Courtney Renea has been singing on stage since she was three years old. She grew up in the rural cornfields of Indiana, where music wasn’t something that was scheduled, it was something that was lived. 

“As a family we sang everywhere and anytime, Renea says… in the car, in the kitchen, in church, and just to pass the time”. 

Her earliest memories are of standing beside her mother and sisters, singing four-part harmonies while her dad played guitar. Her Life was shaped inside some version of a family band, surrounded by voices blending.

Harmony has always been at the center of what inspires her.  drawn to the notes in between, the tension and release, the syncopation, the silences that give a melody its breath. 

Through school and college she sang in vocal ensembles, jazz bands, a cappella groups, and jazz combos, falling in love with layered arrangements and unexpected rhythms. “Jazz taught me how to stretch; gospel taught me how to feel; soul & funk taught me how to move, and my roots run deep in all of it”.

Having played  with the Forest Mountain Lion & The Medicinal Weeds projects over the last few years, Courtney is now stepping into a new season and building something of her own. 

“Playing alongside some of my closest friends, all musicians I deeply admire. There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when you create music with people you love. The kind of moments that feel bigger than the stage itself.

“I believe music is a universal love language. It has the power to heal, to transform, to connect strangers, and to remind us who we are. For me, it always comes back to harmony, finding the space between voices, and discovering how beautifully we can hold it together. ~ Courtney Renea