Courtney Marie Andrews at the Union Chapel

Courtney Marie Andrews
Andy Jenkins
Union Chapel, 3 December 2018

Courtney Marie Andrews has a cold tonight. But aside from a few coughs in between songs you wouldn't know it. In fact, to my ears anyway, Andrews sounds more incredible than ever. Last time I saw her with a band but she is even more spectacular with just her guitar and that amazing voice of hers, particularly in such a beautiful venue as the Union Chapel.

There's something about Andrews' new album, the wonderfully titled May Your Kindness Remain, that reminds me of Linda Ronstadt at her best: utterly pure and so full of emotion. But Andrews is also a superb songwriter, reaching new heights on her last two albums. This is immediately apparent when she walks out, wearing a striking black and white dress, picks up her guitar and wins everyone's hearts by singing the first notes of Put The Fire Out.

From this moment on every person in the sold out crowd (including a central front row consisting entirely of old white dudes) seems to be on the edge of their seats, she is so utterly captivating. "I booked this tour to sing some old songs and new ones and tell some stories," she tells us and that's just what she does.

Irene, she explains, was written about a friend who was scared to come out as gay and Andrews wrote the song to reassure her. When she then sings it it feels even more poignant. Paintings For Michael, which she plays on piano, is about her incarcerated uncle who used to send her the paintings he did in prison.

Best of all was This House, which was inspired by her beloved dog who died a couple of years ago (for some reason a few people laughed out loud at the fact she had written a song about her sadly departed dog, but some folks are weird and heartless) and she lovingly told us that was the magic of songwriting that she could pay tribute through song every night to her much-missed dog Tucker, which he deserved. 

Playing alone also demonstrated what a good musician Andrews is: on Woman Of Many Colors her finger-picking was so exquisite and reminded me of Joni Mitchell. And of course when she exchanged her guitar for the piano she also sounded glorious. It's clear that all those years of touring before she gained any recognition (it's so weird to me she recorded four albums before I had even heard of her) has really built her craft and made her into the amazing musician she is today.

Aside from playing songs from her new record, her breakthrough album, Honest Life and her recently re-released fourth album On My Page (she doesn't seem to like to venture further back than this), she also played both songs from the single Sea Town/Near You, the latter of which is such an incredible song it seems crazy that it never made it onto an album (although she did say it had been floating around for years before they finally decided to just put it out as a single).

There are also two new songs, both of which sound hugely promising for whatever she has planned next. One called It Must Be Someone Else's Fault and another, Ships In The Night, which she said was only a couple of weeks old and she was performing for the first time.

About halfway through the show pedal steel player BJ Cole joins her on stage and he beautifully accompanies her on songs such as Border, Honest Life and Table For One. She also brings out some friends whose record she produced but I must admit I hadn't heard of before, Embasan, along with British singer-songwriter Bess Atwell, to provide backing vocals on the last few songs of the night including an absolutely lovely version of Neil Young's gentle and sweet country tale One Of These Days, which of course, being a huge Neil fan, sent my heart aflutter. She did more than a fine job of it and, not surprisingly, had me once again thinking of Linda Ronstadt.

Given that as the night progressed it was clear that Andrews was struggling more and more (not heard in the songs themselves but the coughs between the songs and the need for hot tea throughout - thankfully she had a little pot on top of her amp), it was incredible that she got through the whole show: she really is a trooper. After about an hour and twenty minutes though she asked if it would be alright if she ended with one last song, which was rather sweet and unnecessary seeing as she had sung about 15 songs already.

She attempted to sing the first line a few times and then decided to just go for it and sing the entire thing off mike. So we got an utterly spellbinding version of May Your Kindness Remain with Andrews singing at the edge of the stage without any amplification and then walking off the stage into the crowd and standing right by me with just her guitar and that voice. Needless to say it really did give me chills and spectacularly ended a rather special night.

Courtney Marie Andrews, even sick with a cold, you are amazing.

Opening up for Andrews tonight was a blond country singer-songwriter from Richmond, Virginia called Andy Jenkins. He rather bravely opened up his set by singing a song a cappella which he later admitted the idea was either "hubris or a triumph." It was probably nearer to the latter and I actually really enjoyed his set of gentle, laid back tunes mostly taken from his debut album, Sweet Bunch.