Cortney Tidwell

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance. (April 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Cortney Tidwell
Cortney Tidwell performs live at The Stone Fox in Nashville, Tennessee.
Background information
Born	December 2, 1972 Nashville, Tennessee
Genres	Experimental, Alternative, Electronic
Occupation(s)	singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Instrument(s)	drums, guitar, omnichord, keyboards
Years active	2000–present
Labels	City Slang, Ever Records (U.K.), Sissybragg Records
Website	www.myspace.com/cortneytidwell

Cortney Tidwell is an American singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Born December 2, 1972, in Nashville, Tennessee.^[1]

Personal life[edit]

Cortney Lara Tidwell was born on December 2, 1972, in Nashville, Tennessee, to country singer Connie Eaton and Cliff Williamson, a music producer at A&R. Her paternal grandfather, Slim Williamson, founded and operated a country music label called Chart Records. Her maternal grandfather, Robert "Bob" Eaton, was a member of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1950s and was signed to Decca Records. In later years, he was a frequent guest on The Ralph Emery Show and was known as "Roadmap Bob". Cortney made her television debut at the age of five on this show, where she sang "I'm Not Lisa" by Jessi Colter, citing Conway Twitty as her favorite country performer.

Most of Tidwell's family played at or was associated with The Grand Ole Opry. Her mother, Connie, a celebrity in Nashville, was friends with Jack Clement. She wrote songs with him and collaborated with other musicians such as Townes Van Zandt and Kris Kristofferson. She was also a friend of Shel Silverstein. Connie was diagnosed with manic depression in the early 1970s, and by the mid-1980s had withdrawn from the music scene. Attempts were made to discourage Cortney from pursuing music, but she married and started a family while continuing to sing and play guitar.

In 2004, following the death of her mother, Tidwell began recording with her husband, Todd Tidwell, a producer, recording engineer, and musician, who contributed his playing and songwriting to her songs. A childhood friend, artist Matthew Zarth, funded the first run of CDs on his label ‘Sissybragg Records’.

The Nashville scene sang her praises, and the late editor Jim Ridley called Tidwell "Nashville’s real songbird". She performed at Springwater with other musicians but then began playing all the instruments herself while raising her children and working as a preschool teacher. Nashville embraced the new setup with Cortney as a one-woman band, and she caught the attention of Lou Barlow of Sebadoh and opened a show for them.

Cortney has released two full-length LPs and two EPs under her name with City Slang Records. She participated in a collaborative album of reimagined songs that were originally recorded for and released by her grandfather's Chart Records in the 1960s, featuring Kurt Wagner, William Tyler, and other members of Lambchop, under the name KORT. She toured Europe with the band.

Cortney and Todd have two sons.

Discography:

• Cortney Tidwell EP (2005, Sissybragg Records)
• Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up (2007, Ever Records)
  • Featuring Kurt Wagner and William Tyler of Lambchop
• Boys (2009, City Slang)
  • Includes "Oh, China," which features a traditional Chinese melody and (indistinct) English vocals
• Invariable Heartache (2010, City Slang) with Kurt Wagner
  • Contains new versions of songs originally recorded for Chart Records
• Clandestine (2012–2014)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Media related to Cortney Tidwell at Wikimedia Commons
• Cortney Tidwell discography at Discogs
• Cortney Tidwell MySpace page
• Cortney Tidwell Bandcamp page
• MSNBC profile
• The Guardian profile
• Pandora profile
• Nashville Scene cover story on KORT
• KORT Bandcamp page
• Copy Me: R. Stevie Moore Tribute 11 Bandcamp page
  • Featuring Tidwell's cover of R. Stevie Moore's 1978 song "I Go Into Your Mind"