Catherine Popper (born December 28, 1973) is an American bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. She is best known for her work with

Jesse Malin Jesse Malin (born January 26, 1967) is an American rock musician, guitarist, and songwriter. Starting his performing career in the New York hardcore band Heart Attack, and rising to prominence as vocalist of D Generation, a solo recording arti ...

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals The Cardinals were an American rock band that were formed in 2004 by alternative country singer-songwriter Ryan Adams and fronted by him until 2009. The band was featured on Ryan Adams and the Cardinals albums, ''Cold Roses'', '' Jacksonville ...

, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

. Popper is also a member of a trio called

Puss n Boots Puss n Boots is an American alternative country band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2008 that consists of members Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper. Their debut full-length album, ''No Fools, No Fun'', was released on July 15, 20 ...

with

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

and

Sasha Dobson Sasha Dobson (born March 31, 1979) is an American jazz singer from Santa Cruz, California. Early life Dobson comes from a musical family. Her father, Smith Dobson (Smith Weed Dobson IV, 1947–2001) was a pianist who recorded with Mark Murphy ...

. She released her first single, “Maybe It’s All Right” on Velvet Elk Records in 2020.

Early life

Popper was born and raised in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

. She started playing upright bass when she was 9 years old, and attended the

North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

for high school where she studied classical string bass. For college, she studied jazz bass at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in m ...

Career

From 2004 to 2006, Popper played bass, double bass, and sang back up vocals for

Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, artist, and poet. He has released 23 albums, as well as three studio albums as a former member of alt-country band Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams lef ...

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 Grace Evelyn Potter (born June 20, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who formed Grace Potter and the Nocturnals in 2002. Potter released her debut solo record ''Original Soul'' on 2004 via Grace Potter Music. Potter and her b ...

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 Mark Batson is an American producer, musician and songwriter. He has worked on albums by artists including Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews Band, LeAnn Rimes, Anthony Hamilton, Eminem, India Arie, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Maroon 5, Skylar Grey, Grace Potter an ...

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 The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production ...

'', performing "Travel As Equals" with

Joseph Arthur Joseph Arthur (born September 28, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. He is best known for his solo material, and as a member of Fistful of Mercy and RNDM. Arthur has built his reputation over the years through ...

. In 2013, Popper appeared on four tracks on

's tenth studio album, ''

The Ballad of Boogie Christ ''The Ballad of Boogie Christ'' is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur, released on June 11, 2013 on Real World and Lonely Astronaut Records. A concept album, ''The Ballad of Boogie Christ'' follows "a fictionaliz ...

''. In May 2012, she replaced

Bryn Davies Brinley Howard Davies, Baron Davies of Brixton (born 17 May 1944), known as Bryn Davies, is a British trade unionist, actuary and politician who was Leader of the Inner London Education Authority in the early 1980s. Davies graduated from the ...

in Jack White's all-female band "The Peacocks". In April 2013 Popper appeared on

Mike Doughty Michael Ross Doughty ( ; born June 10, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and author. He founded the band Soul Coughing in 1992, and as of '' The Heart Watches While the Brain Burns'' (2016), has released 18 studio albums, live albums, and ...

's crowd funded album ''Circles Super Bon Bon...''. She then toured with Mike Doughty and drummer

Pete Wilhoit Pete Wilhoit is an American drummer and a member of the band Fiction Plane. Musical career Wilhoit grew up Bloomington, Indiana and attended Indiana University, where he studied jazz and percussion. His teachers included David Baker, Shaw ...

in support of the album between October 16, 2013 and November 23, 2013. In December 2013 and June 2014, Popper performed with Molly and the Zombies with

Brian Fallon Brian Fallon (born January 28, 1980) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main lyricist of the rock band the Gaslight Anthem, with whom he has recorded five studio albums. H ...

of The Gaslight Anthem, Brian McGee of Plow United and Randy Schrager of the

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) ...

. The group released five songs for free online. Since 2015, Popper has played bass and provided back up vocals for

's backing group and she has appeared on all of his releases since then. She also appeared on ''Nothing Is Anywhere'', the 2016 album by Malin's band

D Generation D Generation (also known as DGen) are an American glam punk band formed in 1991 in New York City. They released three albums and several EPs, to much critical acclaim, before breaking up in 1999. In 2011 the band reunited for a series of show ...

. In July 2016 she was again with Grace Potter & The Nocturnals in Guitar Center Sessions.

Discography

with Hem *'' Rabbit Songs'' (2001) *'' Eveningland'' (2004) *'' No Word From Tom'' (2006) with Ryan Adams and the Cardinals *''

Cold Roses ''Cold Roses'' is the sixth studio album by alt-country singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, released on May 3, 2005 on Lost Highway. The album is his first with backing band The Cardinals, and the first of three albums released in 2005. ''Cold Roses' ...

'' (2005) *''

Jacksonville City Nights ''Jacksonville City Nights'' is the seventh studio album by American alternative country singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, released on September 27, 2005 on Lost Highway. The album is Adams' second with The Cardinals, and the second in a trilogy o ...

'' (2005) *'' III/IV'' (2010) with Willie Nelson *''

Songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5000 ...

'' (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 *''

'' (2013) with Mike Doughty *''Circles Super Bon Bon'' (2013) with Jack White *'' Lazaretto'' (2014) with Puss n Boots *''

No Fools, No Fun ''No Fools, No Fun'' is the debut full-length album by Brooklyn-based alt-country trio Puss n Boots, released on July 15, 2014, through Blue Note Records. It is a collection of five original and seven cover songs originally performed by artists i ...

'' (2014) * ''Dear Santa EP'' (2019) * ''Sister'' (2020) with Levon Helm *''The Midnight Ramble Sessions Vol 3'' (2014) with Jesse Malin *''New York Before The War'' (2015) *''Meet Me At The End Of The World'' (2017) *'' Sunset Kids'' (2019) *''Lust for Love'' (2020) with Brian Fallon *'' Painkillers'' (2016) with D Generation *''Nothing Is Anywhere (2016)'' with Bash And Pop *''Anything Could Happen'' (2016) with She And Him *'' Christmas Party'' (2016) with Manolo Garcia *''Geometria del Rayo'' (2018) Broadway Cast Recordings *''Head Over Heels Broadway cast recording (2018)'' *''Diana cast recording (2020)'' Film and Television *''Short Bus (2006)'' *''Vinyl: Music From The HBO Original Series Vol 1 (2016)'' *''The Only Living Boy in New York (2017)'' *''The Irishman (2019)'' *''Marvelous Miss Maisel (2019)'' *''The Joker (2019)''

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20110719095353/http://www.gracepotter.com/band/catherine-popper/ * *http://www.jambands.com/news/2011/11/14/catherine-popper-leaves-grace-potter-and-the-nocturnals/

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popper, Catherine 1973 births Living people American rock bass guitarists Women bass guitarists Musicians from Charlotte, North Carolina Grace Potter and the Nocturnals members 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American bass guitarists