Courtney Patton: Electrostatic
Photo by Brandon Aguilar
Texas based singer-poet Courtney Patton's latest solo album, Electrostatic, has been set loose upon the world, and even a precursory listen proves the musically gifted Jill-of-all-trades has put the four years between album releases to excellent use. Whereas Patton's previous work was an endearingly stripped down and lyrically personal approach to the creative process, the new album delves deeply into melodic craft without losing any of Patton's poignant and raw writing charm.
As credit, Courtney nods to the COVID-born online phenomenon, Sequestered Songwriters, that she and her husband, Jason Eady, created together during the social distancing era of the pandemic that made live performances impossible. Weekly, Patton and Eady created a platform that helped connect artists deprived of live venues with an online audience deprived of live music which grew exponentially across the country after its humble Texas-based birth. These live performances featured many of Courtney's talented musical cohorts and friends, and would focus on highlighting specific and varying musical heroes each week. This provided Patton with an opportunity to spend large amounts of time with the work of greats from bygone eras, and eventually that influenced her own writing in a way she hadn't originally foreseen.
"I didn’t initially start the project with this intent," Courtney said of the Sequestered Songwriters impact, "but as we were making it, I could hear all of my musical heroes and influences organically coming out in each song. And that brought me so much joy." As the direction for the album unfolded, Patton buckled down as a student of music and melody. As a result, Patton's musical muses organically transcended her creative processes and emerged on the other side of the project's completion inherent in the very chords and melodies Patton created. These whispers of influence are held within tracks that are original, unique, but that observably pay homage to the impactful artists dear to Courtney's heart.
The title track for Electrostatic contains some of the most intriguing writing of the release, and reflects poignantly upon the untimely loss of Patton's sister two decades ago. The idea that the physical human form is deeply connected and intertwined with all the rest of creation is argued elegantly through analogies likening human existence to other forms of existence, specifically trees and nature. The concept that we are all made up of the same basic stuff, and that existence doesn't cease when our physical form ceases but rather expands into other forms of energetic existence takes center stage in a philosophically concise way, and is paired with a chord progression that highlights that complex lyrical theme without detracting and distracting from it.
“It’s a song about finding the beauty still around us in the memories of those that we’ve loved and lost," Courtney explains. "If energy can’t be created or destroyed, then we can see and feel them all around us every day. Beauty from ashes. There’s something comforting about that in itself.”
Contributing musicians on Electrostatic include a group of all-star musical talents such as Geoff Queen (Kelly Willis, Bruce Robison, Reckless Kelly) on guitar and pedal steel, Trevor Nealon (Jerry Jeff Walker, Rodney Crowell, Jack Ingram) on piano and keyboards, Heather Stalling (Max Stalling, Johnny Lee, The Old 97s) on fiddle, Richard Millsap (Ray Wylie Hubbard, George Strait, John Fogerty) on drums, Naj Conklin (Guy Forsyth, Jon Dee Graham, Jason Eady) on bass, and half of the acclaimed band The Trishas on backing vocals in Jamie Lin Wilson and Kelley Mickwee. The fingerprints of all can be found throughout the album, with the supportive talents of each helping to shape the final form.
The project follows previous solo albums, Triggering a Flood (2013), So This Is Life (2015), her acoustic collaborative project with her husband, Jason Eady, Something Together, (2017), and Billboard charting project, What It’s Like To Fly Alone (2018).
Electrostatic is available on most streaming platforms, vinyl and CD. To find tour dates or merchandise for Courtney Patton, visit the artist's website at https://courtneypatton.com/home.
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