Arizona native Courtney Marie Andrews has already packed an awful lot into her career, despite being just 29 years old. From touring at the age of 16, to working as a session musician and backing singer for acts including Jimmy Eat World and Damien Jurado, and all the way up to 2018’s critically acclaimed solo album May Your Kindness Remain, she has transcended styles and genres, with often spectacular results.

Old Flowers is her latest solo album and her seventh in total and her most immersive dive into country folk music to date. It’s also a record interwoven with heartbreak, pain and anguish and a devastatingly beautiful album from start to finish.

It was inspired by the break up of Andrews’ nine-year relationship just a few hours into 2019. This collection of songs was written in the aftermath, perhaps as catharsis, perhaps as a way to remember, and each and every track here carries the gut-punch such devastation warrants, amplified ten-fold by the incredible lyrical and musical ability of their composer.

The whole album is packed with this sort of emotional authenticity. On Guilty Andrews reflects: “When I wake up in the morning next to him it makes me want to cry / But I can not bring myself to let it go and say goodbye / Because I know it would hurt you too.” On Carnival Dream, she simply sings: “I may never let love in again”.

Together Or Alone exhibits traditional country music storytelling without ever becoming cliched, as Andrews sings: “When we first met your hair was in your eyes / I didn’t believe a word you said but I loved those pretty lies / Now I’m the kind of person who acts how I feel / For a moment in time I know what we had was real / You stay with me, no you never really go / In the bars out on Broadway and the chords of this piano / What a god damn mess / Fate is such a joke / But I hope one day we’ll be laughing, together or alone”.

It’s a musically sparse record, simple acoustic guitars and piano melodies provide the backdrop to Andrews soulful, mournful voice. It gives the songs room to breath and puts her unique ability as a singer and writer front and centre. It’s no surprise to hear that she recently secured a book deal for her poetry, but I hope Andrews doesn’t move away from music as a result. It would be another huge loss if she did.

Old Flowers track list:

1. Burlap String

2. Guilty

3. If I Told

4. Together Or Alone

5. Carnival Dream

6. Old Flowers

7. Break The Spell

8. It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault

9. How You Get Hurt

10. Ships In The Night

 singer-songwriter 

Watch the official video for Burlap String here and the official video for It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault here:

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.