[Dixielandjazz] Grace Potter and The Nocturnals and Spiegel Wilcox

[Robert S. Ringwald]

>From USA Today:

This article from USA Today is on a Rock or Folk group named "
Grace Potter and The Nocturnals."



I am not quoting the entire article here, just a small part of it.  Read & 
you will see wy.



(snip)

The band's 2005 independent breakthrough,
Nothing but the Water
, has been re-released by Hollywood Records. Bob Cavallo, a producer who has
worked
with Prince, Little Feat and the Lovin' Spoonful, says there is a bluesy
wisdom and
confidence in Potter's music that belies her age. (She just turned 22.) He
now runs
Hollywood Records and says he was sold on the band after one listen in 2005.
"Her
voice has a smoky flavor that moves you," he says. "It just doesn't quit. It
absorbs
traditional blues, gospel, and yet it's Grace Potter."
A vision thing:
 Not bad for a band with a lead singer who can't read music and is legally
blind.
Potter says she can see adequately until things get more than 15 feet from
her. "I
don't want to wear glasses or contacts, but it's OK," she said. "It's just
blurry
objects, but I love it that way. I can tell people from shapes, hair color,
voice,
their vibe."
Small-town sponging:
 Potter says growing up in Waitsfield, Vt. (population 1,659), benefited her
musically.
"Coming from a place that's neutral grounds in terms of music means you've
got to
be a sponge for all the culture around you," Potter says. "It makes you earn
your
credibility."
A spectral fan:
 Performing before crowds comes naturally to her, and for that, Potter
credits talks
she had as a teenager with her great-uncle, Spiegel Wilcox, a Dixieland
trombonist
who played for big-band leader Tommy Dorsey and kept on performing until his
death
five years ago. "He'd tell me that some people are not going to like your
sound,
but that it was their problem, not yours," she says. "Sometimes now, when
I'm on
stage, I feel him up there, checking out to see what's going on. I feel like
he's
in my soul."
Contributing: Sam Hemingway writes daily for the Burlington (Vt.) Free
Press.
Posted 6/19/2006 9:53 PM
(snip)



--Bob Ringwald K6YBV
The Fulton Street Jazz Band

Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it,
but only you can feel the true warmth.