Courtney Marie Andrews – May Your Kindness Remain

Courtney Marie Andrews – May Your Kindness Remain
(Fat Possum Records)

Reviewed by Mike Thornton.

Let’s just get straight to the point, here. This is a terrific album. It’s country in style, it’s folk in content, and it’s borderline gospel in the depth and sincerity (though not the religiosity) of the lyric and especially in the phrasing of some of the harmonies. There is something timeless and classic about Courtney Marie Andrews’ voice. There’s purity there, and beautiful clear high notes and an inescapable, and delightful, country feel. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been able to listen to this album on repeat for hours at a time without getting restless. It’s a thing of heartfelt craft, and of beauty.

Courtney Marie Andrews is a woman of strength, and experience, and as is ably demonstrated by all of her work, a very talented lyricist. In this album she is exercising and further demonstrating her exceptional powers of observation and of story-telling. Gaining from experiences gained during the course of her wide-ranging travels, in meeting, interacting with, and drawing an understanding of the lives of the very real people she has encountered along the way; the album holds meaning a-plenty and draws deep from the well of her personal experience. The content is often harsh, sometimes gritty, sad or nostalgic, but all at the same time it manages to be optimistic. Seemingly every track includes a small triumph, a highlight of some kind even if just a fond memory, and truly the theme embedded within the title shared by the album and the lead track: “May Your Kindness Remain” – a wish, a promise, a prayer for kindness and optimism – is woven intricately into the fabric of every song. It’s an ode to the strength of characters that inhabit its world; and of course, these characters are all of us, or at least recognisable by all of us; as surely many people can relate to the struggle of life’s realities.

Of the album and the inspiration behind its songs, Andrews herself comments, “The people that I’ve met on the road these past few years got me thinking about my childhood, and the people around me that I’ve known, and the stories that come from my family. It became clear how many people are struggling through the same issues. People are constantly chasing that bigger life. A lot of people are poor in America—and because of those unattainable goals, they’re also mentally unstable, or sad, or depressed or unfulfilled. A lot of people—myself included at some point in my life—are loving somebody through this. That’s sort of the theme of the record: coming to terms with depression and the reality of the world we’re living in.”

Musically, this recording represents a departure for me from the solo Courtney Marie Andrews performance I enjoyed last year. I was introduced to her talents in an intimate acoustic set when she played here in New Zealand at the Tuning Fork, in support of, and alongside, Joe Pug. That was a beautiful set, to be sure, featuring of course the beautiful voice, accompanied by Courtney Marie’s own lovely acoustic guitar skills. On the latest offering, the voice is joined by harmonies, it is lifted and in some ways it is empowered to soar to heights above a band that features diverse keyboard sounds, backing singers, gorgeous electric/reverb guitar and an on-point rhythm section of bass and drums. The combined package is highly effective – giving space to the voice and allowing it to counterpoint or combine, as befitting the feel of the particular song.

Produced by Mark Howard (Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Tom Waits), the album was recorded over eight days at a rented house-turned-studio in L.A. In addition to Andrews on vocals and electric/acoustic guitar, the album features Dillon Warnek (electric guitar), Daniel Walter (organ, Wurlitzer, accordion), Charles Wicklander (piano, Wurlitzer), William Mapp (drums, percussion), Alex Sabel (bass) and C.C. White (background vocals).

In February of this year, Courtney Marie Andrews won the award for International Artist of the Year at the UK Americana awards, at which artists like Robert Plant (Lifetime Achievement Award & Best-Selling Americana album of 2017 Award), and Mumford & Sons (Trailblazer Award) were also honoured. This will not be her last award. Of that, we can be sure.