Fortress Festival Artist Spotlight: Courtney Barnett

PHOTOGRAPH BY ELIZABETH WEINBERG FOR GQ

Joining the talented Fortress Festival lineup, Courtney Barnett is an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. Her songs are known for their witty lyrics and rambling vocal performances carried by an indie/rock musical style, all coming together to create an overall unique artistic style that comes from her authentic personality. Her music finds a niche because she’s using a certain garage-rock musical approach on guitar, but also does something entirely different with her lyrics, which are reminiscent more of spoken word poetry than typical garage-rock. Barnett’s lyricism is extremely personal, as she takes on some heavier aspects of her own sexuality as an openly gay woman. I think her identity contributes much to the vibrancy of her style, which has definitely gotten her noticed around the world with a body of work consisting of merely 3 studio albums. Her first, released in 2015, obviously got the attention of American listeners, as the following year she was invited to play at Coachella.

Barnett is set to release her new album, Tell Me How You Really Feel next month, which has been greatly anticipated following the success of her previous albums. Her two newest singles, “Nameless, Faceless,” and “Need a Little Time,” from the upcoming album, give us a taste of the direction this album will be taking. Continuing to build on her witty style, these songs show even more nuance and maturity, highlighting her growth as a new, young artist. Barnett has been nominated for and won many music awards in Australia. However, her sound has been gradually entering the U.S. and Britain as well, as she now has over 60,000 Spotify listeners in major American cities.

Barnett will be performing on Sunday, April 29th at the Fortress Festival CG Northern stage from 7-8pm, alongside an exciting lineup with other artists like Chromeo, De La Soul, Father John Misty, and more. You won’t want to miss this new music and art festival in Fort Worth this spring – you can learn more about the festival and click here to buy tickets. 

You can also check out Barnett’s newest video for “Nameless, Faceless” below.