Christina Courtin

Christina Courtin

About this Album

Click HERE to listen to three full-length songs from the album, watch a video for "Bundah," and see a photo slideshow.

Purchase Christina Courtin here at the Nonesuch Store and receive the free bonus download "We'll Meet Again."

Nonesuch Records released the self-titled label debut from singer-songwriter Christina Courtin on June 23, 2009. The New York Times says Courtin’s voice “feels uniquely otherworldly, as if it couldn’t possibly be entirely human born.”

The album is co-produced by Courtin, jazz bassist Greg Cohen, and her frequent band mate singer/guitarist Ryan Scott. Cohen and Scott also contribute bass and guitar to the recording. Several acclaimed musicians join them, including keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer Jim Keltner, pedal-steel player Greg Leisz, Punch Brothers violinist Gabe Witcher, and multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion.

In addition to her vocals, Courtin wrote all the songs on the album. She also plays viola and toy piano on “Hedonistic Paradise” and provides string arrangements on “Green Jay,” “Bundah,” and “Rainy.” Of the recording Courtin states, “The records that I love the most are the ones that are full of life and energy—and that doesn’t in any way mean perfection. They have real feeling to them. One of the things I wanted to achieve with my record was for it to be a real world of its own, with songs that take you somewhere else.”

Courtin, a multi-faceted and accomplished musician, recently graduated from The Julliard School, where she studied violin. Although Courtin has been studying the violin since she was three, singing was always her covert passion. While at Julliard, participating in multimedia pop and jazz shows that her fellow students would put on for their after-hours entertainment, Courtin was inspired to put together a band to play around town and to record an independently released disc. Courtin’s Juilliard friends became her first fans: “The only friends I had at the time in New York were people I met at school, who were all mainly classical musicians. Luckily for me they were really supportive and came out to see us play. But it was a scary experience, to have only musicians in the audience! I guess eventually my friends told their friends, until the people coming to see us weren’t just musicians anymore. Soon enough the audiences were full of people that I didn't know at all.”

As a violinist Courtin has collaborated with several artists including Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble, Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov, and soprano Dawn Upshaw, among others.