"I work for me," Sarah Potenza declares at
the beginning of Road to Rome, kicking off her second solo album — a record of
self-empowered R&B, swaggering soul, and contemporary blues — with her own
declaration of independence.
Filled with messages of self-worth, determination,
and drive, Road to Rome shines new light on a songwriter whose career already
includes multiple albums as front-woman of Sarah and the Tall Boys, a
game-changing appearance on The Voice, and an acclaimed solo debut titled
Monster. Released one year after she sang in front of 12 million people during
The Voice's eighth season, 2016's Monster prompted Rolling Stone to gush,
"Potenza is to the blues what Adele is to pop: a colossal-voiced singer
who merges her old-school influences with a modernistic sound." That sound
deepens and intensifies with Road to Rome, an album that shows the full scope
of Potenza's aims and ambitions.
And just who is Sarah Potenza? She's a songwriter. A
bold, brassy singer. A businesswoman. A proud, loud-mouthed Italian-American
from Providence, Rhode Island, with roots in Nashville and an audience that
stretches across the Atlantic. Road to Rome spells it all out. Co-written by
Potenza, produced by Jordan Brooke Hamlin (Indigo Girls, Lucy Wainwright
Roche), and recorded with a female-heavy cast of collaborators, the album isn't
just her own story. It's the story of all artists — particularly women, who
remain the minority within the male-dominated music industry — who've learned
to trust their instincts, refusing to let mainstream trends dilute their own
artistic statements.