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reviews

sarah potenza road to rome

3/17/2019

1 Comment

 
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​Sarah Potenza from the album Road to Rome available as a self-release
In an ideal world, Sarah Potenza would be filing her recent release, Road to Rome, in the self-help section under a category of Big Voices with even Bigger Messages. Not having an existing spot to sit, however, is not a stop for Sarah Potenza. Road to Rome is a manifesto for the East Nashville, Tennessee musician, the songs DIY guides to musical movement for both the mind and body. Sarah Potenza owns the characters in each story, wearing the skin of the woman standing on the corner of “Dickerson and Queen” preaching that ‘I don’t give a fuck about anything but music’ and the presence in the room for “Earthquake” as she slaps down a resume reading ‘I’m not an oyster, baby I’m a big pearl’ in “Who Do I Think I Am” while Road to Rome lights the torch with truth to lead a processional march into the title track.
 
Released on International Women’s Day, Road to Rome speaks openly to the women of the world though its words, and messages, not gender specific. Kicking down the doors of Road to Rome, Sarah Potenza sets the first cut, “I Work for Me”, as a mission statement. Produced by Jordan Brooke Hamlin (Indigo Girls, Lucy Wainwright Roche), Road to Rome is a female heavy production, the community vocals joining in for touring-band-anthem “Keep on Holdin’” provided by Elizabeth Cook, Lenesha Randolph, Tonya Boyd-Cannon, and Alanna Royale. A funky strut is included in the price of a listen to “I Believe” as Sarah Potenza offers an apology in “Earthquake”, puts a percussive beat under the memories of “Happiness”, and shines in the light of self-awareness for “Diamond”.
 
Listen and buy the music of Sarah Potenza from AMAZON
 
https://sarahpotenza.net/
 

LISTEN:
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​The Words of Sarah Potenza:
 
On live performance:
 
I have the songs on this album to motivate and to inspire. It is what I want to say to people. I am out there performing a hundred or more shows a year and these songs are well beyond cathartic. if I didn't have the music, I wouldn't be who I am. I would be getting depressed about life, and this way I get to express my feelings rather than keeping them locked up inside. I'm multitasking up there. I watch videos and spend a lot of time working on myself in terms of my performance and what I can manage. I watch my videos to figure out which songs I'm going to be able to sing, considering the order to match the wear on my body. I need to do cardio and I need to think of the tour physically. I need to think about the entire show for every night, what I am doing for a set list and what I can handle.
 
I have to look to myself for the music I make. When you start to consider what your fans expect to hear in your voice and in your songs, you have already lost the battle. I'm not one of those people that feel I'm too cool to sell my own CDs I do it all. I am in my own small business.
 
On music school training:
 
At the risk of offending, I think there is a great deal of shame with our school system. Problems with the state schools. The class given provide books to negotiate everything in music and how to write a song though they really do not tell you what to do with that training afterwards, or how to exit in the music industry. I had hippie parents wo never stopped me from pursuing my dream. Art programs in schools do not provide the same support system. There has to be a better way
 
 
 
 
On living in your own skin:
 
“Who Do I Think I Am” (from Road to Rome)….well, the title really came from my performance on The Voice. I was asked for a cold audition by The Voice producers. Someone had seen one of my videos on YouTube, and The Voice people called me up and asked me to come in for audition, and what do you do with that. Do you say no? It was really difficult to perform on The Voice when you are part of a community that is completely anti-The Voice. I auditioned and I got selected. A lot of people didn't even say congratulations or anything as I was walking around town. They would ignore me. I received an email from Todd Snider after the show that was supportive. At the very end of the note, he had a PS that read ‘this is going to hurt you, call me when you know what that means’.
 
I've also designed a series of YouTube videos which have to do specifically with how we view ourselves. The series is called Five Minutes of Fat Fashion. I have it storyboarded and the intro song. I started this because I am so tired of hearing that we don't sell this in your size.
 
 
Recording Road to Rome:
 
When I was recording Monster (the previous release from Sarah Potenza), I suffered some setbacks. I was suffering from a medical condition and I really lost the connection to my inner voice. The distractions in everyday life are colossal and I had to remind myself that I have to do what I want to do this album. My first three albums, I really was into Americana and I got the chance to do something different with Road to Rome and to tell you abo
1 Comment
Michelle Babian
1/15/2020 07:50:03 am

You performed in church with you in NY state, you blew the roof off with your husband by a lake. You are awesome! I”m 68 and you fed my dying fire, I had just needed a nine year relationship. Thank you! Your Road to Rome is in my car CD player with Maria Schneider. You are both giving me life force. I am recouping my love for life and that relationship leaving was good for us both we're like an expanding universe.
I hope this finds you well and making music nothing but music!
Michelle Babian

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