Courtney Jaye

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, singer/songwriter Courtney Jaye moved to Atlanta during her formative high school years and began writing songs after a friend's untimely death. She traveled extensively after graduation, spending her days working as an acupuncturist in Flagstaff, AZ, and playing in a band at night. She then found herself on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where she developed an affinity for the region's fluid rhythms and laid-back atmosphere. It wasn't until Jaye returned to the mainland and temporarily settled in Georgia that the music she absorbed in Hawaii began to influence her songwriting, however. Athens provided the young artist with her first love and a vibrant, influential music scene. She then relocated once more — this time to Austin, TX — where she and her partner went their separate ways, thus leaving Jaye with a bottomless well of emotions to write about.

Courtney was signed on the spot after a mutual friend managed to set up an audition with several A&R executives at Island Def Jam Music Group. She made her major label debut with 2005's Traveling Light, and several of her songs found their way onto TV programs like Laguna Beach and One Tree Hill. Her partnership with Island proved to be short-lived, however, and she spent the rest of the decade issuing independent albums like 2007's Who'll Stop the Rain. The Exotic Sounds of Courtney Jaye, her most accomplished album to date, followed in 2010, featuring a duet with Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell, mixing by Guster's Joe Pisapia, and a combination of Laurel Canyon folk and tropical pop. Meanwhile, Jaye kept herself busy by collaborating with artists like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, whose 2010 release featured her vocals on one track.