You shouldn't feel judged when you are dancing or singing at the top of your lungs or existing in a maximum-expression way.
— Grace Potter
The rainy season in Vermont is not long, but it definitely gets gloomy.
I was a bit of a film nerd as a kid.
Living on the road can make you feel quite displaced. Cooking a meal on the tour bus for everyone makes it home.
I'm quite a nurturing person, and I'm more a mom than a crazy, partying rock star.
It took a lot of years for me to get comfortable, strutting my stuff, dancing like a fool, having that sparkly dress on that says, 'Here I am.'
So much of myself is consumed with earning my way, doing it myself, and never feeling like things are being handed to you. Growing up that way was humbling.
There's something to be said for being sleepy-eyed. I love sleepy eyes - that sort of vulnerability of being slightly discombobulated because you don't know where you are. But I like that vulnerability. It's sexy to me.
Honestly, I don't think I ever really was a sweet country girl. I think that was a misconception about me. I was always bad.
It's funny: when I was a kid, my mom would reorganize the record collection all the time. She'd have classical, she'd have Celtic, she'd have rock and roll, and then she'd have female singers. And I don't like it that female singers are their own genre.
Food has always been a passion for me from a very young age.
Being on a major label is like living at your friend's parent's mansion: It's a lot nicer than any apartment we could afford, and the fridge is always full of food.
What I'm wearing changes everything about how the show goes. If I'm wearing blue jeans and flannel, it's going to be a country show, and I'm going to get my twang on. But if I'm wearing a flapper dress, fringe or sequins, I'm rocking out, Tina Turner style.
I hear it all the time: 'What happened to the Grace Potter who didn't used to wear makeup?'
Love yourself. Then find something to love beyond yourself.
Set lists are like movies. They need a great beginning, a dynamic shift in the middle, and bang at the end.
I see musicians like Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris as more than just musical icons: they are planets, with a gravitational pull - from how they flip their hair just-so when they bow, right down to their hearty backstage banter. It takes decades to learn the innuendos of being gracious and genuine all at once.
As long as you have balance, you can experience all of the things going on in the world and reach out and meet people and try new things, and you shouldn't be judged for it.
I usually start with a lyric or a melody and then build a song around that.
There are daily stresses on the road, but when everyone gets fed, everyone gets happy. Simple.
I love cooking... I'm quite domestic.
I know what it takes to gain a fan.
As a kid, I was not a tomboy; I was a total girl wearing tutus and red shoes.
I'm from Vermont, where to be stylish and cool is to have a dirty pair of hiking boots and know how to change a tire, hang drywall, and bale hay. Those people are my home, and every time I come home, it reminds me that there's something to be said for being in the spotlight, but it can never be a whole part of me.
There's nothing less sexy than a girl falling over on stage. I have fallen once, but it had nothing to do with my shoes. I'm legally blind, so I fell over a monitor because the stage was black, and I had no depth perception. Mortifying.
Voting is something that we all have a right to. It's not something that we have to do... it's absolutely an honor and a great opportunity to be heard.
I always think it's a little bit of a challenge when people sort of associate female artists as their own genre.
I loved the experience of going to the farmers' market, seeing where your food is grown, turning it into something delicious.
We are all just the tip of a pinprick of the millions of things that had to happen in order for us to be here.
Ever since I was a little girl, I loved dressing up.
For all the flack that we get for becoming successful, you get people who really respect how firmly planted our feet have been in Vermont.
Follow your path unapologetically. Be compassionate.
We are definitely a team, from each band member to our management/booking agent. I like to be as involved as possible with business decisions, but at a certain point, it's important to me to step aside and let the professionals do their thing.
I've been singing since I could talk. I started playing the piano when I was about 5 or 6. I picked up the guitar on my 20th birthday.
A lot of the themes that I write about are an affirmation of our existence on earth and making people feel like they are not alone, and making them feel like it is OK to be a little bit insane. That has always been sort of my credo in life.
I'm a very loud and outspoken creature.
I grew up spending summer Saturdays at the local farmers' market, where my mom was a vendor. It fueled my passion for regional foods.
I don't have any kids of my own, but I love my band, and I love the people I'm around and taking care of them.
I worked extremely hard at my craft and at being a good songwriter, being a good guitar player, being a good organist, because I didn't think people would take me seriously.
I know it's strange, but I've always had a better time with other people's wild ideas. Coming up with my own is a deeply emotional and challenging thing to do.
Obvious is not my forte. I take a left turn right when everybody thinks I'm going to go straight.
I love a great pair of shoes, and as long as I feel like I can walk in them, I can dance in them.
Being a rock and roll band is about spending time on the details so that you can hone your own identity.
It's easy for me to write songs but hard for me to write an album; that's been my experience.
When people see a talented girl, it calls to mind the very rare breed of women who have managed to succeed. If I were a dude with the exact same voice, band and songs, I doubt they'd compare me to Sheryl Crow. But hey, I'm not complaining. Big fish, small pond.
My mom was a piano teacher. It turned into something of a competition between me and her students... I liked the idea that I needed to be better than everybody else.
The misconception about the record company is that they were the ones who got me wearing short skirts, or got me to do my hair blond, or got me to dance around onstage and start doing different things with my clothes. No, that was actually all me.
Think about what makes a band burn out. They get too successful too fast. And then they take it for granted. And they get entitled. And they get picky. We don't ever allow ourselves that possibility.
Spirituality is complicated. I do not belong to any particular religious group, but I have profound respect for people who devote their lives to faith.
I always loved the piano because it's just a bunch of buttons. I like to push buttons.
