Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' lead vocalist was guitarist, keyboardist and organist Grace Potter (known for her skill on the
Hammond organ) who attended
Harwood Union High School before going on to
St. Lawrence University for two years until she ultimately dropped out to pursue music professionally. In addition to lead vocals, Potter plays
Hammond B3,
Fender Rhodes,
Wurlitzer electric piano and electric (including the
Gibson Flying V) and acoustic guitars. The other members of the band are Scott Tournet, on guitars (including
slide guitar) and harmonica), drummer Matthew Burr, Michael Libramento on bass guitar and keyboards, and Benny Yurco on electric guitar and vocals. Bryan Dondero played bass guitar, upright bass, and
mandolin with the group until his departure in early 2009. The band was originally formed in late 2002 when Burr saw Potter perform folk songs in a student-run venue called The
Java Barn on the St. Lawrence campus. Burr approached Potter about starting a band, citing
James Brown and
The Band as musical influences he heard in Potter's voice and original songs. The band first existed as a trio with a bass player named Cory Beard and played an early show at a venue in Waitsfield, VT. where Scott Tournet opened the show with a female singer as a duo and joined the Nocturnals for part of a set. In the spring of 2003, Burr invited guitarist Tournet to join the group, thus cementing the founding members of the band that would become Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Beard would no longer be in the band at that point. The group independently recorded and released one album,
Nothing but the Water in 2005 with Charlotte, VT, sound engineer Lane Gibson. An older album,
Original Soul (2004), was a solo release from Potter, also recorded and mastered by Gibson. Following extensive airplay on Vermont
Adult Album Alternative radio stations
WNCS and
WEBK, the band signed a deal with
Hollywood Records in December 2005 and re-released
Nothing but the Water on May 23, 2006. In 2005, the band was nominated in two categories at the
Boston Music Awards, for "Best Local Female Artist" and also for "Best New Local Act". They also performed at the awards ceremony. In 2006, the band won the
Jammy Award for "Best New Groove" and was nominated for two more
Boston Music Awards: Album Of The Year (major) for the re-release of
Nothing but the Water, and Female Vocalist of the Year (for
frontwoman Grace Potter). Potter played Hammond Organ and sang lead vocals alongside
Joe Satriani,
Steve Kimock,
Reed Mathis,
Willy Waldman, and
Stephen Perkins during that appearance. They played a
cover of
Neil Young's "
Cortez the Killer", to a
standing ovation. The group released its second album,
This Is Somewhere, on August 7, 2007 on Hollywood Records and toured that fall supporting
Gov't Mule for its October and November North American tour. Their song "Apologies" was featured on the American television shows
All My Children,
Kyle XY,
One Tree Hill, and
Brothers & Sisters, and the song "Falling or Flying" was featured on the hit drama shows
ER and ''
Grey's Anatomy'' and appeared on
Volume 3 of the latter's soundtrack. The band backed up
The Black Crowes on their North American tour in the summer of 2008. On August 2, 2007, the band made their network television debut on
NBC's
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This was followed by appearances on
ABC's Good Morning America on August 7, 2007 and
CBS'
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on August 10, 2007. In 2008, the group opened for the
Dave Matthews Band for three dates: a two-night stand at the
Saratoga Performing Arts Center in
Saratoga Springs, New York June 20–21, and June 24 at the
Tweeter Center in
Mansfield, Massachusetts. The band played a full set at the
Mile High Music Festival on July 20. In November 2008,
Bose began using "Ain't No Time" in their North American iPod SoundDock sales displays. Hollywood Records released the news on May 11, 2009 that
T-Bone Burnett would be producing a new project with Potter, tentatively scheduled for fall of 2009. The project was deemed as a solo collaboration and both Potter and Burnett spoke very highly of the project to the press. By November 13, the band posted a new release date for the album, pushing it back to spring 2010. Hollywood Records shelved the T-Bone Burnett album in favor of a true band album, released June 8, 2010.[17] The album was produced by
Mark Batson, with "Tiny Light" as the first single. The video for "Tiny Light" was shot in
Los Angeles during February 2010 with director Paul Minor. During the
2009 Bonnaroo Music Festival, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, along with playing their own set, joined
Gov't Mule and
moe. on stage for their shows. Potter and Tournet joined Gov't Mule onstage, while with moe. they replaced the band members one by one during moe.'s five-hour set and played four of their own songs to be rejoined by moe. in a musical collaboration known as "A Hostile Takeover". In 2010, the band appeared on
Almost Alice, the companion soundtrack for
Tim Burton's feature film
Alice in Wonderland, with a
cover version of
Jefferson Airplane's song "
White Rabbit". The band appeared at
Hangout Music Festival on May 15, 2010 in
Gulf Shores,
Alabama. Potter appeared as a guest on stage with
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, singing vocals for "St. James Infirmary Blues" and joined Gov't Mule on a cover of "
Gold Dust Woman". In late May 2010, Vermont specialty chocolate maker Lake Champlain Chocolates created a new chocolate bar in conjunction with Grace Potter called
Grace Under Fire. The dark chocolate contains pistachios and red pepper flakes. On the eve of their eponymous album release date, the band announced on
Facebook and
Twitter that they were going to perform a free concert on
Burlington, Vermont's
Church Street Marketplace the following day. The hour-long concert attracted thousands of viewers and became a huge local media story. The band sold merchandise and hosted a meet and greet with fans for three hours following the concert. The group released their third studio recording,
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, on June 8, 2010. Catherine Popper was brought in to replace Dondero on bass. On July 19, 2010, as a launch to their second single from
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the band premiered the video to "
Paris (Ooh La La)" on
Hulu. Potter also wrote a track titled "Something That I Want", which was performed on
One Tree Hill. In 2010, she re-wrote some of the lyrics and Disney chose it to be featured during the closing credits of their 50th animated feature
Tangled, which Potter sang by herself. The movie
soundtrack was released on November 16, 2010. The group made an appearance at the
80/35 Music Festival in
Des Moines on July 3, 2011. On December 3, 2011, Grace Potter performed a live set for "
Guitar Center Sessions" on
DirecTV. The episode included an interview with program host,
Nic Harcourt. On January 1, 2012, the group recorded a cover of
the Beatles' classic hit, "
All You Need Is Love," and released it as a single. On February 9, 2012, Grace Potter announced the title of their upcoming fourth studio album,
The Lion the Beast the Beat, noting that they collaborated with
The Black Keys member Dan Auerbach. On October 3, 2012 Grace Potter appeared at the "
Love for Levon" tribute show to
Levon Helm held at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ. Saying that "(t)his is one of the great pleasures of my life," Potter performed "
I Shall Be Released" by
Bob Dylan. This song was performed by
The Band accompanied by many guest stars such as
Ringo Starr and Bob Dylan in "
The Last Waltz" concert held on November 25, 1976 at the
Winterland Ballroom in
San Francisco. On May 11, 2013, bandmates Grace Potter and Matt Burr were married. In April 2015, Scott Tournet posted to social media that he would not be touring in support of Potter's solo album. In November 2016, Tournet clarified in an interview with JamBase that he doesn't "play in that group anymore. I was a big part of that group and it was a big part of me but that chapter is officially over." On June 23, 2015, Potter was presented the "ASCAP Harry Chapin Vanguard Award" by
World Hunger Year for "her endless work towards defeating world hunger". In 2017, Potter and Burr announced their divorce,
Collaborations Recorded between tours during the summer and fall of 2004 at the band's
Waitsfield rehearsal space,
Depart So Slow featured the songwriting of singer/guitarist Scott Taylor with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals providing musical backing. It was engineered and mixed by Nocturnals guitarist Scott Tournet. In 2008, Potter recorded a version of "I Want Something That I Want" with
Bethany Joy Galeotti (
One Tree Hill) on a track from the acoustic sessions from
One Tree Hill. In addition to this collaboration, Potter also served as guest composer in the seventh episode of the show's sixth season, "Messin' With the Kid". Potter appeared as herself on the show, performing "I Want Something That I Want" with Galeotti's character
Haley James Scott. She also performed "Ah, Mary". In 2009, Potter was featured on the track "Ordinary Man" by fellow Vermont singer-songwriter
Gregory Douglass on his album
Battler. Potter contributed again to
One Tree Hill in the show's eighth season. Various artists covered
Gavin DeGraw's hit song "
I Don't Want to Be" to be played over the show's opening credits. Potter contributed her cover for the eighth episode of the season,
Mouthful of Diamonds. Potter sang on the track "
You and Tequila" on the 2010 album ''
Hemingway's Whiskey'' by
country music singer
Kenny Chesney. Chesney joined the Nocturnals when they opened on October 30 for
The Avett Brothers at the
Ryman Auditorium in
Nashville. She also sang with Chesney again on "
Wild Child". In 2013, the group performed at the
2013 NCAA Finals Big Dance in Atlanta, GA, and in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, at the
Rock in Rio festival. Potter is featured on
Gov't Mule's 2013 album
Shout! providing lead vocals for the song "Whisper In Your Soul." The song debuted on September 5, 2013, when Potter performed with Gov't Mule at the first annual
Lockn' Festival in Arrington, VA. On June 3, 2015 (in Minneapolis, MN), and June 6, 2015 (in Arlington, TX), Grace Potter opened for
the Rolling Stones during the
Zip Code Tour, and joined them onstage to perform "
Gimme Shelter". ==Other appearances in the media==