Artist description Contemporary Country Music

Music Style New/Alterniteve Country

Musical Influences Loretta Lynn, Linda Rondstat, Emmy Lou Harris,Bonnie Raitt

Similar Artists Emmy Lou Harris, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womak

Artist History MC POTTS - Her music has been called charming, dynamic, exuberant, passionate, and that is what Critique/BMG artist, MC POTTS, brings to her performances. But it doesn’t stop when she steps off the stage. MC POTTS is all that and more whether she is working on her farm, writing hit songs, sitting for hours after a concert to sign autographs or touring around the globe performing her from-the-heart style of Country Music. MC Potts has been a Country Music fan since childhood. “When I was growing up, Country Music was all the horses would listen to at our barn,” she says with a smile. “I started riding horses when I was 9 years old,” she remembers, "I talked my parents into letting me move in with the family that was boarding my horse. They had a ranch and I did the whole 4-H thing, county fairs and all. It was great". MC still loves animals and it is evident in the menagerie of cats, dogs, horses, cattle, chickens, turkeys, doves, and chucker partridges not to mention the racoon that are there on the Tennessee farm MC and her hit songwriter husband, John Northrup, call home. “I was given a pig as a wedding present,” she laughs. “We were going to name him Murray it sounded too kosher, so we call him Norman after Norm on “Cheers.” MC’s early musical influences range from Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and Ronnie Milsap to Emmylou Harris, The Judds and Bonnie Raitt. Her father, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in vocal music, introduced her to the music of Manhattan Transfer, Sondheim and all the great composers from Broadway. MC has had another musical influence as well. “My Dad produced and directed Vaude-Villities in Columbus, OH. It’s the country’s largest and longest-running amateur variety show.” “My parents have been so supportive,” MC shares. “They are both very into my career.” MC’s first public appearance was a community theater production in which she shared billing with her actor/director father. The performance, which won great reviews, would later influence MC’s decision to change her collage major from nursing, [ “...After all, I was failing math and chemistry and I’m not that fond of hospitals or blood”] to the fine arts/vocal music program. She studied voice, theater, dance and had a band on the side. After leaving Ohio State, MC lived briefly in Texas and then opted to move to New York City. “It was the only logical choice at the time,” explains MC, "I had college friends there and I loved the food." In 1992, after 2 years of commuting between the `Big Apple’ and Nashville, MC decided Music City USA was where she needed to be. Nashville welcomed MC and within a year she signed a writing deal with Greenwood Music, sang some demos and, most importantly, met her favorite co-writer and future husband, John. In June 1995 MC signed with Critique Records. She released her first album, “Straight To You,” the following year. MC Potts’ debut album placed two singles, “Back When” and “Put Me Out Of My Misery” on the country charts in 1996. She received extensive video air play on CMT, TNN and CMT Europe, and her fans voted the video for her last single, "I'm So Sorry" into CMT's Top 100 Videos of 1997. BBC Radio added her album to the playlist for their country music fans, while here in the U.S. she was receiving over 4500 spins a week in radio markets across the country. Her 1996 touring schedule included opening for Diamond Rio, Charlie Daniels, David Lee Murphy, Confederate Railroad, Terri Clark, Tracy Bird, Bryan White and others. MC had repeat appearances on TNN’s “Prime Time Country” and the “Wildhorse Saloon” dance program. The highlight of MC's adventure was most definately her appearances on the Grand Ole' Opry and Midnight Jamboree. Despite an already hectic schedule she and John also found time to travel 40,000 miles visiting over 400 radio stations in '96 & '97. One thing MC knows for sure is that she always wants to stay close to her fans. She participated in Fan Fair '96 & '97, meeting and talking to over 3000 country music fans each time. She also discovered an on-line introduction to a worldwide country music audience. MC has developed an internet following that resulted in a “HANK” the internet version of CMA’s annual Best New Female Country Artist award. MC is currently revamping her website www.mcpotts.com and you can E-mail her too at mcpotts@aol.com. MC spends an hour every Monday night talking to her fans in her‘chat room’. Recently MC has been touring overseas doing USO Shows. She and her band have traveled to Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Turkey, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Croatia, Macadonia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt and Jordan. She has plans to tour the the South Pacific in the spring of 2001. MC Potts has rocketed into the spotlight in 1997 with a prestigious TNN Music City News “Star of Tomorrow” nomination. It was a proud moment for MC...A well-deserved moment, MC Potts is a raising star who has both feet planted solidly in the time-tested traditions of Country Music as she reaches confidently for its future.

Albums Straight To You, I'm So Sorry

Press Reviews COUNTRY WEEKLY-March 18,1997 MC POTTS "Straight To You" When MC POTTS sings, people listen. That became dramatically apparent at a recent bash in my home when someone slipped this Ohio native’s powerful debut album onto the stereo - and every conversation in the room suddenly stopped dead in its tracks. MC is all country but you don’t have to be a country fan to be mesmerized by her haunting voice. It’s a voice that draws listeners inexorably into any mood the lady wishes to convey, from a defiant “One Sided , Too Long” to the melancholy “Just Enough To Go On” and all stops in between. When any newcomer pops onto the music scene, and especially one as intriguing as this, it's only natural to compare her with those who have preceded her to the top of the charts. And if you didn’t hear a bit of Lorrie Morgan’s woman-child styling on this album’s title cut, or Emmylou Harris’ crystal clear lonesome sound in “Put Me Out Of My Misery” or Alison Krauss’ provocative purr from start to finish, you just aren’t listening. Put it all together, and this former Nashville demo singer has a seductive, persuasive sassy way all her own. And fortunately, on this gem of a first album, the mix allows MC’s voice to grab center stage and stay there. On an album dominated by her heart-tugging songs of love lost and soon-to-be lost, MC Potts is provided every opportunity to prove her worth as both singer and songwriter (she co-wrote three of the cuts with hit songwriter hubby John Northrup). She makes the most of her big break, and this beautiful blonde is going to be around for a long, long time. Joe BergerMusic City News-March 1997 MC (with no periods) Potts has a fresh, light voice with more than a touch of soul. The former demo singer can belt a song or whisper one with great intensity and handles the 10 cuts on this album with ease. Her father was a vocal music major so Potts was raised on all the great Broadway composers as well as listening to her favorite county singers: Emmylou, Patsy, Loretta and the Judds. She decided to study nursing but gave it up after coming to the conclusion that she didn't like hospitals, sick people or blood. So she Eventually found herself in Nashville, with a writing job as Greenwood Music. In her press biography, she says that "the most important quality a song has is its ability to touch my heart." She chose all the songs on that basis, starting off with the uptemop title cut, the sunny and toe-tapping "Back When," and the Tammy Wynette-type ballad "Just Enough To Go On," which she co-wrote with her husband John Northrup, and Gerald Smith. Potts proves to be a capable songwriter with her song "Why DO I Do This To Me" one of the album's highlights, and also on "It Ain't Over". "I love this business and hope I never stop developing as a songwriter and a singer," she says. "I think if you finish growing , you're finished...and I plan to be around a long, long time." (Avex-Critique) By D. Proctor

Additional Info Fan Review From Amazon.Com: from Anne Dyer Stuart of Texas, April 6, 2000 , MC Potts has her own personalized blend of country that is both gentle and yet posessing a sophisticated underlying strength that is a hard mix to pull off. Her songs are so well-picked that the album reads like a novel and her delivery is wise and angelic. She had a new single that was on CMT about two years ago called "Sorry" but she hasn't put out another CD and I hope she does. If you can get your hands on "Straight to You" you won't be led astray.

Location Nashville, TN - USA

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