Catherine Popper

Catherine Popper (born December 28, 1973) is an American bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. She is best known for her work with Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Jack White. Popper is also a member of an all-female trio called Puss n Boots with Norah Jones and Sasha Dobson.^[1]

Early life

Popper is was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. She started playing upright bass when she was 9 years old, and attended the North Carolina School of the Arts for high school where she studied classical string bass.^[2] For college, she studied jazz bass at the Manhattan School of Music.^[3] She has previously cited Soul Coughing's Sebastian Steinberg as an influence on her playing style.

Career

Popper toured and recorded with "alt-country phenom" Hem, and also played with Rachelle Garniez's Fortunate Few and Shimmerhead.^[4]

From 2004 to 2006, Popper played bass, double bass, and sang back up vocals for Ryan Adams with his backing group, The Cardinals. She also shared songwriting credits for many songs on the band's albums. Starting in 2009, Popper joined Grace Potter and the Nocturnals on tour and for the band's self-titled fifth album Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, released on June 8, 2010. The album was produced by Mark Batson and debuted at #19 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums. On November 14, 2011, Popper announced her departure from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals for the "foreseeable future" on her Facebook page.

In January 2012, Popper appeared on Late Show with David Letterman, performing "Travel As Equals" with Joseph Arthur. In 2013, Popper appeared on four tracks on Joseph Arthur's tenth studio album, The Ballad of Boogie Christ.

In May 2012, she replaced Bryn Davies in Jack White's all-female band "The Peacocks".

In April 2013 Popper appeared on Mike Doughty's crowd funded album Circles Super Bon Bon....^[5][6] She then toured with Mike Doughty and drummer Pete Wilhoit in support of the album between October 16, 2013 and November 23, 2013.^[7] This was ironic because in May 2000, Popper, then a Soul Coughing fan, approached Mike Doughty at a bar. Mike drunkenly barked at her for talking about Soul Coughing, which he'd freshly split from. The two laughed about this event during a promotional interview for their album they worked on together, thirteen years later.

In December 2013 and June 2014, Popper performed with Molly and the Zombies with Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem, Brian McGee of Plow United and Randy Schrager of the Scissor Sisters.^[8] The group released five songs for free online.

Discography

with Hem

• Rabbit Songs (2001)
• Eveningland (2004)
• No Word From Tom (2006)

with Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

• Cold Roses (2005)
• Jacksonville City Nights (2005)
• Easy Tiger (2007)
• III/IV (2010)

with Willie Nelson

• Songbird (2006)

with Rachael Yamagata

• Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart (2008)

with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

• Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (2010)

with Joseph Arthur

• The Ballad of Boogie Christ (2013)

with Mike Doughty

• Circles Super Bon Bon (2013)

with Jack White

• Lazaretto (2014)

with Puss n Boots

• No Fools, No Fun (2014)

with Jesse Malin

• New York Before The War (2015)

with Brian Fallon

• Painkillers (2016)

References

External links

• http://www.gracepotter.com/band/catherine-popper/
• http://www.billboard.com/artist/303049/grace-potter-nocturnals/chart
• http://www.jambands.com/news/2011/11/14/catherine-popper-leaves-grace-potter-and-the-nocturnals/
• http://www.thisissomewhere.com/2012/07/07/catherine-popper-on-the-road-with-jack-white/