You’ve probably seen her. Maybe she was shredding a Flying V while wearing a sparkly mini-dress, or maybe you heard that powerhouse rasp on a country radio hit and wondered, Wait, who is that? Honestly, pinning down the best songs by Grace Potter is like trying to catch lightning in a mason jar. She’s a shapeshifter. From the bluesy, stomp-your-boots roots of the Nocturnals to the neon-soaked synth-pop of her solo era, her discography is a wild, beautiful mess.
Most people know "Paris (Ooh La La)" because it’s basically impossible not to stomp your feet to that riff. But if that’s the only track on your playlist, you’re missing the actual heart of her work. We’re talking about a woman who can go from a Joplin-esque growl to a delicate, heart-shattering whisper in the span of a four-minute track.
The Nocturnals Era: Where the Smoke and Soul Began
Back in the mid-2000s, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were the "it" band for anyone who missed the 1970s. They weren’t faking it. They lived in a barn in Vermont, for heaven's sake. That raw, unpolished energy is all over tracks like "Nothing But the Water (I)." It sounds like a baptism in a muddy river.
If you want to understand her early songwriting, look at "Apologies." It’s a gut-punch. She wrote it at 18 about a guy she moved into a barn with, and the lyrics are basically a transcript of their actual breakup conversation. It’s awkward, it’s raw, and it’s painfully human.
Then came "Paris (Ooh La La)." Fun fact: she recorded that song eleven different times before it finally clicked. She bought that Flying V guitar and decided she needed to write a song that "earned" her the right to hold it. It’s a song about owning your sexuality and your power, and it became the catalyst for everything that followed.
✨ Don't miss: Cuba Gooding Jr OJ: Why the Performance Everyone Hated Was Actually Genius
The "Stars" Mystery and the Weight of Grief
When The Lion The Beast The Beat dropped in 2012, "Stars" became an instant standout. It’s shimmery and acoustic, but the story behind it is heavy. Grace wrote it as a tribute to a dear friend who struggled with mental health and was eventually found in a river.
"I wrote it as a means of comfort for anyone in a grief-stricken moment," Grace once mentioned.
What’s wild is how fans took it and made it their own. She’s had people tell her the song is about getting sober, or about a lawyer who screwed them over in a divorce. That’s the magic of the best songs by Grace Potter—they’re specific enough to feel real but broad enough to fit into the cracks of your own life.
The Solo Pivot: Why "Midnight" Divided Fans
In 2015, Grace did something that scared the purists. She went solo and released Midnight. Suddenly, the Hammond B3 organ was replaced by synthesizers and disco beats.
🔗 Read more: Greatest Rock and Roll Singers of All Time: Why the Legends Still Own the Mic
"Alive Tonight" is the big one here. It’s glossy. It’s fun. It’s... pop? Fans who wanted "Medicine" Part 2 were confused. But honestly? It was Grace being herself. She’s always loved disco. On tracks like "Empty Heart," she proved she could write a hook that sticks in your brain for days while still keeping that signature vocal grit.
The Mother Road: A Return to the Dirt
Fast forward to 2023. After a few years of heavy personal stuff—a divorce from her bandmate Matt Burr, a move back to Vermont, and a devastating miscarriage—Grace hit the road. Literally. She took four solo cross-country trips on Route 66.
The result was Mother Road, and it might be her best work yet. The title track is a "plea for redemption." It’s got this cinematic, Morricone-style vibe.
- Lady Vagabond: This one is basically a Western movie in song form. Grace claims she had a "paranormal experience" recording it at RCA Studio A, feeling like the ghosts of Waylon Jennings or Porter Wagoner were whispering lyrics in her ear.
- Little Hitchhiker: This is a tender, piano-led reflection on the time she actually ran away from home at age nine. She wore a tutu and red socks and told the neighbors her name was Lola Vasquez.
- Masterpiece: The album closer is a bit of a "fuck you" to expectations. It’s cabaret-pop. It’s autobiographical. It covers everything from losing her virginity to being a teenage kleptomaniac.
What You Should Listen to Right Now
If you’re building a "Best of Grace Potter" playlist, you can’t just stick to the hits. You need the deep cuts to see the full picture.
💡 You might also like: Ted Nugent State of Shock: Why This 1979 Album Divides Fans Today
- "Medicine": It’s tribal and swampy. She wrote it about a "policy woman" (a gambler), but it feels like a spell being cast.
- "Release": From her 2019 album Daylight. This is Grace at her most vulnerable, singing about the fallout of her life falling apart and finding the courage to start over.
- "Something That I Want": Yeah, the Tangled song. It’s pure joy. Sometimes you just need a song that makes you want to dance around your kitchen.
- "The Lion The Beast The Beat": This is her "epic" track. It starts with a haunting melody and builds into a wall of sound that showcases her incredible lung capacity.
Why It Still Matters
Grace Potter isn't interested in being a one-note artist. She's a "road warrior" who keeps reinventing herself because she has to. Whether she's singing "Gimme Shelter" with Mick Jagger (which she actually did) or writing a country-soul anthem with Natalie Hemby, the thread that ties it all together is her honesty.
She's admitted she used to "cloak her carnal themes in metaphor" because she was afraid of being too real. Those days are over. The newer songs by Grace Potter are messy, loud, and unapologetic. They reflect a woman who has stopped trying to fit into a genre and started just being a "vagabond masterpiece."
If you want to dive deeper, go find a live recording of "Nothing But the Water." Listen to how she holds those notes until the audience is breathless. That’s the real Grace Potter. No synths, no gloss, just a voice and a soul that won't sit still.
Start with the Mother Road album if you want the "now" version of Grace, but don't sleep on the early Nocturnals records like This Is Somewhere. They’re the foundation of everything she’s built. Check out her live performances on YouTube too; she’s one of those rare artists who is actually better live than in the studio. Just don't expect her to stay in one place for long.