Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Grace Potter, 26, hails from Vermont, and she's big on the jam-band scene, but her neoblues has subtlety and concision you don't often find with noodle-dancers. The Nocturnals' third disc tilts from Janis Joplin-esque bluster, to laid-back singer-songwriter soul that recalls a toughened-up Norah Jones, to Alanis-like blasts of epic recrimination. Potter's youthfulness can make for flower-soup lyrics but backlit by a no-nonsense band that massages Memphis grooves, light rock and pinot-noir reggae, it all bursts with promise.