Desert island albums: Here's what Grace Potter, Nicotine Dolls, Barns Courtney and others would bring with them

It’s a simple enough question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what three albums would you want with you?

Plenty of bands who either played or were scheduled to perform in Pittsburgh this fall offered their choices, with albums ranging from big band to gospel to alternative rock, and only one repeat: Paul Simon’s “Graceland.”

Grace Potter

• Dean Martin’s greatest hits

• “Exotica,” Martin Denny

• “Led Zeppelin II,” Led Zeppelin

Blues/rock singer Grace Potter was scheduled to play at Stage AE in November, but an illness cancelled that concert, with a new show set for January.

Grace Potter: “Oh my god, I love this. OK, let me think about it. I think it’s gotta be — and it’s a little bit of a cheat but — probably Dean Martin’s greatest hits. This is gonna be really tricky. I think probably the Martin Denny ‘Exotica’ record. It’s sort of like Hawaiian music … it’s incredible. It’s got that like ah ha ha oh (sings) enchantment. ‘Martinique’ is the name of the song I’m thinking of, but the album itself is ‘Quiet Village: The Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny.’ It’s a desert island, so you gotta have some desert island-sounding music. And then probably ‘(Led) Zeppelin II.’ Yeah, that feels like it’s all the different corners of me.”

Read more: Grace Potter on her love of Pittsburgh, ‘Mother Road’ album, ‘Lady Vagabond’ and driving fast

Sam Cieri, Nicotine Dolls

• “Eyes Open,” Snow Patrol

• “Born to Run,” Bruce Springsteen

• “22, A Million,” Bon Iver

New York rockers Nicotine Dolls played a sold-out show in October at Crafthouse.

Sam Cieri (singer): “My mom was a big Top 10 pop fan, so I listened to a lot of pop records of the ’00s and love them. A record I can put on anytime or place and instantly get taken to being 16 falling in love for the first time is Snow Patrol’s ‘Eyes Open.’ There is something that for me feels like cold air walking going to concerts with someone you love in that teenage full abandon way.

“Second would have to be ‘Born To Run.’ It’s a perfect record that is so specific, (Bruce) Springsteen never did something so romantic in its sweeping arrangements. It’s a movie record that I heard for the first time when I moved to NYC at 19, and it was just right time right place to really affect me in a cellular way where I think you can always hear some of that record in our music.

”And lastly Bon Iver’s ‘22, A Million’ sits as a record that stuck me right through the center first time I heard it. Justin Vernon is a master songwriter, and he put the genre of singer-songwriter in this wild place that feels so masterful in craft, production, and delivery. It’s a gold standard record.”

Read more: Nicotine Dolls singer Sam Cieri discusses ‘America’s Got Talent,’ the band’s name and Indiana Jones

Barns Courtney

• “Graceland,” Paul Simon

• “Nevermind,” Nirvana

• “Exile on Main St.,” Rolling Stones

Singer/songwriter Barns Courtney played headlined Mr. Smalls Theater in October.

Barns Courtney: “Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ album is very close to my heart. My mom used to play it obsessively when I was like nine years old. I’m almost certain for the express reason that one of the songs says, (sings) ‘My traveling companion is nine years old, he is the child of my first marriage,’ which was entirely true that year. And, you know, I always loved it for sentimental reasons, but then growing up as I sort of learned more about music, I started to realize just how phenomenal and innovative it is. And no matter how many times I come back, there’s always something new in there that I’m deeply impressed with, whether it’s the lyrics or the recording process or how he wrote the songs in New York and then hired, you know, an entire South African band to play on it. I mean, that process is just fascinating to me. He would just get guys in, like an accordion player, to be like, ‘Yeah play like whatever you want for like two hours’ and then he’d go back and choose like the coolest bits and then shove them somewhere. You gotta write ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and (stuff) like that first so yeah, that’s a great record.

“What else? Probably the ‘Nevermind’ album by Nirvana. You know, like it’s a very obvious pick, but I stand by it. That record was my single link back home when I moved from Seattle to Ipswich, and it’s also just an incredible example of songwriting. I’ve always been fascinated by ‘Lithium’ how you can write such an emotive chorus with the word ‘Yeah’ and some balls. You know, it’s just a master class in finding a balance between authenticity and melody. It’s really, really truly a beautiful work of art.

“And then I’m not sure what the third one would be. Maybe something like ‘Exile on Main Street.’ Or maybe Vampire Weekend’s first record. That was really good. Oh, that’s a hard one. Maybe like a Beatles record. Or that album ‘Fantasy Black Channel’ by Late of the Pier. They were these 16-year-old kids in England. And they wrote one of the most innovative albums way ahead of their time called ‘Fantasy Black Channel.’ And they were a phenomenon. They were like a boy band age but making this really, really great, challenging, forward-thinking music. And then they just disappeared and just dropped off the face of the earth. Yeah, it’s really an incredible album. And it was a pioneering album too.”

Read more: Singer Barns Courtney bringing Supernatural World Tour to Pittsburgh

Jason Pierce, Spiritualized

• 3 soul and gospel compilations, Cairo Records

Jason Pierce, the mastermind of English neo-psychedelic band Spiritualized, played Mr. Smalls Theatre in November.

Jason Pierce: “What three records? Only three? Yeah, I mean, apparently I like the Cairo records, which would kind of satisfy that. Cairo Records, it’s kind of an offshoot of Mississippi Records from Portland, and they put out soul and gospel compilations. So I’d get three of their three-album deals, so it can be nine discs of soul and gospel, which would kind of keep me occupied for a while.”

Read more: Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce on touring, ‘Amazing Grace’ rerelease and modern music

Jordana Bryant

• “Speak Now,” Taylor Swift

• “÷ (Divide),” Ed Sheeran

• “Blown Away,” Carrie Underwood

Rising country singer Jordana Bryant played at Mr. Smalls in November and recently released a new single, a cover of Chris Rea’s “Driving Home for Christmas.”

Jordana Bryant: “I would say, ‘Speak Now’ by Taylor Swift. I would say ‘Divide’ by Ed Sheeran. And, oh gosh, third album, that’s really tough. There’s so many. There’s so many that I love. I would say another Carrie Underwood. I think it was called ‘Blown Away.’

“That’s a really tough question. I will say I’m more of a single person. I will like pick out singles and add them to playlists and I definitely do listen to albums all the way through, but it’s tough for me to stick with one. But I would say that I feel like Ed Sheeran’s ‘Divide’ album is one of the best albums of this decade. There’s genuinely, I think, no bad songs on there and I could listen to it all the way through and same thing with ‘Speak Now’. I think it’s a really awesome album. And yes, and then the Carrie Underwood one, I think it’s just one that so many of my favorite songs are on there.”

Read more: Country singer Jordana Bryant on missing Pennsylvania, turning 18 and Christmas music

Barbaro

• “Graceland,” Paul Simon

• “Brown Sugar,” D’Angelo

• “Desire, I Want to Turn into You,” Caroline Polachek

Minneapolis bluegrass/roots band Barbaro released their latest album, “About the Winter,” in October and had been scheduled to play in Pittsburgh before the tour was cancelled.

Kyle Shelstad (guitar/vocals): “I’ll throw one out that’s always my answer is Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland.’ I remember being a kid and driving some early morning to like soccer practice or something, my dad was driving me and put that on and it instantly blew my mind wide open. I took it out of his car and burned a copy for myself and then obsessed over it for a long time.”

Jason Wells (bass/vocals): “I’ll go D’Angelo ‘Brown Sugar.’ I remember quite a few years where that’ll be my travel album of choice, you know while I’m riding on the bus, lot of years from college taking the MegaBus to and from Chicago to where I grew up in Detroit. And that’d be the first album that I put on as I sit on the bus getting ready to make the trip. And I just have a lot of fun memories of that album so that’d be what I would take with me.”

Rachel Calvert (fiddle/vocals): “I so struggle with these kind of questions and really bad at making decisions like this. Right now I’ve been listening to Caroline Polachek’s ‘Desire, I Want to Turn into You’ like non-stop since it’s come out and I think it would be a good selection because it has a very diverse range of moods and sound so it would be one you can listen to you on a lot of different levels before you get really, really sick of it.”

Read more: Minneapolis trio Barbaro discuss new ‘About the Winter’ album, band’s growth and sound

Samia

• “Burn Your Fire for No Witness,” Angel Olsen

• “I Love You, Honeybear,” Father John Misty

• “Heaven is a Junkyard,” Youth Lagoon

Indie pop singer Samia played the Club at Stage AE in October and will be back at Stage AE in June, opening for Bleachers.

Samia: “‘Burn Your Fire for No Witness’ by Angel Olsen because I saw myself in that record at a young age. ‘I Love You, Honeybear’ by Father John Misty because I think it’s some of the best songwriting of all time and this new record by Youth Lagoon ‘Heaven is a Junkyard,’ it’s my favorite record of this year.”

Read more: Indie pop singer Samia on headlining shows, collaboration, ‘Honey’ and famous parents