Grace Potter Medicine 180g 2LP

Way back in 2008—before the Grammy nominations, the steady stream of sold-out tours and critically acclaimed records, the co-signs from rock royalty like the Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop, and many more—Grace Potter holed up in an L.A. studio with the legendary T Bone Burnett and cut an album unlike any other in her wildly expansive body of work. Made with a crew of musical luminaries, the Burnett-produced LP captured Potter at a moment of profound metamorphosis, then wound up shelved. After joining forces with her former label Hollywood Records to unearth those recordings from deep in the vaults, Potter at long last presents the official release of Medicine: a powerhouse album that's equal parts archival gem and thrilling new addition to her extraordinary catalog.

Recorded at The Village Studios, Medicine strays far from the high-spirited roots-rock of Potter's earliest work, bringing a shadowy intensity to her soul-baring songs of lust and longing and self-salvation. To carve out the sonic landscape envisioned for the album, Burnett enlisted his longtime collaborators Jim Keltner, bassist Dennis Crouch, guitarist Marc Ribot, and keyboardist Keefus Ciancia. "It was like being in a masterclass every day," says Potter. "I was so game for whatever T Bone wanted to try, whether it was making space for my voice to really ring out or letting the music swallow me whole so I could drown a little bit and then come back to the surface." Over the course of its 12 songs, Medicine achieves a hypnotic power thanks to the charmed interplay between Potter's shapeshifting voice and the sonic exploration of her collaborators.

Despite the undeniable success of Potter and Burnett's collaboration, Hollywood Records decided to put Medicine on the backburner in favor of developing the demos she'd recently created with multi-Grammy-winning producer Mark Batson (Alicia Keys, Dr. Dre, Dave Matthews Band)—a prolific musical partnership that eventually led to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' 2010 self-titled album.

Since the making of Medicine, Potter has forged a formidable career that's included sharing the stage with the likes of Robert Plant, Allman Brothers Band, the Rolling Stones, and Mavis Staples, in addition to earning three Grammy nominations (including Best Rock Album for her critically lauded 2019 album Daylight and another for a 2011 collaboration with country superstar Kenny Chesney).

"Medicine 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 '70s-throwback, rock-and-roll thing I had been known for up to that point," says Potter. "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."