Christina Courtin, whose self-titled Nonesuch debut was released last month, recently spoke with Blurt magazine about the album and her many musical inspirations.

While the training Christina received as a student at The Juilliard School may have concentrated on the classical, her early influences include everything from classical to classic pop and rock, like Michael Jackson and the Beatles. "Put it all together," says Blurt's Hal Bienstock, "and you get a singer-songwriter whose self-titled debut uses string arrangements and instrumentation a coffeehouse folkie would never dream of."
 
Christina herself sees the common thread running through these seemingly disparate strains of music, offering Wilco's Glenn Kotche as one example of an artist who excels in creating both pop and contemporary classical music.

"I think some things share a similar spirit," she tells Blurt. "Maybe there's not much similarity between Mozart and Boston, but certainly a band like The Beatles. In both cases, the sound is incredible, the performances are great, the playing is great. It's so magical."

Read the interview at blurt-online.com.

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Altsounds, in its review of the new record, says that Christina "would have fitted in perfectly in the New York Jazz scene of the thirties and forties," suggesting that "she could have easily shared the stage with Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald."

The review calls attention to the song "Foreign Country," which it describes as a "could-have-been-jazz-classic," in which "Courtin and her band really hit it off with the combination of jazzy melody, storytelling and country guitar." What's more, the song is "something you want to listen to over and over again."

In the end, Christina proves "she’s definitely one of a kind and someone to look forward to in the future."

For more, visit hangout.altsounds.com.