New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Known to millions as a semi-finalist on season 8 of The Voice,
Sarah has since gone on to release a critically-acclaimed debut solo LP 'Monster' in 2016, which prompted Rolling Stone to gush, "Potenza is to the blues what
Adele is to pop: a colossal-voiced singer who merges her old-school influences with a modernistic sound."
'Road to Rome' is an album of self-empowered R&B, swaggering soul, and contemporary blues. Co-written by Potenza, her husband Ian Crossman and friend Justin Wiseman, produced by Jordan Brooke Hamlin (Indigo Girls, Lucy Wainwright Roche), and recorded with a female-heavy cast of collaborators, the record isn't just her own story. It's the story of all artists — particularly women, who remain the minority within the male-dominated music industry - who've learned to trust their instincts, refusing to let mainstream trends dilute their own artistic statements.
Sarah will join Melissa Etheridge, Shawn Colvin,
Paula Cole and many more on The
Melissa Etheridge Cruise III March 31-April 7. See upcoming dates below.
Upcoming Shows:
Sun, March 31 - Sun April 7- The
Melissa Etheridge Cruise
Fri, April 19 House Show - Woodinville, WA
Just who is
Sarah Potenza? She's a songwriter. A bold, brassy singer. A businesswoman. A proud, loud-mouthed Italian-American from Providence, Rhode Island, with roots in Nashville and an audience that stretches across the Atlantic.
Filled with messages of self-worth, determination, and drive,
Sarah Potenza's Road to Rome shines new light on the songwriter whose career already includes multiple albums as front-woman of
Sarah and the Tall Boys, a game-changing appearance on The Voice, and an acclaimed solo debut titled Monster.
Writing sessions for Road to Rome took place aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean, as well as at her home in East Nashville. It was during the cruise that she first began writing songs with Justin Wiseman, a piano player from Austin, TX. For years, she and her husband, Ian Crossman, had worked together as a duo, splitting their musical duties more or less equally, writing songs with guitar in hand, and merging their very different influences. This was something different, though — something about the piano that allowed Potenza the chance to rediscover her own voice, making an album whose unique approach to soul music was entirely her own. Although Crossman and Wiseman's contributions as co-writers can be heard throughout Road to Rome's tracks, the album represents a strong shift in dynamic, with Potenza leading the charge.
When it came time to record Road to Rome at MOXE, Jordan Brooke Hamlin's Nashville-area studio, Potenza looked to a wide range of musicians for influence. She turned to Whitney Houston. To Lauryn Hill. To Pops Staples, the Dirty Projectors, RL Burnside, Bette Midler, and more. Those artists gave her inspiration not only on a musical level, but on an emotional and thematic level, too. They were artists who spoke with conviction, chasing their own muses into unique, personalized territory. Potenza did the same, turning Road to Rome into an album filled with everything from the torch song balladry of "
Earthquake" (a love letter to Crossman, thanking him for years of support ) to the funky fire of "Dickerson and Queen" (where Potenza howls, swoons, and croons over bass grooves and swirling organ, reminding everyone that, "I don't give a fuck about nothing but the music"). She even makes room for a piano-propelled cover of "Worthy," originally written by Grammy-nominated icon Mary Gauthier, who personally sent the song to Potenza.
Set for release on International Women's Day 2019, Road to Rome is the sound of a songwriter taking the wheel and driving toward her own destination. This is
Sarah Potenza's strongest album to date: a battlecry from a soul singer and blues belter, shot through with pop melodies, rock & roll attitude, and absolutely zero fucks.
www.facebook.com/sarahpotenzamusic
www.sarahpotenza.net
More Praise for
Sarah Potenza:
"Potenza is to the blues what
Adele is to pop: a colossal-voiced singer who merges her old-school influences with a modernistic sound."- Rolling Stone
An empowerment anthem can be a beautiful thing, a dramatic transcending of suffering's isolating power. But what's glorious about
Sarah Potenza's blistering, riff-propelled personal anthem "
Monster" is that it doesn't seek to transcend the unpleasantness of her reality — the fact that she's been told countless times in countless ways that the body she inhabits is socially unacceptable. Instead, we hear a woman's fierce determination to stay present, to stare down those who would shame her, to revel in her corporeality.- NPR ("Song We Love")
"You won't find any gimmicks on Monster, just pure unadulterated rock and roll. As such, it should find an audience among Americana/Roots enthusiasts and traditional rock fans. Rolling Stone called her a "rock 'n soul powerhouse" and Potenza has been rightly compared to commanding divas like Janis Joplin,
Etta James even Aretha Franklin. We concur."- No Depression
"Despite boffo ratings each year, NBC's The Voice doesn't have a strong track record of transforming contestants into stars. Hopefully that changes with
Sarah Potenza—a casualty during season 8—whose scorching, take-me-as-I-am "Monster," the title track to her debut album, might be the year's most spirited girl-power anthem. Potenza cut her teeth singing covers in
Chicago blues bars before becoming a fixture in the East Nashville music scene, and she combines a fiery voice and crunchy roots rock with a distinct flair for showmanship."- Garden & Gun
"Whether you're new to Potenza or not, you need to hear this voice which has the power not only to move you. She might heal you too."- Elmore Magazine.
