Youth & Valor is music created by Courtney and some of her friends.

Courtney grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. Her parents took her to summer music festivals. 100-degree heat standing in hot expanses of grass listening to Willie Nelson and Doug Sahm. Beer and BBQ. Sunburned, tank-top-wearing cowboy hippies.

They often went to the Bluebird on the east side in Como, a tiny, baby blue shotgun shack serving beer and set-ups out of the kitchen. There were long formica tables and everybody shared so you got to know your neighbors. The proprietor, Mr. Robert Ealey, was also the singer in the house band. He always wore a three-piece suit, no matter what the weather. He had a microphone cord about 3 miles long——he could walk outside and up the block to get something out of his car and you could still hear him singing over the PA. Once every set or so all the ladies took to the floor to do the electric slide.

Texas public education is not highly regarded. The best thing about going to school in Texas is you learn how to dance in P.E.——two-step, waltz, cotton-eyed joe and polka. If you go to school in Texas you learn to be a lively guest at a wedding.

When Courtney grew up she moved to New York City and met a lot of people. Talented, ambitious people live in New York. They are always thinking of possibilities. When her friends heard her sing they said, “why aren’t you singing out in the world?” She said, “I don’t know.”

Her friend Michael asked her to sing a song for a movie he was scoring. He’s a very good composer and songwriter and a natty dresser. If you were looking for someone to play a psychologist in an Eric Rohmer film you might ask Michael. He could even wear his own blazer. That was her first recording.

Inspired by the film, “Two-Lane Blacktop,” Courtney wrote some songs. She asked her friend Sean Eden to play guitar and help her make an album. Sean is Canadian but he grew up in Clearlake, Texas. It’s a place full of astronauts. Most of Sean’s neighbors had been to the moon and that must have affected his psyche in some way. Sean is fantastic at playing guitar and was once an actor. If you’re bored you can ask him to recite the call to battle from “Henry V” and it is very stirring.

It took a very long time but finally the project was finished. “Some Satisfactions Are Permanent” was recorded in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Austin, Texas and Springfield, Missouri and lots of talented musicians and friends pitched in. For this Courtney is most grateful.