Arizona native Courtney Marie Andrews is one of the most critically acclaimed Americana singer-songwriters around at the moment.
After a slew of rave reviews for her third album, Honest Life, which topped the UK Americana chart and led to an appearance on Later… with Jools Holland, next month she returns with the follow-up, May Your Kindness Remain.
I caught up with Courtney briefly at the UK Americana Awards (where she won the prize for International Artist of the Year, and was also nominated for International Album of the Year).
Read on to find out more about her new record, her thoughts on UK audiences and what fans can expect from her upcoming tour…
Your new album comes out next month – can you tell us a bit more about that?
Yeah, in between touring last year I booked some time in LA with this producer Mark Howard and recorded an album in a house in LA overlooking the Hollywood skyline. It was a very epic way to record. I’m very excited to put the album out; it should be really fun.
Do you have a favourite song on the album? Were there any that were particularly easy or difficult to write?
I feel like I try and make an album as a whole so it works all together as one, so it’s hard for me to choose a favourite song. But I’d say that I try to make a complete body of work.
You’ve just played Celtic Connections up in Scotland – how was that?
It was wonderful – such a good festival. Everybody in Glasgow’s always so warm and welcoming and it was a really great show.
You said that you went out to LA to work on your new album – do you typically go to different places when you record?
I try and change it up. I try and make every experience different so every record stands alone as its own record and they don’t all blend into the same, y’know? I’m into making different-sounding records and exploring – sonically and lyrically – different themes and stuff.
Is there anything about this record that’s particularly different from Honest Life?
Yeah, there’s sonically I guess more gospel, rock sounds but also it’s a little… thematically and lyrically I guess it’s more about depression and oppression and dreams that are unattainable and unreachable.
Do you find that travel influences your writing?
This record wasn’t as influenced by it. Actually because I was gone so much I wrote a lot about home and my personal life experiences growing up in the areas that I grew up in, and so this one isn’t as influenced by the road as Honest Life was.
You’ve been over to the UK a lot now – do you find that audiences over here respond differently compared to elsewhere?
I’ve had such great experiences here in the UK. I’ve really been grateful for the experiences I’ve had – really warm audiences, very attentive audiences.
I find a lot of artists say that audiences over here really listen…
They do, yeah.
What’s next for you? Are there any plans for touring?
Yeah, I’ll be back in the UK in April with a full band and we’ll be touring around then and around the rest of the world.
What can audiences expect from that?
It’ll be a little bit of a different line up and it should be really fun. I feel like it’ll be a different sonic experience than the Honest Life tour was.
Courtney Marie Andrews releases her new album May Your Kindness Remain on 23rd March 2018. Listen to the title track below:
[brid video=”203868″ player=”531″ title=”Courtney Marie Andrews May Your Kindness Remain (Official Audio)”]
