Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett first drew notice as an indie singer/songwriter whose loose, gritty power-trio format, incisive lyrics, and deadpan conversational style set her apart. She surfaced in 2012 with the self-released EP I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris, which earned strong reviews across Australia before attracting comparable notice from American, British, and international critics upon the arrival of her 2013 follow-up, How to Carve a Carrot into a Rose. Her first full-length album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, marked her commercial arrival by reaching the U.S. Top 20 and the Australian Top Five, while also securing Grammy and Brit Award nominations for Best New Artist and International Female Solo Artist, respectively. At the ARIAs she claimed the trophies for Best Female Artist and Breakthrough Artist. Her second studio album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, improved on that domestic showing by peaking at number two on the Australian chart in 2018 and further solidified her standing in both the U.S. and U.K. markets. The November 2021 release of Things Take Time, Take Time coincided with the documentary Anonymous Club, directed by Danny Cohen and featuring original music by Barnett; that score later surfaced in 2023 as the instrumental album End of the Day.

Born Courtney Melba Barnett in Sydney in 1987, she grew up immersed in American rock but began writing songs only after encountering the work of Australian singer/songwriters Darren Hanlon and Paul Kelly. In 2010 she joined the Melbourne post-grunge band Rapid Transit on guitar, staying through 2011. Around the same period she issued a limited-edition live demo EP as frontwoman of the Olivettes and joined the alt-country outfit Immigrant Union, whose second album, 2012’s Anyway, appeared on her newly founded Milk! Records label—the same imprint that carried her solo debut EP, I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris. As her audience expanded in 2013, she performed at New York’s CMJ Music Marathon and undertook European dates. That year she also contributed guitar to Jen Cloher’s third album, In Blood Memory, released on Milk! Records, and issued her second EP, How to Carve a Carrot into a Rose. House Anxiety, an imprint of Marathon Records, subsequently signed her and, in October 2013, compiled her first two EPs as The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas, which Mom + Pop Music brought to the United States in 2014. Before year’s end she also appeared on the compilation EP A Pair of Pears (With Shadows) alongside Cloher and Fraser A. Gorman.

Early in 2015 Barnett played American television slots and performed at SXSW ahead of her debut full-length, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit. Issued that March on Milk! Records in Australia, Mom + Pop in the U.S., and House Anxiety elsewhere, the album climbed to number four on the Australian chart, number 16 in the U.K., and number 20 on the Billboard 200. Its critical reception produced additional Grammy and Brit Award nominations, while the ARIAs honored her with four awards—Breakthrough Artist, Best Female Artist, Best Independent Release, and Best Cover Artist—for the cover illustration she herself created. In 2017 she paired with Kurt Vile for the Matador Records duo album Lotta Sea Lice, which returned her to the Australian Top Five. Her next solo effort, Tell Me How You Really Feel, arrived in May 2018; again working with co-producers Burke Reid and Dan Luscombe, it reached number 22 in the U.S., entered the U.K. Top Ten, and peaked at number two at home, later winning Best Rock Album at the November ARIA Awards. Barnett’s third solo album, Things Take Time, Take Time, emerged in November 2021, co-produced with Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa. Around its release, director Danny Cohen unveiled the documentary Anonymous Club, and the instrumental score Barnett and Mozgawa created for the film was issued in 2023 as End of the Day.