Listen: Grace Potter Uncovers Shelved 2008 T-Bone Burnett Collaboration ‘Medicine’ with “Before The Sky Falls”
In 2008, Grace Potter stepped into the studio at a pivotal moment in her artistic development to cut a bold new record with T Bone Burnett. Together, the rising singer-songwriter and esteemed producer crafted Medicine, a project that so totally challenged expectations for the young artist’s expansive style that it wound up stuck on the shelf. Finally, after 17 years of advancing her singular approach to glimmering roots-rock, Potter has returned to her archives to dust off the lost project and share it with the world–starting with the opening track “Before The Sky Falls.”
Set to release on May 30 via Hollywood Records, Medicine is a time capsule from the first act of Potter’s career that captures the irrepressible creative spirit that has made her such a celebrated and unpredictable performer in the years since. The record was cut in the wake of 2007’s groundbreaking This is Somewhere with The Nocturnals and takes a sharp left turn from that uplifting and pop-tinged folk-rock to explore a deeper feeling. There’s a long shadow that looms behind Potter’s dusky, smoldering vocals, reflecting the chaos of life with a heavy-hitting and artfully dissonant arrangement on the gripping advance single.
Burnett first glimpsed Potter’s rising star through an a cappella treatment of 2005’s “Nothing but the Water” and jumped at the opportunity to work with her shortly after. His concept for Medicine was well defined before they set in at Los Angeles’ The Village Studios, and he enlisted a top-tier backing band of guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Dennis Crouch and keyboardist Keefus Ciancia to conjure the intensity he envisioned.
“This record brought me to a new understanding of the diversity of musicality I have within me—it showed me I had so much to share beyond the very male-based, ’70s-throwback, rock-and-roll thing I had been known for up to that point,” Potter reflected. “Maybe it was just so far behind its time or so ahead of its time that I needed to step away from it for a while, keep exploring and keep moving away from anything derivative. This is an album that truly belongs in its own space, and I’m so happy to finally give it the platform I know it deserves.”
Medicine is available to pre-order now. Listen to “Before The Sky Falls” here and learn more about Potter’s plans for 2025 at gracepotter.com.
Read on for the album’s full tracklist.
Medicine – Grace Potter:
Before The Sky Falls*
Losing You*
That Phone
Money
Colors
Low Road
Medicine
Make You Cry*
Oasis
Paris (Ooh La La)
To Shore*
Goodbye Kiss
(*previously unreleased)
