It had been over a year since I’d been to the Knitting Factory, and I’d forgotten how much the floor “rolls” when the bands play. It’s almost as if the music generates and pushes a wave across the floor, and you rise up and down to the beat of the music.
Well, Grace Potter and the Nocturnal rolled into town last week after playing Bonnaroo earlier in the month. Formed in Northeast part of the U.S. (Vermont), it’s surprisingly how much country music plays an influential role in the composition of their music. You can pretty much read about this fact anywhere, but this fact always oversimplifies the complexity of their sound.
Both blues and gospel embody a large portion of their sound. Examples of this observation can be seen the songs, “Treat Me Right” and “The Big White Gate”. These songs are largely held together by both the piano and slide guitar and backed by Grace’s gospel-like spiritual wails.
“The Big White Gate”, which was written for Grace’s grandmother, displays soul, starting with Grace playing her piano alone. It’s as if she singing to an empty church, a bit afraid to fully open up and sing to an audience. Then, joined by Scott Tournet’s slide guitar, the music and the passion in her voice explode; her slight trepidation is gone; she opens up; and she begins singing to a suddenly, fully crowded church. It is also a moment that demonstrates the band’s ability to infuse more traditional rock n’ roll into their sounda fact that’s later punctuated by the emergence of Grace’s Flying “V” guitar, an iconic image of classic rock.
Flying “V” guitars aside, the real star of the band is Grace Potter, and her wonderfully raw and powerful voice. Comparisons have been drawn between her and Janis Joplin, Lucinda Williams and Bonnie Raitt. I see Janis Joplin more, but on “Me and Bobby McGee”, and you’ll start to get the idea. Not quite as raw, of course.
Steel Train
As I was waiting for Steel Train to take the stage, I saw an older lady with a Steel Train T-shirt on, so I decided to approach her and ask her what Steel Train sounded like. I started talking to her, and quickly discovered that I had just met the biggest Steel Train fan in the world. She was crazy in love with the band, and admittedly had difficulty describing just how much the band meant to her. She did use the words “rocking” and “soulful”, but was visibly frustrated that she couldn’t completely describe their sound.
Perhaps, their website describes them best as “equal parts rock, country, bluegrass, Latin, funk and jam”and I think that gives them justice. This night at the Knitting Factory, Steel Train played loud and hard, rocking outand even working in a song that they performed acappella. They also managed to sneak in a cover of Wilco’s “I Got You (At the End of the Century)”, which was fantasticand which showed their “alt-country” musical influences.
That night, Steel Train gave full vent to every musical impulse in their collective souls, and spoke volumes to who they really are.
