[00:00:08.010] - Candi Broeffle

Good morning, and welcome to Green Tea Conversations, the radio show that delves into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine to bring you the local experts who share their progressive ideas and the latest information and insights needed so you can lead your best life. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, publisher of the Twin Cities edition of Natural Awakenings magazine, and I am honored to bring these experts to you today on the show. We welcome Courtney Burton of Courtney Burton Coaching. Courtney is a jazz singer and transitional coach who uses her voice to help others find theirs through creativity. Welcome back to this show, Courtney. You were just here a couple of weeks ago with us.

 

[00:00:50.110] - Courtney Burton

Oh, thank you so much, Candi, for having me back. I so appreciate it. Love these conversations.

 

[00:00:56.030] - Candi Broeffle

Yes. We're excited to have you in for a whole show. The last time you were with us, it was just for a short amount of time, for about 15 minutes, as we talked about the brief conference that you were presenting at, and I wanted to have you come back so we can learn more about the work that you do. And today I want to explore kind of both sides of the work that you do. So we're going to start off talking about coaching, but then we're also going to talk about your jazz singing and the music that you do, and you're going to be at a couple of places this holiday season. So I want our audience to know it's a great time to come out and to have some fun and to relax and just enjoy the holiday season in a different way, but we'll get into that a little bit later. So before we start all that, I always like to ask people to kind of give us some idea of who you are and kind of your background that brought you to where you are today. So I'm going to let you take it from here.

 

[00:02:00.630] - Courtney Burton

All right. Thank you, Candi. I will try to keep this as succinct as possible. When one's been on this Earth longer than five years, our stories are unique, right? And I'm a little older than five, so I am someone who's been blessed with the ability to sing and make a difference for people there. I've also had a 30 year corporate career, so my risk tolerance as a person was fairly low, and so I opted to go into the corporate world but use my creative expression as my emotional outlet and anchor throughout that career. I'm not from the Twin Cities, but I consider this home. I came up here sight unseen for college down in Winona, and first time I came to the Twin Cities, I went, this is where I'm supposed to live, and moved away twice and moved back. So it really is home for me, and my whole family is here now. So love the area, love the people, love what this area represents, and the opportunities it gives people both in careers. But also we have a very rich art scene here.

 

[00:03:13.550] - Candi Broeffle

Yes, we do. And some of the best music and.

 

[00:03:16.980] - Courtney Burton

Some of the best music. My new moniker these days is I am a wild elder in training. I read that wild elder phrase, and I went, I like that. I'm going to adopt that. And through that, it's like, okay, so this is now about legacy. It's about what mark am I going to leave on this world intentionally versus the marks that we the things that we do for others and gift others along the way, but we're not intentional about it. And so that's why the work in coaching became so important to me. And I've also benefited from having coaching as pivotal points in my life. So I understand the benefit, and I.

 

[00:04:04.030] - Candi Broeffle

Always love to hear that from people. I think that's important for people to understand, too, is that many of us who go into coaching didn't go into it just because it was something that we just thought of off the top of our head. It's usually been a transformational thing that we've gone through with another coach. So can you share with us a little bit about that story for you?

 

[00:04:25.750] - Courtney Burton

Yes, there are two. One, I was at a point as a mid-career professional where I realized if I didn't take ownership of my own career development at that point, nobody was going to. I was really good, you know, steady Eddie in the company knew my stuff, and so I went and found a leadership coach. And after a ton of tests and conversations, she just put all that aside and she looked me dead in the eye and said, you are spending way too much time of your energy trying to thrive, survive, rather, versus thriving. What would happen if you actually thrived in your workplace? Wow. And that was powerful. Just that simple, simple statement was enough to change the trajectory. And not that I went into that coaching with the idea of changing jobs, which I did. I changed companies after a long stent with where I was and that I can see now how that was the linchpin to get me to where I am today. The trail is quite clear when I look back now because of that coaching conversation. The other one was, I'm a planner, and I was getting stressed in my final career working for someone else, and my family stepped in.

 

[00:05:45.820] - Courtney Burton

They said, we've seen this stressed-out Courtney before. We don't like this stressed-out Courtney before anymore. And at the time my mother was starting well, she was towards the end of her journey with dementia. So all the family needed to be 100% whole, present and well to go through that. And so I thought I'll placate the family. So I found a woman who actually helped people see where they were on the transition of retirement. Same thing. So people are like, you actually worked on this for a year. Yes. It's a huge transition. And when you say the RWorld word in your workplace, you better be prepared for what happens after that, because people start planning your departure whether you're ready for it or not. I didn't want that, so I sat down and again, test journaling all this. She sets it aside. She says, you are more ready than almost anyone I have ever met emotionally, to retire from this world, from this company, in this career. Go talk to your financial guy, talk to your lawyer, talk to everybody you need to and figure it out what would happen if you pull the trigger now versus waiting three years from now to start your coaching career.

 

[00:07:04.310] - Candi Broeffle

Wow.

 

[00:07:05.590] - Courtney Burton

Really? We put it all in place.

 

[00:07:10.250] - Candi Broeffle

Isn't that amazing? And so that has led you to where you are today. Before I get into that, though, I do want to kind of mention it. It's actually funny that you were talking before about the work that you were doing with your previous coach, where she was telling you, she asked you what would happen if you wanted to thrive versus just survive. I think there's so many people, so many professionals who we think about thriving, but it's always in the future, right? It's always that once I get through this, once I get through this merger, once I get through this project, once I get through this emergency that we have that seems to linger on forever, then I can really start to thrive. And what she was saying to you is, why wait until then?

 

[00:07:56.990] - Courtney Burton

Why wait? And we do put things off. When I first started with my first corporate job, I had a training buddy, and for that company at that time was a really busy cycle. And so she said, it's never this busy in a month. It'll slow down. So that became the running joke, because every month in a month, it'll slow down. Okay, 18 years later, no, it just sped up.

 

[00:08:24.420] - Candi Broeffle

Yes. And I think every professional who's listening to this today and actually any person, anybody, any stay at home mom, anybody, is kind of faced with that same dilemma. It's always about what's going to happen next. So that's really kind of some of the work that you do with individuals, right? You help them through different types of life transitions. So give us an idea of what that work looks like.

 

[00:08:53.770] - Courtney Burton

I love that work, because when we honor the transition cycle, there's so much richness and growth in there, and we also realize we have a lot more control over things than we think. So I help individuals with most people come to me with, I hate my job. That's kind of the underlying conversation, and we kind of dig around to find out what's really going on. Is it a relationship with a boss or a peer? Is it a lack of skill set because a lot of companies really don't train mid level professionals much on the finesse skills they need to do their jobs well. Also people who are brand new managers because corporate America in particular spends no time, I think, actually helping those people make that transition between being a really good, solid individual contributor to being a manager of people. And then the next transition is moving from being a manager of I hate to use that word manager, because you really don't manage people. You manage processes and resources and time. You lead people to move into leadership. But you really do need to have some of those tactical skills as a manager mastered before leadership makes sense and frankly, that people would be willing to really follow you 100%.

 

[00:10:22.010] - Courtney Burton

Yeah, there's a building up credibility there.

 

[00:10:25.350] - Candi Broeffle

Yes. I always have a say that I used to always tell new managers, the only people who ever want to lead people are people who have never led people.

 

[00:10:36.010] - Courtney Burton

Pretty much. Well said, Candi.

 

[00:10:39.200] - Candi Broeffle

Because Banette, being in a leadership role is difficult and nobody is given the tools that they need. We take the best people in the company who have the best skill sets and we make them leaders without giving them really any training on how to do that. And so that's always difficult. So it's great that you're here and you can work with individuals to help them to really figure out how they can develop those skills.

 

[00:11:08.390] - Courtney Burton

We spend a lot of time actually saying, what are you already good at and how do we leverage that? And the last transition is, I call it changing Transitioning Retirement to Refire Upment. So is that actually leaving your career and doing something new and different?

 

[00:11:30.330] - Candi Broeffle

This is so important to talk about and I really want to get into this in the next segment. So we're going to focus a little bit more on that retirement and Refire Upment when we come back. So to learn more about the work that Courtney does, visit CourtneyBurtonCoaching.com. You're listening to green tea conversations on AM 950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And we will be right back. 

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, and today we are visiting with Courtney Burton of Courtney Burton Coaching. So, Courtney, just before the break, you were starting to tell us about the work that you do with individuals. And you just kind of mentioned before we had to go into our break that you do transitional coaching with people who are also preparing for retirement. And that is something that I don't think a lot of people really prepare for. Like, we always have in our mind what it's going to be like when we retire. And too often I hear people say, retirement just wasn't what we thought it would be. So tell us a little bit about why you feel this is so important in the work that you do and how you work with people through this.

 

[00:12:54.310] - Courtney Burton

I think that this whole phase of transforming retirement into Refire Upment is a major life change that we don't really honor the same way as we do others. And I call it Refire Upment because it can be two things. One, it could be actually leaving your career, but also not running away from something, but running towards something. So what are you going to create once this change has happened in your life? I think that's important to have a plan or at least an idea of what you want to stand for in that phase of your life. But also there are people who retired during the lockdown in the last couple of years who went, you know what, this doesn't work for me. So this is also part of the Refire Upment. Now what do you want to do? I think we go into we have this fairy tale about what retirement is like, oh, I get to sit by the lake or fish all day or do whatever I want. There's so many other life issues that are going to be happening around you during that phase of your life, depending on your family structure.

 

[00:13:58.580] - Courtney Burton

So adult children, how do you handle the grandkids if you have them? You being an adult child dependent. If you're blessed like I am, where my father is still with us at 88, I'm acutely aware that there are times that I need to set aside because now one of us needs to go to the doctors with him. I mean, he's very capable. But you're caregiving changes again for your parent as well. Your circle of friends may change. Your everyday pace may change. And even though I plan for a year to make this transition from my everyday work life to being a solo preneur, one of the strangest days of my life was January 2 when there were no emails on my phone. Yes, that was the day that, you know, my phone had gotten cut off on the 31 December. And it was just a very odd day, and I had planned a month of downtime, like just decompress completely. And I found myself literally talking to myself, going, go take a nap, it's okay, read a book. That's what you set this time aside for. But the habits of moving, thinking, being active were so heart ingrained.

 

[00:15:22.210] - Courtney Burton

It took a while. I personally think no matter what you plan to do at in this phase of your life, it's about a three year adjustment. It takes longer than you think because there's a grieving process that's going to happen with that life. Then all the adjustments you need to make, like it's easy to spend more, believe it or not, because you have the free time. What does that look like? If you are in the stock market getting used to those volatilities, there's a lot of emotional charges that happen along the way. And if you're aware of them when you do experience them, at least you're like, oh yeah, I remember this could happen if it gets you a platform for pausing a minute so that you could respond versus react.

 

[00:16:11.190] - Candi Broeffle

Yes, I'm thinking about so many things when you're talking about this, but it's so true. There's so many changes that we don't think about. And I've heard so many of my friends who have said they just wanted to relax and take some time, spend time with family, do that kind of thing. And then they retire, and their children are busy working and running to games and doing things, and they really don't have as much time as they thought they would with their families. So there's a lot of downtime, a lot of their friends are younger and still working because that's who they worked with and now they can't connect with them. And the older somebody who's already retired, it might feel not quite in sync with who they are at that moment. So, yeah, it's a lot of transition and I love that you talk about the money aspect of it as well because that's something I think especially when the market can be as volatile as it's been in the last couple of years, it can really be a scary thing to have to go through.

 

[00:17:12.220] - Courtney Burton

It can be. And then the other thing you get clear on, at least I did, was how much I spent on things to reduce the stress from my job, how many things I spent money on because of the convenience of that when I was working. And it took a while to readjust to that, like, wait a minute, do I need to do this? Is this really critical anymore? I have time to do that now, do I want to? Again, that intentionality. You get to make choice points along the way versus, oh, I just want my life to stay the way it was, and I have all this free time that you really may or may not have.

 

[00:17:47.030] - Candi Broeffle

Oh, there's so many things to think about. So you get to work with people who are kind of in that, looking ahead maybe a few years and want to really start being purposeful about that transition.

 

[00:17:59.070] - Courtney Burton

Yeah, absolutely. And there's so much power in that, going back to wild elder in training, so much power. And you know what, I think as we get older, first of all, our filters are a little different. Two, our self-identity tends not to be tied up into titles and what we did anymore, which is another huge part of this transition.

 

[00:18:22.070] - Candi Broeffle

Yes.

 

[00:18:22.840] - Courtney Burton

So there's a part that you go, you know what, I really don't care what others say. This is what I need to do now in my life. And I will be thoughtful and the adult in the room to make it happen in a way that works for the family or whoever is in your intimate circle.

 

[00:18:40.410] - Candi Broeffle

But, yeah, the other thing that I find a lot of people, myself included, who has trouble identifying or has in the past had trouble identifying, is what our creativity is. Because if we can bring in creativity into that time, it can really help us a lot. But so many people are like, well, I'm not a painter, I'm not a musician. I don't draw, I don't do this, I don't do that. And so we don't think about the other creative types of outlets that we have. And so as somebody who is as creative as you are and who helps people find their creativity, I imagine that's a big part of the process as well.

 

[00:19:23.880] - Courtney Burton

It is, because you said, we've got this notion of what creativity looks like, but we forget we create every day. We create every day. So just the idea of actually being intentional about what your retirement Refire Upment going to look like is an act of creativity.

 

[00:19:42.350] - Candi Broeffle

Yes.

 

[00:19:43.530] - Courtney Burton

Creative expression comes in so many ways. People who hum, that's a creative expression. It's not about singing. There's something that some people find, I'm a hummer. I hum all the time, but it just kind of kind of settles my soul a little bit. Do you cook? Do you garden? Do you love reading out loud? Do you love languishing over a good meal? That's like creating an environment for the people that may be with you to have these meaningful conversations. Yeah, I worked with a client once. He was in academia, and he realized that his mission in life was to be that creativity was the birth right of all, to really honor their creative expression. And he started using the phrase, how do I create x? So how do I creativity my lesson plan for the day? Or how do I creativity this? And using that word as a verb, and I thought that was fascinating, versus how do I create this?

 

[00:20:53.520] - Candi Broeffle

Yes.

 

[00:20:54.400] - Courtney Burton

How do I creativity my retirement? How do I creativity my job? How do I creativity in my career? How do I creativity cleaning my house?

 

[00:21:07.430] - Candi Broeffle

Right.

 

[00:21:07.960] - Courtney Burton

So how do you creativity that? Do you put music onto it? Do you buy cleaning products that really accept your senses? Do you create your own do you start making your own cleaning products? I mean, there's 100 ways to use that part of your brain.

 

[00:21:26.970] - Candi Broeffle

Well, that is awesome. So I do encourage people, if they are looking at a transition in their life and really wanting to figure out how they can do this in a more productive and actually bring more ease into it, to give you a call and make an appointment with you. Do you offer a free kind of introduction to your work?

 

[00:21:51.650] - Courtney Burton

If you go onto the website, CourtneyBurtonCoaching.com, there's a contact me form, and we'll set up some time and have a conversation about what you think, what you're going through, your transition. And it's really an exploration to see if what I offer would be of benefit to you.

 

[00:22:10.080] - Candi Broeffle

That's so important, too, because it really helps people to understand if they are a good fit for each other. We have a couple of minutes left here, and when we come back, we're going to start talking more about the work that you do in organizations as well. And you do some really interesting work around the disc assessment. So we're going to get into that as well. But I did want to mention I know a friend of mine, her mother retired. I think she retired at like 68. And she started one of the things that she decided to do, I think she kind of stumbled a little bit in retirement and then she kind of landed on something. She'd love to be around kids. And so she would go and read at a daycare every day, or I think she started like once a week. Then she started going every day. And then she became the classroom grandma, and she just retired from that position. So she started at 68, she ended at 92. And that was like her thing that she did every day and just absolutely loved it would go in and the kids, of course, loved her.

 

[00:23:18.590] - Candi Broeffle

So there's many different things we can look at in our retirement.

 

[00:23:22.670] - Courtney Burton

Absolutely.

 

[00:23:25.250] - Candi Broeffle

So for people who want to learn more about the work that Courtney does, visit CourtneyBurtonCoaching.com. To read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit NaturalTwinCities.com. You can find a podcast of this show on AM 950Radio.com on Apple and Google podcasts and anywhere you get your podcast. You're listening to Green Tea Conversations on AM 950 the Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And we will be right back. 

Welcome back to green tea conversations. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, and today we're visiting with Courtney Burton of Courtney Burton Coaching. So, Courtney, you have been sharing with us how you work with individuals. And now we want to talk a bit about how you work with organizations because you have been in the corporate world for over 30 years and you really have a lot of experience that you can help organizations with. You've been in leadership roles of all different sorts, and you've really been intentional about what you're going to bring to your clients. And one of those intentions that you have done is you have certification in a couple of Wiley products, one being Everything Disc. So tell us a little bit about how you use Everything Disc with your corporate clients.

 

[00:24:56.290] - Courtney Burton

I found the disc products. I'm going to backtrack a little bit. A friend of a friend when we were all networking online virtually, and the gentleman introduced it to me as part of his coaching and consulting practice. And I used it at first for individuals because I thought it was important for people to understand their style of how they communicate and deal with others in the workplace and how that may be perceived. And then Wiley introduced a new product called Agile EQ. And as a coach, I thought, oh, this could be really good information to know what people's mindsets were and how to build skills to stretch beyond their fallback mindset. And then that got me all into the world of Wiley. And so once I got certified, I went, this work is phenomenal for teams and groups and organizations because it will help build a common language so that folks can actually communicate more efficiently and effectively and start working towards the common goal. So a lot of the slights, the things that we make up because we don't have the information about what someone, quote, unquote, did to us in the workplace may not be true.

 

[00:26:16.490] - Courtney Burton

This language, this body of work, gives you some insight to say, hey, well, you know what? Maybe I could communicate better with this person by presenting my ideas this way, right?

 

[00:26:29.660] - Candi Broeffle

In a way that they can understand it and accept it and be able to hear it.

 

[00:26:35.230] - Courtney Burton

Exactly. So people who are an example of this is my sister and I have both taken the Everything Disc in the workplace profile, and we're on the same side of one part of the circle, the circumplex, they call it, when it's warm and inviting and accepting of others and ideas. We are opposite, though, in our pace. So Wiley's, that measures two things, pace and then this whole warm and accepting or skeptical in questioning. And she is all about fast pace, and I'm slow and methodical. And as siblings, we've always known that. We've always said, hey, you know, where we're alike, we're identical, where we're not, we're exact opposites. Did not expect a workplace assessment to prove that, to be the truth of that. Yeah, that's right. When I work with teams, it's all custom of what we want to do because I have access to several assessments through Wiley, and the assessments, along with providing information for the individual and the group, act as kind of the platform for the dialogue, the real work, the training are really good, I think, for teams. I'm working with a company now, and we customized everything, and we're seeing a slow progression of change with how the individuals that have done the work are interacting, which is exactly what you're looking for.

 

[00:28:04.490] - Courtney Burton

And since it's not a one-and-done, my work is never a one-and-done. I'm not about that. If someone wants to check off a box, I'm not the coach for you. I'm not the facilitator for you. I want to make a cultural change. I said all along in my corporate career, corporations do not have to operate this way with the biggest investment they make, and that is in their people. Why can't the workplace be a place that actually nurtures the whole human and get business results? Because that's the end of the day. That's why businesses exist. There's a result. They're looking for if you help the people, the humans do that, guess what? Your results are probably going to be better and more than likely sustainable, which is important.

 

[00:28:51.530] - Candi Broeffle

And the investment that you make into that type of work pays off exponentially and it it saves the company money because there's so much when, you know, most companies realize this, but they don't think about it in a very pointed way. But it is so costly to hire, train and onboard people. And so if you have a high turnover rate or you're bringing on new people every few months, it is a costly thing for you to be doing. And so this can really help you to understand, like, what's missing in your organization, what really works for the people who are there. And how can you help people understand themselves better to understand that just because that person said it that way, they're really not trying to drive you crazy. They're just doing it that way because that's how they are.

 

[00:29:48.860] - Courtney Burton

Exactly. Self awareness is not everybody goes down that path on their own. And what I love about the Wiley work is that it is in very simple language, it's easy to remember, and I think it is approachable work for wherever you are on your personal growth journey or if you've even thought about having a personal growth journey. And to have your company invest in you to do that is pretty remarkable.

 

[00:30:18.870] - Candi Broeffle

You also have a product that you use called The Five Behaviors.

 

[00:30:22.830] - Courtney Burton

Yes.

 

[00:30:23.990] - Candi Broeffle

Five behaviors of a cohesive team. I forgot what the last part of that was. Look at it.

 

[00:30:29.790] - Courtney Burton

The Five Behaviors Cohesive Team is also another suite of another product from Wiley Publishing and it's based on their work with Patrick Lindseoni. And I had never heard of Patrick Lindsioni. In fact, this was a body of work I wasn't that familiar with until I took my certification for everything disc. They started talking about this and I went, oh, I'm in. And I became a Patrick Lincie. In some ways, I think I read five of his books over two weeks. Because, again, simple language, straightforward, simple, but not easy. And The Five Behaviors is for teams that are intact, that all work towards a common goal. So it's very specific. And this work measures and helps the team work through five Behaviors that make a cohesive team. It's that simple. Yes, it is. And the first one is about vulnerability based trust. And once that's established with the team, that moves into this idea of conflict or healthy debate, where it's about ideas, not the person. Third behavior is getting commitment. And I love this concept because it's not consensus. Consensus pretty much waters anything down to the least common denominator. So everybody's happy and we can get out this meeting.

 

[00:31:50.780] - Courtney Burton

It's pretty much what happens there. Whereas commitment is based on two factors clarity. Everybody's crystal clear about what we're committing to. The best ideas have gotten out. On the table based on the healthy debate that would happen and then everybody has buy in. Yep. Not my idea. But you know what? I'm in love that it's lovely to ground the conversations to making the best decisions for the organization, not the people in that. And then this whole thing of accountability where, yes, the leader of a group or an organization is the one that has to demonstrate holding themselves and others accountable. But the bulk of accountability really happens across your peers.

 

[00:32:38.770] - Candi Broeffle

Yes.

 

[00:32:39.680] - Courtney Burton

Hey we all committed to doing X. This seems like it's running late. What's going on? What help do you need? Do we need to go back and get clarity so that you can in a way that's loving because everybody's working towards the same thing and ultimately those behaviors should result in sustainable results that the entire team is working towards. So you don't get the hey I got mine you got to figure out yours. That's not what a good team is about.

 

[00:33:12.640] - Candi Broeffle

Yeah. I love that you say commitment and accountability, because it's really hard to get consensus. And I've worked for organizations where we for lack of a better terminology, we beat a dead horse trying to get everyone happy about something. And it's like, at some point, you just need to move forward and not everybody and understand not everybody's going to be happy. And next time, the people who are not happy this time will be happy next time, and vice versa. And we just have to do what's best for the organization and for the people there and all commit and agree to do it. And that's kind of an adult thing to have to do. And oftentimes in organizations every leaders, especially, don't want to be dealing with a lot of disagreements and unhappiness and that type of thing. So they try their best to make sure everybody's happy, and unfortunately, it doesn't happen.

 

[00:34:10.000] - Courtney Burton

It never that is not going to work. One of the things that I think that's important to that commitment piece is in the healthy debate phase of that people just want to make sure that a point of view was heard and honored. So if there is the need for the leader to say hey here are all the ideas we've had simply walking around the table, going around the table and acknowledging each person's contribution to the conversation. The debate goes a long way. Hey I like this part and here's why I think we should table that. Maybe that goes in a parking lot. This really worked for us. I think this is a really good idea. Hey can we suss this out more? And here's what the decision is based on all of your input that will go a long way with people.

 

[00:35:00.930] - Candi Broeffle

Yes it is a human need. We all have to be heard and understood and we need to learn how to do that better. So if you have an organizational need and you would like to talk to Courtney about that and you want to learn more about what she does, you could go to her website, which is CourtneyBurtonCoaching.com. When we come back, we are going to start talking about the jazz concerts that you have coming up this holiday season, which I'm really excited to share with people. So you're listening to Green Tea Conversations on AM 950 and we will be right back. Welcome back to green tea conversations. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, and today we're visiting with Courtney Burton of Courtney Burton coaching. Now, at the very beginning of this show, I had introduced you as also being a jazz singer. So tell us a little bit about how you kind of found this passion of yours in your life.

 

[00:36:16.410] - Courtney Burton

The singing was, as I like to say, the muse will always get her due. I always loved music as a little kid, my mother tells a story about one of the few things that could stop me dead in my tracks was when the Lawrence Bubble music came on as a toddler. Didn't really care about the sketch comedy. It was all about that band, right, that I would sit there and actually watch. But I did not start singing until college and I didn't think I had a great voice because my voice is on the lower end of the woman's register and so I just didn't pay any attention to it. Little did I know that it's a contraltoe voice. And at one point I had a voice teacher actually incurred. You should think about actually formal formal opera training. Not my thing. So I just did it as a hobby and just like just my little hobby, I do. And then fast forward 15 years into my corporate career when I had not done any singing except for the occasional wedding, somebody at work said, hey, I heard you sing. We need a vocalist for our big band.

 

[00:37:22.180] - Courtney Burton

Like, what?

 

[00:37:22.880] - Candi Broeffle

Wow.

 

[00:37:23.660] - Courtney Burton

So I auditioned with Beasley's big band and Chuck Beasley, the founder of that, he's quite the guy, God bless him. And his response to vocalists was, they were a necessary evil in the big band. And what I got after the audition was, you'll do.

 

[00:37:44.370] - Candi Broeffle

That was a resounding that was it.

 

[00:37:47.260] - Courtney Burton

That's how Chuck rolled with vocalists. But at the same time, he, you know, he was very good at teaching me that a vocalist in a big band, specifically like 19 piece, 1940 style big band, you are another instrument. So the training in that band has been instrumental and I've been with them off and on for almost 25 years. So it obviously has worked that's morphed into really having a deep appreciation for the jazz standards, the great American song book. And as I said earlier, that's been my creative expression and my outlet all along in this amazing career I've had. And now it's full time passion. So I coach and I sing, and as you said, earlier. I see them as different expressions of the same thing and that's using the power of my voice to create, nurturing, inviting, comforting spaces for others to explore and explore their humanity.

 

[00:38:45.470] - Candi Broeffle

So you have some concerts coming up?

 

[00:38:48.640] - Courtney Burton

Concerts coming up. I am blessed to perform with both Beasley's Big Band, Minnesota Jazz Chamber Orchestra, which is a nine piece rendition of a big band or a little big band, as we call it, and then my jazz combo Quartz In Session, which is a quintet. I have two concerts coming up with Minnesota Jazz Chamber Orchestra. One's on the December 22 at Briano's Chart house down in Lakeville. It is part of the mix Sterling concert series there called Mick Sterling presents Chart House Live. And it's called Wishing You a Swing Holiday and Evening with Ella. So we will be performing classic songs from Ella Fitzgerald, including some of her holiday songs that are all arranged based on her recordings.

 

[00:39:40.240] - Candi Broeffle

Oh, wow.

 

[00:39:41.340] - Courtney Burton

It'd be a very different experience for most and I've never really done a lot of holiday music in public, so this is the first time for me to be doing holiday music.

 

[00:39:51.250] - Candi Broeffle

That's exciting. It is. Are you a little nervous about it as well?

 

[00:39:56.430] - Courtney Burton

I was until I heard the arrangements that an amazing arranger, Josh May put together for this group. And I was like, oh, okay, I can do this, I got this. It's definitely our spin on things. And then also with that same group, it's a lovely, lovely New Year's Eve concert at the amazing Ives Auditorium, which is on the Masonic Heritage Center's campus. The thing I love about this New Year's Eve concert, other than the fact that it's about the American songbook, it's the Gershwin songbook. That's tribute to the music of the Gershwin brothers from 1924 to about 1937, is that we play from seven to 830. So I tell everybody, you too can say I celebrated New Year's Eve and be home in your jammies by about 09:00.

 

[00:40:47.150] - Candi Broeffle

It's perfect for this old Bart same year.

 

[00:40:51.380] - Courtney Burton

Last year I was talking to my sibling at quarter of ten at home. It's and it's a beautiful theater. It is. I'm going to call it senior friendly. Both concerts are all ages, so it's a great time to bring your family out. The Gideonized Theater is stunning. Little jewel box of a theater. If you've never been in there, I strongly suggest people consider coming out. And for the Charthouse, the Brianno Charthouse event on the 22nd, what's fascinating, you can have dinner there, so we encourage dinner reservations, you can buy tickets and if you want to have an early dinner with your family, that show is from seven to 830 as well. Consider coming to Chart House and having one of their yummy desserts. Oh, my gosh, their desserts are to die for.

 

[00:41:40.930] - Candi Broeffle

So give us an idea of like at the Chart House. If we haven't been there, I haven't been there. Okay, so if you're having dinner, is the concert at the same location as where you would be having dinner? So you kind of come in, you have your meal, and then the concert starts.

 

[00:41:59.040] - Courtney Burton

Exactly. Pro tip is like what I like to call it is I would make a dinner reservation from 536 o'clock, somewhere in there. So your dinner is at your table or you're halfway through the meal when the show starts at seven. So the tickets do not include dinner, they do not include drinks, but the full service menu is available.

 

[00:42:21.150] - Candi Broeffle

And is there places to dance or.

 

[00:42:24.910] - Courtney Burton

Not much, not much. But my dance followers and I do have them because of big band swing music, they've been known to move tables around and find a spot.

 

[00:42:36.770] - Candi Broeffle

There's a will, there's a way.

 

[00:42:40.130] - Courtney Burton

We play at the Chart House. My combo plays at the Chart House every Monday night in some form or fashion or beatley the first Monday of the month. And one Monday the combo was there and we ended up in the lounge because of a private event. I look up and there's dancers in the aisle, literally in the main aisle. They didn't care. They created their own dance floor and they were having a ball.

 

[00:43:02.430] - Candi Broeffle

Isn't that great? So again, you said you're at the Chart host every Monday?

 

[00:43:06.870] - Courtney Burton

Yeah. So courts in session is there every Monday in some form or fashion for dinner and dancing? No cover. You come in, we play from 630 to 830. Most of the time we're in the dining room. So there's a small dance floor there. On the first Monday of the month, I'm performing with Beasley's big band. Okay, so that's a different event. We play from seven to nine. And for that first Monday of the month, there is a dance instructor. So there's a complimentary wow. Included at 06:00. Come on in, have a dance lesson, order a little dinner and dance to a big band on a Monday night.

 

[00:43:43.260] - Candi Broeffle

That is really cool.

 

[00:43:44.920] - Courtney Burton

So I know this is a lot of detail, so the easiest way to keep track of that is to follow CourtneyBurtonMusic.com. I post wherever I'm playing on my website, and I also have a newsletter. We don't no spam, no sales, no nothing. You get it twice a month and it just says where I'm playing, who I'm playing with. Is there a cover date, time and location? That's it.

 

[00:44:07.410] - Candi Broeffle

Oh, great. And so they can sign up for that by going to your website. And again. That's CourtneyBurtonMusic.com. That's different than the coaching website. I'm going to spell that for people, too. It's Courtney. And Burton is B-U-R-T-O-N just so people have that. So again. C-O-U-R-T-N-E-Y-B-U-R-T-O-N. Courtney Burton Music. Get on the newsletter list and be able to find out where you'll be playing and all the details so that people can easily get to it. So I want to talk about this a bit more, give people a little bit more detail about the event on the 22nd. It's Wishing You a Swinging Holiday, an Evening with Ella, which will start at 07:00 p.m.. Get your dinner reservations before possibly about 530. That way you're ready to go when the concert starts. It's on the 22 December at Brianna's Chart house in Lakeville. The cost is $25 and the doors open at 530. Is this information on your music website as well now?

 

[00:45:21.670] - Courtney Burton

Yes.

 

[00:45:21.910] - Candi Broeffle

Okay, so again, go to CourtneyBurtonMusic.com to get more information about that. So let's talk a little bit about the New Year's Eve concert, which is December 31. It's called The Great American Songbook. Relive the Golden Age with the Gershwin Songbook starts at 07:00 p.m at the Ives Auditorium on the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center in Bloomington. Cost is $34 and up. There must be different prices for different seating. So tell us a bit about that. What are some of the songs that you will be sharing?

 

[00:45:59.010] - Courtney Burton

It is a true concert style, and so it will be everything from classics like Just Another Rumba, which is done as an instrumental to Lady Be Good. There's one that's near and dear to my heart now. It's called? Who cares? Again, do you ever remember this music is written between 1924 and 1937. And one of the things I do is I tell stories of where we were in our history during that time, what was going on when these songs were written, and who cares? Some of the lyrics are just fascinating to me. It's things like who cares if the sky falls into the sea? Right. It's all about love will take us through this. And it's things like who cares if banks fail in yonkers talks about the stocks and bonds I've been burned with. So there's a lot more history woven into the songs than we would ever imagine. I love that one. And then we found this one that was written in I think this one's 27 as well. It's called the half of it. Fury blues. Best song ever. Best song ever.

 

[00:47:03.830] - Candi Broeffle

Well, that sounds like a great couple of weeks of events that we can go to. So for people who want to learn more and want to find out how to get your tickets, go to CourtneyBurtonMusic.com. Courtney, thank you so much for being with us today. It's been a pleasure having you here and we'll look forward to having you back again soon.

 

[00:47:26.410] - Courtney Burton

Thank you.

 

[00:47:27.690] - Candi Broeffle

Thank you. Have a great holidays.

 

[00:47:30.470] - Courtney Burton

You too.

 

[00:47:31.520] - Candi Broeffle

You're listening to green tea conversations on AM 950. And I am wishing for you a lovely day.