The leadoff single for Courtney's upcoming record "11 Chances" heads to AAA and commercial radio at the beginning of February. Please contact you're local (or favorite online) stations and request "Circles."
Influences
Jeff Buckley, Jim White, Emmylou Harris, Joe Henry, Patty Larkin, Patty Griffin, Yortoise, Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, Rickie Lee Jones, Stars, Willie Nelson, Gin Blossoms, The Be Good Tanyas, Everything But The Girl, Gillian Welch, Wilco, etc.
Sounds Like
"Courtney Fairchild has been moving around for a few years, and this collection of poetic and personal songs centers on journeys, physical and emotional. Fairchild's songs concern her own travels, but the feelings they describe are universal enough to provoke a flash of rocognition...The atmospheric songs sound like letters to someone important from her past, and she uses her lovely smoky voice and top-notch band to do them justice." Kay Cordtz, Elmore Magazine
"It’s the voice. It’s the voice that will ultimately stop you dead in your tracks as you saunter drunk from the bar to the foul one-stall bathroom of a smoky club. It’s the kind of voice that evokes a sincerity and grit you feel deep inside, allowing you to almost telepathically envision the tortured life-story of an artist in one 4 minute song." Cat Veit,
rockhermag.com
"All the beauty and trappings mainstream pop/country has to offer." Matt Cohen,
Adequacy.net
"11 Chances by Courtney Fairchild is a CD with a number of beautiful ballads and alt rock numbers that lies midway between Wilco and Bonnie Raitt." Johan Shoenmakers,
Altcountryforum.nl
"The alt-pop sound is full enough for radio, which means that Fairchild’s still-mesmerizing voice is sometimes more than an additional instrument in the well played mix. When her voice dominates, as it does on, for example, 'Constellate'...Fairchild accomplished her goal, at least with this listener; I don’t feel hungry after listening to 11 Chances." Tom Geddie, Buddy Magazine, April 2009 (see blog section for complete review)
"Cool, upbeat acoustic grooves..." Ayo, Quick
"Enhances, rather than detracts from, the phrase 'pop music' with personal, intimate, and well-written songs..." Tom Geddie, Buddy Magazine, 2007
"A sweet-voiced singer whose torch songs were a lovely antidote to the blasting rock music at nearby clubs..." Stephen Kinzer, New York Times
"What you'd expect at an open mic - only good..." Matt Weitz, Dallas Morning News
I have been tasked with writing my biography…a new record - another publicity campaign – another jaunt across the country playing shows – another chance to reach your ears and, assuming a job well done, your heart. While I would love to thrill you with the grandiosity of my musical feats over my decade as a songwriter, I’m generally not the type to gloat about the glory of beer-soaked nights in smoky bars, seemingly endless road trips in cars that resemble
(in appearance and odor) rolling locker rooms, or detailed descriptions of couches and floors on which I have slept. Besides, in depth descriptions and discourse on all of these topics can be found in the biographies of my peers. I would hate to be repetitive, or worse, shatter your image of a working musician’s life.
Suffice it to say I have played my fair share of shows across the country in smoky bars, many of which bear legendary names and many of which do not. I have shared the stage and recorded songs in rooms with many of my heroes, most of whom would not incite the smallest glimmer of recognition were I to list their names, as well as a few whose names might potentially ring a bell in the recesses of your mind. You might have unknowingly heard a song or two of mine in the background while watching TV, assuming you’re into reality television. Ultimately, none of these things will accomplish the task of telling you who I am as a songwriter and musician. So, I digress and hereby abandon the aforementioned topics.
I came into the world in 1981 which has always seemed to be a bit of a cosmic joke. Had I been born twenty years earlier, you most likely would have run into me in Los Angeles in the ‘70s playing alongside songwriters who are “more my speed” than the vast majority of my contemporaries. I am a Texan born and raised in Dallas which has always been an odd fit. However, I spent the first twenty-four years of my life there, so it will always be my home and its influence over my character is abundant, even if it’s not always apparent in my accent or political leanings.
I have been a singer since I could open my mouth and utter a tune, a gift bestowed upon me by my mother who has always had a deep love and appreciation of music. At the age of fourteen I began writing, and like most kids my age, I had a fleeting love affair with the music of my youth. Combined, the two led to my rescue of the crappiest Yamaha guitar ever made from the depths of the hall closet. By seventeen, with the help of a fabulously patient guitar instructor, I began to write and perform my own songs. I befriended many local Dallas musicians, all of whom were at least a decade my senior. With their help, encouragement, and constant willingness to distract the bouncers at the doors of various clubs and bars while I snuck in, I became a regular performer at the haunts of Dallas’ finest songwriters and performers.
At eighteen, I released my first record independently which, through a series of events that could fill hundreds of pages, led me to Los Angeles, CA. It was there that I met and began to work with the staff of Stanley Recordings. Between 1999 and 2002 I took numerous trips during breaks from my studies in creative writing at the University of Texas at Dallas to record what would become my second record, Long Way, with Stanley Recordings engineer and producer John Would. In 2002, I signed with the label which has been my musical home since. Through my friendship and work with John I was introduced to a myriad of new music (Joe Henry, Rickie Lee Jones, American Music Club…) that opened my eyes to the limitless intellectual and emotional depths that songwriting can reach when approached as a true art form. I found refuge and identity with these writers on the fringes of mainstream music. Since then I have dedicated my energy and time to producing songs that create that kind of refuge for my listeners.
In 2006, after what can only be described as an embarrassingly typical few years of growing pains (heartbreak, lost friends, marriage, divorce), I was offered the opportunity to move to Philadelphia to work at the new home of Stanley Recordings label operations. While the studio remains in California, Jeff Silberman (who, along with John Would, co-founded Stanley Recordings in 1996) relocated to his hometown of Philadelphia. During a drunken summer night Jeff offered to bring me north to embark on a new chapter of my career. After a sober conversation the following day, his offer stood, and in November of that year I arrived at the front door of Stanley Recordings East in Philadelphia.
In September of 2007 my third Stanley Recordings release Quit was ushered into the world. My long-time Texas drummer, Gabriel Martinez, was somehow convinced to leave the familiar comforts of Dallas for what he would most likely describe as “the frozen badlands of Philly” to play with Jeff and I full-time. Keyboardist and vocalist Ami Verrill rounds out the band with John flying in from L.A. to play guitar on occasion. Quit went on to receive airplay at AAA and commercial radio stations across the county. It also gave us a great excuse to play shows all across the south and northeast.
What can a native Texan say about life in Philadelphia? At the end of the day, they are different planets. There’s the miracle of waking up to snow on the ground and the reality of having to dig your car out of it. There’s the comfort of a more liberally minded environment and the adjustment to what I can only describe as “the Philadelphian mentality.” There’s the pride of a city that once knew the meaning of the word ruin and lived to tell the tale. There’s the real live cast of characters that populate my day-to-day, none of whom could be any more interesting or subversive had they been dreamed up by likes of Hunter S. Thompson, Katherine Dunn, or Tom Robbins. Having left the homogonous sprawl of Dallas, all of the things about my new home (both good and bad) have affected me deeply.
During the summer of 2008 I sequestered myself in a friend’s guest house and wrote the majority of my latest record, 11 Chances. Fueled at times by copious amounts of bourbon and an illness that left me with a fever and a series of bizarre dreams, I hammered out the skeleton of the record. The basic tracks were recorded with my band over three days in October 2008. The following month, I flew to Los Angeles to record vocals and put the finishing touches on the record with John. Now, two months later, as the release of 11 Chances approaches, I am sitting in my office in a well-worn row house in South Philly. It was once the home of Stanley Silberman (Jeff’s father and the namesake of the label). Now it houses the offices of Stanley Recordings East, Gabriel, Ami, and I call it home, and it is the place where we all make music together.
It seems to me that most modern music has devolved into bits and bytes of saccharine soaked information – a quick sugar high that decays the brain and leaves the listener hungry, yet too comatose to realize it. With 11 Chances we set out to create the opposite effect…to create a record that satisfies the intellect as well as the heart. In a society that places such high value on normality, we are an abnormal band of friends doing what we do best…making the music that we love on the fringes of a dying industry commonly known as the music business…becoming a part of the tide that will come when that industry, as we know it, breathes it’s last breath.
Courtney Fairchild
Philadelphia - January 26, 2009
Courtney will be playing in The New York Songwriter's Showcase at The Bitter End in NYC on June 15, 2009
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Thanks Courtney!! I think about you all the time. I hope you are well. Call me when you get back in town. i'd love to come out and hear you live again!! take care my friend. All the best.
Thanks for the ADD, Your Music Is Great - TRUE NATURE is NEW, MODERN ROCK, featuring LEGENDARY MUSICIANS with SPIRITUALLY RELEVANT LYRICS. “Feels Like Centuries is cut from the same cloth as ‘Zoo’-era U2…it could easily make it onto major radio rotation.” --NeuFutur Magazine. www.TrueNatureBand.com
It was great and fun to see you and hang out. I am happy to be your Dallas merch. Anytime! Take care of yourself. I'm always looking forward to your return. I love your new album! Your#1 fan (After Stacey). :)
Hey! Just an update for you, You can now listen to my ENTIRE full length album on my Official Facebook page. Make sure to become a fan so you can be one of the first to watch my new music video for the song "Forever" complete in April : ) You seriously rock, thank you.
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