American singer songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews brought her eclectic style and her stunning live show to The Old Market on Thursday. She is known for her wide-ranging sound, which incorporates elements of folk, country, Americana and indie pop. Her sound has been likened to Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, while her songs’ subject matter is very introspective and reflective. In 2020 her album ‘Old Flowers’ was nominated for a Grammy Awards as Best Americana Album.
Opening for Courtney Marie Andrews was Robert Ellis, an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who blends country, pop music and jazz.
Robert Ellis
Robert came on stage promptly at 8:00pm with just his acoustic guitar. He opened with two new songs from his new album ‘Yesterday’s News’ due to be released on 19th May through his own label Niles City Records. Recorded live to tape in just two days, ‘Yesterday’s News’ is as stripped-down as it gets. This was reflected in his overall set at The Old Market.
These first two songs were both folk country songs, which Robert performed on his acoustic guitar sitting on a stool at the front of the stage. Robert explained his second song ‘Gene’ was written for his son, Gene. It was a very personal song about a father being brave for his son, starting with the lyric, “Gene, I don’t have an answer” and later “The darkness frightens even me”.
After the two new songs, Robert asked for requests from the audience. After he’d played the first request, he joked “If you don’t like the set, it’s your fault; you chose the songs.” After three songs, Robert swapped his guitar for the keyboards for the next request ‘Chemical Plant’ from his 2014 album ‘The Lights From The Chemical Plant’.
The next song requested was ‘Friends Like Those’ from his 2011 debut album ‘Photographs’. Robert joked that he’d not played this song in five years, but was “… comfortable with failure playing a song from this debut album live in front of an audience”. He needn’t have worried. He explained the song was about how friendships survive life’s changes and last a lifetime, and even after we die.
Robert commented that the songs on his new album first album, like his debut, were written with a sparse arrangement. He joked that despite what we were hearing that night, he does have some fun songs. The penultimate song of his set was another new song, the title track from ‘Yesterday’s News’.
Some of the requests shouted out by the audience were songs by other artists. (I thought this was rather odd and a little disrespectful.) Being a fan of Richard Thompson, Robert closed his set with a cover of one of his songs ‘1952 Vincent Black Lightning’. That wasn’t the last we heard from Robert Ellis or Richard Thompson that evening. More on that later.
Robert Ellis’s performance was impressive, with simple, sparse but effective song arrangements. It would have been better, if there was more variety in the song choices that were requested. Saying that it was very entertaining with real quality singing and unaccompanied guitar playing. It certainly went down very well with the audience at The Old Market.
Courtney Marie Andrews
After a short interval, the headline act, singer songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews , came on stage to a dark stage at 9:00pm with her band consisting of a guitarist/keyboard player, bassist and drummer.
Courtney Marie Andrews opened her set with three tracks from ‘Loose Future’, her most recent album. The opening song of the set and title track of the album, ‘Loose Future’ was a mellow country song, which she played on acoustic guitar. Courtney Maire swapped to her electric guitar for ‘These Are The Good Old Days’ which was a nostalgic song about not letting time slip away. ‘You Do What You Want’ was a louder, more up-tempo number than the first two songs in the set.
A quick instrument swap before the next song saw guitarist Jerry Bernhardt switching to keyboards. ‘How Quickly Your Heart Mends’ had a more traditional country feel.
The song ‘On The Line’ was performed almost as a solo by Courtney Marie, with minimal backing from her band. The understated backing music was totally appropriate for this soft song. It showed how the balance between Courtney Marie and her band allowed her to shine, while their accompaniment supported and added to her singing and guitar playing.
With the rest of the band leaving Courtney Marie alone on stage, the next song was a true solo. She explained how she has “chucks” of songwriting. She has concentrated spells of songwriting, takes a break, then returns to writing. This new song ‘Is It Love’ was “… written in the chunk before the last chunk”. Courtney Marie performed this with just her acoustic guitar. This seemingly simple arrangement included a quite elaborate guitar part.
The next song ‘Irene’ started as a solo folk song during which the band musicians returned to the stage, and joined the song part way through.
Before the next song, Courtney Marie told how during lockdown, while researching her family tree and ancestry, she’d uncovered a relative, who her family didn’t know they had. With this roundabout story, she explained that ‘It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault’ was about how we are affected by family and our relatives, who have gone before us.
The quality of the musicians in the band, as well as Courtney Marie, deserve a mention, particularly Jerry Bernhardt on guitar and keyboards. His guitar playing was often quite complex but never overshadowed Courtney Marie. He made full use of the tremolo arm, (or whammy bar). This was particularly noticeable on ‘Satellite’. Robert Ellis, the support act, joined Courtney Marie and band to play keyboards on ‘Change My Mind’.
After Robert’s cover of a Richard Thompson track in his set, the next song in Courtney Marie’s set was another Richard Thompson cover, ‘I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight’. This song saw another swap, with Robert taking the guitar and Jerry keyboards. Ironically, this showed off Robert’s guitar playing better than any songs in his own set. Robert and Courtney Marie shared vocals in this track to good effect. Without her guitar on this song, Courtney Marie danced along while singing. She became more animated as the set progressed. After this song, Robert left the stage to loud applause.
Courtney Marie picked up her guitar again for ‘Near You’, and then swapped it on ‘Old Flowers’ to become the third keyboard player in the set.
The next two songs were sad but beautiful songs about love and breakups. ‘Old Flowers’ with lines like “You can’t hurt me that way, Not the way you did before … Our love is gone” and the song ‘Carnival Dream’ with the chorus “Will I ever let love in again? I may never let love in again”. ‘Carnival Dream’ was a very cleverly arranged song starting softly with a solo vocal accompanied by the keyboards seamlessly building to an almost prog rock sound before softening at the end.
Courtney Marie closed the main part of her set with ‘Me & Jerry’, which had a more traditional country feel and arrangement.
The band left the stage at 10:20pm and returned a few minutes later on piggy back. Courtney Marie asked the audience if the term “piggy back” was the same on this side of the Atlantic. She and the band had the giggles about “piggy backs” at the start of the first song of the encore ‘If I Told’. Between giggling, Courtney Marie explained that this song was about unrequited love. That may sound odd, but the quality of Courtney Marie’s singing and the mood of the performance meant that the sad songs’ subject matter didn’t put a downer on the evening’s enjoyment.
Courtney Marie closed her set with ‘Table for One’. Even compared with the superb quality of the music played throughout the evening, this last song had a particularly good guitar part by both Courtney Marie on acoustic and Jerry on electric guitar. Before leaving the stage, Courtney Marie threw the daffodils, which were on stage, into the audience.
Courtney Marie Andrews gave a great performance at The Old Market. The singing was of the highest quality supported by very fine musicians. Although the songs’ content was often sad and introspective, the mood created was relaxed, enjoyable and happy. There was a real bond between the artist and singer, with respectful quiet for the soft, quieter parts of the set. The audience gave Courtney Marie Andrews a great reception at the end of their set, knowing that they’d seen a special evening’s entertainment.
Courtney Marie Andrews setlist:
‘Loose Future’ (from 2022 album ‘Loose Future’ album)
‘These Are the Good Old Days’ (from 2022 album ‘Loose Future’ album)
‘You Do What You Want’ (from 2022 album ‘Loose Future’ album)
‘How Quickly Your Heart Mends’ (from 2017 album ‘Honest Life’ album)
‘Burlap String’ (from 2020 album ‘Old Flowers’ album)
‘Break The Spell’ (from 2020 album ‘Old Flowers’ album)
‘On The Line’ (from 2022 album ‘Loose Future’ album)
‘Is It Love’ (unreleased solo song)
‘Irene’ (from 2017 album ‘Honest Life’ album)
‘It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault’ (from 2020 album ‘Old Flowers’ album)
‘Satellite’ (from 2022 album ‘Loose Future’ album)
‘Change My Mind’ (from 2022 album ‘Loose Future’ album) with Robert Ellis
‘I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight’ (a Richard & Linda Thompson cover) with Robert Ellis
‘Near You’ (a 2027 single release)
‘Old Flowers’ (from 2020 album ‘Old Flowers’ album)
‘Carnival Dream’ (from 2020 album ‘Old Flowers’ album)
‘Me & Jerry’ (from 2022 album ‘Loose Future’ album)
(encore)
‘If I Told’ (from 2020 album ‘Old Flowers’ album)
‘Table For One’ (from 2017 album ‘Honest Life’ album)
