The Courage would take its final form with Ivan Gunderson (of no relation to Noah and Abby) on drums and Travis Ehrenstrom on the bass guitar.
This gave insight to the group's work as a pairing of Gundersen's existing solo effort with The Courage acting as a backing band of sorts.
His solo EP Saints & Liars was released in 2009 and featured his younger sister Abby on violin and backing vocals, but The Courage was not credited on the album.
With Abby Gunderson still in high school and Noah traveling to tour his solo EP, The Courage at first struggled to grow into a full-fledged band after their live album was released.
Using the summer as an opportunity to collaborate more closely and transition from a backing band into a full-fledged group, Noah Gundersen & The Courage began to write and record songs for their first studio album, Fearful Bones.