

This is a solo collective of shows, although I've had moments where, OK, I've got 10 percent

juice on my phone.

That's exciting.

So we're all right.

Let's let's wrap this up.

No, this is a solo tour.

But there were a couple of shows on this last bit of it on the last leg down in Florida,

where I just looked at the stage and looked at the ticket sales of how many people were

coming and how big the venue felt and was like, I think I'm going to need some help

here.

So we do travel with a drum kit and a bass amp so that in case I feel like enlisting

my husband and my front of house sound guy who are my only crew.

That's all it is.

Wow.

OK, OK.

It's a really small.

This is a family band in every sense of the word.

Are you hooking up the lights too, Grace?

Jesus.

No.

Yeah, I actually do.

So check this out.

This is one of my light rigs.

I found it on the Internet and I thought, well, that thing looks really cool.

And it's this just these tiny little go go lights that illuminate different parts of

you.

One of them is a black light.

One of them makes it look like there's a sunset.

One of them makes it look kind of like iridescent and psychedelic.

So yes, I'm actually doing the lighting.

Can it make me a good dancer?

Can it make me?

I hope so.

I'm definitely I have been dancing.

There is there is dancing at these shows.

It's been a fun thing to be a solo performer and figure out what is it that I can play

that will make it still feel like a dance party.

And it's totally it's totally possible.

I mean, Sister Rosetta Tharp is my my hero and she made me dance from the second I heard

her play.

So that's what I'm that's what I'm going for.

Am I are we breaking news that there might be twerking on Grace Potter's tour?

Could it be possible?

Never, ever.

Anything is possible.

The other thing you said, the last thing that you said when we talked before was that this

tour where you were looking forward to is the the spontaneity, spontaneity.

Yeah, spontaneity.

Yeah.

And that has happened.

I mean, that has been the prevailing sensation of this tour has been the fact that I am not

coming up on stage with a plan.

And there's a reason why.

And it's because the audience matters so much to me.

And especially having this year to connect with my fans in a way that has been really

profound, especially when it comes to what songs people want to hear.

I can't write a setlist better than the crowd.

The crowd knows my songs.

And I mean, you won't believe some of the requests that have come in where it was just

like this one off time that I played a song when the power went out at a bar in New Jersey.

And they were there when I played that version of Dead Flowers, the Grand Parsons way.

Like what?

You know, and and that's the kind of conversations that are being had with me in the audience.

And if I had a band there, I certainly might do a little bit of conversing with the crowd.

But I think it really opens up the possibility for me to play exactly what people want to

hear.

And it's never the same thing twice.

And it's been so cool.

Wasn't the show at the Cavern, I know, is well over two hours.

Was it almost three?

I I I I tip the scale at two and a half hours on one of the nights.

And then the next night I had to I had to you know, I didn't want to play any less time.

So I just tried to match it so I could give people an equal experience, you know.

Well, you've given us an amazing experience.

I can't tell you how much I love you.

I you've been one of my my Bonnaroo darlings for years.

So I'm just so happy that I'm just so happy that things are feeling so right in life for

you.

I think the music is exploding from you.

And I think that I'm not going to speak for everybody, but I'm glad to have you back.

I'm glad to have you back.

And thank you so much.

And thanks for being on the show.

This is a this is a big treat.

You were you were one of our top on top of the list when we started the show three years

ago.

So I'm very excited to have you to have you join us.

Thanks so much, dear.

Thank you.

It was good talking to you guys.

Thanks so much.

Bye, Grace.

Thanks so much, guys.

Thanks so much for having me.

Grace Potter on the WhatPodcast an absolute stunner.

She is a stunner in every aspect of life.

I just love everything about her.

I love what I the other thing I love, Barry, is that we keep putting people on this show

that I just enjoy as human beings.

Thank you.

That's exactly right.

And I think I mentioned that before we started talking is, as I found out throughout this,

they're just people.

You get to see a little bit more of it.

They're very talented people.

I mean, she can write a song with her car horn, apparently.

Well, I almost brought this up.

But remember LCD sound system on their last album, Patrick Murphy or James Murphy, Patrick

Murphy wrote an album, wrote a song based on the fan that was oscillating above his

head.

He sampled that sound and became Hey, baby, I'll give you everything today.

I'll give you one more.

The funky drummer, the beat that we all know from James Brown, Clyde Stubblefield based

that on a factory near his house here in Chattanooga and a train.

Really?

I didn't know that.

Yep.

Say that again.

Go through that one more time.

Clyde Stubblefield, Clyde Stubblefield, the funky drummer grew up here.

And if you hear it, you could hear the ch ch ch ch which he got from a train.

But there was a factory that had like a boom, boom, boom, a regular.

And he combined the two and he came up with the funky drummer beat.

No kidding.

I did not know that Chattanooga connection.

Look at the Barry Courter coming in clutch.

I just that's going to be you're writing an article about that, aren't you?

I have.

Okay.

It's big.

Is it?

Good.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Well, before we get to any too much further, these the music that you hear in between

segments, that's our buddy Nick.

He has got a band that is absolutely incredible.

Midist M I D I S T.

They're going to be part of the what podcast from here on out creating these amazing soundscapes

that I hope that you go support on band camp on Spotify, Apple Music, search Midist M I

D I S T.

I think of it a lot like study beats, you know, it just says those wonderful, you know,

atmospheric beats that are, you know, in you all the time that you can find a situation

that you're in.

You can find a Midist, you know, beat for it.

I absolutely in love with it.

And he's a fellow camp mate.

He's part of Camp Nut Butter.

I was going to say might be the most talented one.

Obviously, certainly the most quietly talented one.

He's the one that came up with the graphics.

Yeah.

If you've seen the Camp Nut Butter heads and the marquee, that was Nick.

Yep.

It's all Nick.

He's the Midist M I D I S T as well as our friends repeat repeat with the what podcast

theme song.

I know we keep saying this each and every week, but next week we're starting how to

make a hit.

It's a two parter.

It starts with an A&R guy, Mike Daly from Hollywood Records.

And then the second part, very exciting, will be somebody that is very important in my life

because he's my boss.

How to make a hit.

Two parter starts next week.

I know we keep putting it all putting it all put up, but I really want to get this Grace

Potter interview out there because I think that she's got something so important to say,

especially in the timeframe that she has to say it with the mental health awareness month

now behind us.

So there you go.

Thanks for joining the what podcast, which bands this year that matter the what podcast.com

please rate review the show on your Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast from.

It would really help us on the consequence podcast network.

It's Barry Courter Lord taco and Brad Stein will talk to you next week.

Love you.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next week.