Meet Jake Potter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Potter.

Hi Jake, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in a newspaper family. A lot of my childhood memories were in the newsroom. Later, I’d do some stringer work and go get a journalism degree myself.

There weren’t any musicians in my family, but they have their own passion for music. I picked up the guitar early on, but never took singing that seriously. A lot of the bands I listened to were off-center like that, too. It’s like that Whiskeytown song: “So I started this damn country band, ’cause punk rock was too hard to sing.”

I see myself today as the union of those two ideas. Some of my favorite music, at its core, is about telling stories that otherwise go unnoticed.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Playing music isn’t for the faint of heart. There are more barriers to entry for aspiring musicians in Raleigh than there should be. I’ve been fortunate, but we have to do what we can to support others and keep Raleigh’s music scene on an upward trajectory.

This record we just put out is my first. As an independent musician, it can be challenging to cut a path without a map handy. Thankfully, I have a lot of folks much smarter than me who are along for the ride.

If I take nothing else from this experience, it’s opened the door to meeting so many great people.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My debut record came out in October — it’s called Apparitions. There’s a really rich history of alternative country and American music coming from Raleigh that goes back decades, all the way to the old Piedmont folk and blues days.

This EP is really about ghosts, hence the title. Most of the songs have their own kind of spirit haunting the lyrics. On “The Maco Light,” it’s an actual ghost — Joe Baldwin, a brakeman who died in a train accident down south of Wilmington in the 1860s.

Clay Conner and I put together the record with a full-band arrangement. He’s an incredible guitarist who has picked up the pedal steel and created a really classic sound. I knew we needed to marry that with a rock-and-roll attitude to tell these stories how I first heard them in my head.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jakepottermusic.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakepottermusic
• Facebook: facebook.com/jakepottermusic
• Youtube: youtube.com/jakepotter
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4RfsCTYZ4kYoBFrkLos1nV?si=1fL15f0dQ5-oJHFulZ5qGQ

Image Credits
Brian Powell, Justin Ashley, and Danny Crapanzo