On Friday night, Aug. 11, more than a hundred people gathered to say grace: Grace Potter, that is. The Vermont-based band Grace Potter and the Nocturnals came to Newmarket’s Stone Church last autumn, to such good response that the venue decided to invite them back for the outdoor series they’re sponsoring at Durham’s Mill Pond Center for the Arts this summer. A plethora of fans with their lawn chairs, picnic blankets and coolers made it look like a backyard party.

Wearing worn-in cowboy boots and tight jeans, Potter opened up the night of blues-rock with “Mystery Train.” It took the crowd a little while, but by the fourth song, “Left Behind,” they were up and moving. The stage was a wooden deck built off of a barn, and the down-to-earth, Waitsfield, Vt.-raised Potter seemed right at home.

This was the last show of a national tour celebrating the release of “Nothing But the Water,” the “last night of a long journey,” Potter said. She compared the tour to summer camp, where in the beginning you’re not quite sure you want to be there, but by the end you’re sad to leave. The band’s energy reflected this as Grace alternated between her signature work on the Hammond B-3 to multiple guitars and her tambourine. Drummer Matthew Burr had an upbeat solo, and Bryan Dondero played an upright bass solo that made even Potter cheer.

While a little plaster owl perched on a speaker watched from above, they played a new song, “It Ain’t No Time,” which the crowd instantly took to.

Potter has a soulful, sultry voice that guys swoon over, and she sings lyrics that the ladies relate to. With surprisingly strong voice for her small physique, she belted out words that connected with the audience, leaving the crowd hating “Joey,” feeling empathetic during “Ragged Company” and inspired throughout “Nothing But the Water.”

It is always refreshing when the band is having just as much fun as the crowd. After one long set and a poignant encore, Potter left the crowd yearning for more.