Courtney Jaye Goldberg was born on February 15, 1978, in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and moved to
Alpharetta, Georgia, when she was a freshman in high school. It was at this time she discovered
The Grateful Dead and
Neil Young, and also began to play the guitar. After becoming immersed in the bohemian culture, she moved west and lived in the mountain town of
Flagstaff, Arizona. She worked as an acupuncturist's assistant by day and performed in a bluegrass band at night. She has lived on the Hawaiian island of Kauai as well as in music cities such as
Austin, Los Angeles, and finally
Nashville, Tennessee. Along the way, she signed her first record deal with Island Records in 2004 and released
Traveling Light containing her first single "Can't Behave" in June 2005. She performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and toured the country on a radio promotional tour. The album peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers on June 25, 2005. Courtney has collaborated with many musicians over the years including
Gary Louris of
The Jayhawks,
Matthew Sweet,
Peter Hayes of
BRMC,
Kristen Hall,
Rhett Miller,
Tift Merritt,
Taj Mahal,
Thad Cockrell, Floating Action, Ben Bridwell of
Band of Horses, Dallas Green,
Emily Saliers of
The Indigo Girls and
Butch Walker. On January 12, 2010, she released the independent album
The Exotic Sounds of Courtney Jaye, which features the duet "Sometimes Always" with
Ben Bridwell of
Band of Horses. The album was released on Jaye's imprint Tropicali Records and was produced by Seth Kauffman (Floating Action), with additional production by Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses), and was mixed by Joe Pisapia. In February 2011, she made an appearance in the video for Super Furry Animals' lead singer
Gruff Rhys's song "Sensations in the Dark", from his album
Hotel Shampoo, via Wichita Recordings. She was featured as a background vocalist on the Dan Auerbach–produced album from Ohio artist Brian Olive. The record was released on Alive Records, June 2011. In November 2012, she appeared as a featured guest/backing vocalist on
comedy rocker
Stephen Lynch's album
Lion, produced by Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin). In 2013, she released
Love and Forgiveness, produced by CMA/Grammy Award-winning producer Mike Wrucke (
Miranda Lambert "Revolution"). The album was tracked live in Los Angeles over the course of four days. In December 2013,
Love and Forgiveness was recognized as one of the Top 50 Albums of 2013 by
American Songwriter. ==Discography==