Catherine Britt came into the world and grew up in Newcastle along Australia’s eastern seaboard, where country music captured her imagination while she was still very young. At the age of eleven she approached singer Bill Chambers ahead of one of his shows on Australian soil and requested that he perform Jimmie Rodgers’ “T.B. Blues.” Chambers could scarcely believe that someone so young would recognize either the song or its writer, yet he invited her onstage to join him for the number. Recognizing her extraordinary vocal ability, Chambers became her mentor and oversaw the recording of her In the Pines EP, issued in 1999. When Britt turned fourteen, the project yielded the single “That Don’t Bother Me,” co-written with Chambers’ daughter Kasey Chambers, which reached the country charts.
A complete album, Dusty Smiles and Heartbreak Cures—again produced by Bill Chambers—was issued independently in 2001. ABC Records acquired the set and gave it a wider release the following year, generating substantial airplay across Australia. During an Australian tour, Elton John encountered the record and began championing it publicly, an endorsement that soon led to a personal introduction. Bolstered by John’s support, Britt fielded multiple offers from U.S. labels and ultimately chose RCA Records, which issued the single “Upside of Being Down” in 2004. Her debut RCA album, Too Far Gone, produced by Keith Stegall and Bill Chambers, appeared in early 2005 when she was nineteen years old.
