EAST BURKE, Vermont — Burke Mountain announces today the addition of rising star Grace Potter & The Nocturnals to the playbill for the 1st Annual Burke Mountain Music Festival.

“What a lineup,” beamed Burke Mountain general manager, Rich Hohman. “We are thrilled to be able to make this an even more incredible musical event by adding Grace Potter & The Nocturnals to the festival. With the band haling from Vermont and with their explosion onto the national scene, we thought it was the perfect addition to make our inaugural Music Festival something that the Northeast Kingdom will remember for a long time. September 29th is going to be a very special afternoon of outstanding music on Burke Mountain!”

The band released its acclaimed new CD, “This is Somewhere”, August 7th, and has recently appeared on the Late Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America, and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

To be held Saturday, September 29, 2007, the Burke Mountain Music Festival also features national recording artists Sister Hazel, and, Brian Vander Ark, lead singer and songwriter for the band The Verve Pipe. The event coincides with Burke Village’s 20th Anniversary Fall Foliage Festival, with a portion of all ticket sales being donated to “Kingdom Kids”, a not-for-profit association providing scholarships for children from Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom who are otherwise unable to participate in outdoor sports like skiing and mountain biking. A limited supply of tickets go on sale August 20th. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 the day of the show.

Sponsored by Ginn Resorts, the parent company of Burke Mountain since 2005, the Burke Mountain Music Festival will be staged directly behind the Sherburne Base Lodge, with amphitheater-style grass seating on the mountain’s lower slopes, from 3:00 to 8:00PM. The Festival is being co-sponsored by The Point, Vermont’s Independent Radio Network. To purchase tickets, or for more information about the 1st Annual Burke Mountain Music Festival, visit www.skiburke.com.

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, based in Waitsfield, VT, has gained national attention blending funky blues, soul and rock from the sixties and early seventies. They have independently recorded and released two albums, “Nothing but the Water” and “Original Soul”, and on August 7th released their new blockbuster CD, “This is Somewhere”, on the Hollywood Record label. In 2005, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals was nominated for two categories at the Boston Music Awards – Best Local Female Artist and Best New Local Act. In 2006, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals won the Jammy for Best New Groove and were nominated for two more Boston Music Awards: Album Of The Year for the re-release of “Nothing But The Water”, and Female Vocalist Of The Year (Grace Potter).

Sister Hazel, from Gainesville, Florida, blends elements of alternative rock, folk, and southern rock. The group is known for devoting much of their time to fans and charity events in the spirit of Mrs. “Sister Hazel”, the elderly coordinator of a homeless shelter in Gainesville, FL. The band’s 2006 album release, “Absolutely”, is its highest charting album on the Billboard charts and received 4 out of a possible 5 stars from the All Music Guide. Its most current release, “BAM!”, is a “hybrid” album, containing B-sides from the “Absolutely” recording sessions and some from previous albums.

Brian Vander Ark is the lead singer and principal songwriter for The Verve Pipe, which sold more than 3 million albums worldwide and produced a string of hit singles, including the #1 song “The Freshmen”. A Michigan native, Vander Ark’s gift is one of tremendous storytelling clarity expressed through melodies and rhythms that are unique, riveting, intensely personal and entirely gripping.