Thursday, March 15   1:00 a.m.
Cedar Street Courtyard   (208 W 4th St)

Add this to your SXSW Calendar

Meet Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, a Hammond B-3 organ-fueled blues-rock quartet with a panache for music from decades past. The band's stirring blend of talent and hard work has earned them a loyal and rapidly expanding audience throughout the U.S.

The quartet is led by 22-year-old phenomenon Grace Potter, whose vocal chops have drawn comparisons to legends like Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin, while her scintillating work behind the B-3 conjures up visions of Stevie Winwood, Garth Hudson and Billy Preston. Potter's musical soulmates, the Nocturnals, are Scott Tournet (lead guitar, harmonica, vocals), Bryan Dondero (upright/electric bass) and Matthew Burr (drums/percussion).

They recorded their DIY debut album, Original Soul, in 2003 while still attending St. Lawrence, then returned to Vermont in 2004, whereupon Dondero replaced the original bassist, locking in the lineup and initiating another growth spurt.

Nothing but the Water marks a quantum leap beyond Original Soul, which gained the group rave reviews and several thousand fans early on. The self-produced follow-up, filled with heady songs and muscular performances, was recorded during one intensive week at the Haybarn Theatre on the campus of Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt.

"It was our intention to make an album that sounded like it was made in 1973, and we did it," says Tournet. "We wanted to make a record that was intelligent, cohesive and accessible, like the records we love." Burr added, "We were dreaming of albums like Neil Young's Harvest and the Stones' Exile on Main Street, where they went into a comfortable environment with natural reverb that wasn't necessarily built as a studio. That's where we were coming from, and we're pretty psyched with the final product. It definitely captured the warmth and vibe we wanted."

The band's spirited and inventive blend of blues, americana and rock n' roll conjures up a nostalgic sound very much like what you'd find in a record collection from the '60s and early '70s-a collection these avid young vinyl junkies are well on their way to recreating.