Rock’s golden era might be decades in the rearview mirror, but singer/songwriter Courtney McKenna breathes new life into the beloved sound with her full-bodied voice, poetic lyrics, and easy guitar melodies. Taking influence from a range of genres — folk and Americana to country and mid-century classic rock — McKenna brings a genuine ray of light and personable warmth to every performance she does. 

Born in Orange County and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Courtney got her start singing in the church choir before teaching herself how to play guitar as a young adult. After graduating from college in Arizona, she found her way to New York City, where she quickly connected with like-minded local musicians and quickly began performing at local haunts like the Bowery Electric and Rockwood Music Hall. It was in those sacred spaces that the singer/songwriter truly refined her DIY-meets-classic-rock aesthetic, which draws influence from foundational acts like Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. “I got my music education in New York,” Courtney says of her years spent on the East Coast, where she also booked shows at prominent community events such as The Lower East Side Songwriting Showcase, “A Revolutionary Woman” Live Podcast Launch at Bowery Poetry, “Spill Space” Psychotherapeutic Movement at Otion Front Studios, and more.

Eventually, in 2017, Courtney embarked on her first US tour, traveling through the West Coast and playing classic venues such as The Mint in Los Angeles, The Hard Rock Hotel in Palm Springs, and Cafe International on the Haight in San Francisco. That same year, she released a rough-cut mixtape of original songs, and in October 2018, Courtney recorded a three-track Christmas EP with producer The 83rd, featuring the original song “New York Christmas Blues.”

In 2019, Courtney moved back to California to more seriously pursue music, settling in Los Angeles, where she regularly organizes community music events with area musicians. One inspiring event series is called We Are Everyday Sunshine, which began when Courtney was forced to cancel her 2020 concert dates due to COVID restrictions. Never one to give up, Courtney got to work, organizing a series of pop-up outdoor patio concerts, playing all around public city sites like Goat Hill in Manhattan Beach and Hangar 24 in Irvine. 

Indeed, returning to her SoCal roots has been healing and transformative for Courtney. In collaboration with mentor and Dean/Chief Academic Officer of California College of Music Chris Kapica, Courtney is, at last, readying her first-ever LP as a series of singles, which plumbs new emotional depths and touches on personal experiences with addiction she’s rarely addressed in song until now. “So much of my writing in New York was about being lonely and depressed,” she says. “I feel more in my element here. I've been even more motivated. I'm feeling more inspired to write on broader topics. I’ve realized that I'm the only one that's going to do it for me. I think that realization is pushing me more and more every day.”

With an anticipated release date in April 2022, Courtney’s first single off her forthcoming LP features the lead single “Save Yourself,” an upbeat, alternative-rock tune that she wrote in response to learning that her late Father had become homeless after years of battling alcoholism. The bulk of Courtney’s still-untitled project will dig into her relationship with addiction. “Our culture is super into drinking and medicating instead of actually adressing the root problem,” Courtney says. “Whether it's alcohol or prescription drugs or weed or whatever it is. What I want people to take away from the music is, we're all here dealing with that in different ways, and those ways don’t have to be self-destructive.”

Bio by Rachel Brodsky