A brief history lesson: The band—now based in Waitsfield on some acreage owned by Grace’s parents that the locals affectionately refer to as “Potterville”--was formed in 2002 by Potter and Burr while attending St. Lawrence University in upstate New York. After Tournet joined them, the nascent unit recorded its homemade debut album, Original Soul, in 2004, with Dondero completing the lineup just weeks before they banged out their second album, the self-produced Nothing but the Water, in a 19th century haybarn-turned theater on the campus of Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt. The album was well-received by the press: No Depression’s Jeff Vrabel praised it for the frontwoman’s “youthful, windows-down abandon,” while Rolling Stone’s David Fricke intoned that Potter “is poised for bigger things.”

 

 

 

Five years ago, Brett Dennen was a camp counselor playing his guitar fireside. He began playing West Coast coffee shops and a devoted following formed. A modest indie deal led to his 2006 break-through album, So Much More, and the attention of tastemakers. Noting his success, Rolling Stone named Brett an “Artist To Watch in 2008.”

 

 

Canvas shorts and reggae music sound like summer spent by the water being lazy. Sean Bones is not lazy. Aside from holding down bass duties in indie sons Sam Champion, he designs and runs S/S Friends, Ltd.--a line of limited edition canvas shorts, zines, and vinyl based in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn--and cuts old-school reggae tracks under his own name.