Video: Courtney Marie Andrews – “These Are The Good Old Days”

Directed by V Haddad. From Loose Future, out October 7 on Fat Possum.

I appreciate the sentiment of this song although lately it’s hard to imagine it’s true.

Andrews opened up for Wilco this summer but we arrived too late to catch her set. Pro tip: When Google Maps tells you the venue is 2.5 hours away, don’t think you can make it in two. We got stuck in traffic and it actually took three hours to get to Interlochen. Kresge Auditorium is an incredible venue though, so it’s worth the trip. It’s a gorgeous 4,000-capacity outdoor pavilion originally built in the 1940s as an orchestra shell on the shores of Green Lake. You can see the lake to the sides of the stage, and if you had a boat you could just pull up and listen. But it’s in the middle of nowhere, so give yourself plenty of time to get there.

For the record, Andrews came back out to sing with Wilco on “California Stars,” so I guess technically we did see her.

Video: Courtney Marie Andrews – “It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault”

Directed by V Haddad. From Old Flowers, due July 24 on Fat Possum.

This is the happiest sounding Courtney Marie Andrews song to date. The video is uplifting as well. The lyrics, on the other hand, are as sad as usual.

Feels like I’ve gone crazy
Like the women in my family usually do
We can’t seem to keep our heads on
Long enough to make it through

Hang in there, Courtney Marie Andrews! You can make it.

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Video: Courtney Marie Andrews – “Burlap String”

Directed by V Haddad. From Old Flowers, due June 5 on Fat Possum.

Courtney Marie Andrews has an amazing voice. I discovered her strictly on the strength of her 2018 album cover, which is still one of my all-time faves. That’s an admittedly goofy reason to check out a record, but in this case it totally worked out. May Your Kindness Remain is as great as its artwork.

Andrews has a new album coming out in June, and this one is all about heartbreak.

Some days are good, some are bad
Some days I want what we had
Some days I talk myself into a lie.

The video is a tribute to a community of musicians in Bisbee, Arizona, where Andrews would visit as a teenager, including a couple named Derrick and Amy Ross who performed as Nowhere Man And A Whiskey Girl. Andrews says they “became my DIY musician mentors, being fifteen years older than me, and showing me it was possible to pay rent off of playing music. I adored them, and we did lots of shows together throughout my early twenties.” Tragically, they both died in 2013. “Losing them was a devastating blow. They were a large part of the Arizonan community. I still go back to Bisbee often, as it’s where my heart belongs in many ways.”

Andrews shot her new video on Young Blood Hill, a place “littered with catholic influenced memorials, shrines and crosses,” including the memorial of her friends. “By the end of the video, I am placing flowers on Derrick and Amy’s memorial, as a way of reckoning with their loss and each loss we grieve throughout our lifetime. Though this song was written for one of the great loves of my own lifetime, I wish to place flowers on heartbreak’s memorial as well.”

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Video: Courtney Marie Andrews – “Heart and Mind”

Single out now on Fat Possum.

Dear sister, my tears are for you
I know this life can be so cruel and unkind
But when you’re feeling weak,
Know your power is in your heart and your mind

This is a previously unreleased song, written after the election in 2016 and performed live since at least February of 2017, but not included on her most recent album, May Your Kindness Remain. It’s powerful.

“Back in November, only two days or so after the election, this song hit me like a brick at a Love’s Truck Stop. I pulled over, and wrote it in 10 minutes. That’s how some songs are delivered, fully formed, and you must write them when they come. For the first time in my womanhood, I felt powerless, because the man who was supposed to rule our country made some very shocking and hurtful comments about women. It reminded me of all the times I, or someone close to me, had been harassed, sexually abused, cat-called, or body shamed. The song is intended to empower, and to conquer our demons. It is a statement, not a plead or a question. We ARE more than bodies. We are strong, intelligent, capable humans, with our own opinions and thoughts. It’s a song that I desperately needed as a reminder, and a song that I hope serves as a reminder to women who feel powerless.” – Courtney Marie Andrews

The video features old footage from home movies, and its effect is heartbreaking. To think that all of these smiling, innocent kids in these family videos will inevitably have their souls crushed by the cruel, cruel world is almost too much to bear.

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Continue reading New Courtney Marie Andrews video: Heart and Mind →

Video: Courtney Marie Andrews – “Took You Up”

From May Your Kindness Remain, out now on Fat Possum.

Is it the journey or the destination?
Is this love or is this addiction?
Circumstances are meant to be
What does that say about you and me?

Courtney Marie Andrews has a way of setting up a story, doesn’t she? Who is this couple? We immediately want to know more.

Andrews talked to the Independent about writing “Took You Up.”

Yeah there’s definitely vignettes of personal experiences – there are little snippets of imagery throughout the whole song. I think I’ve definitely experienced pieces of that especially the frozen dinners and laundry piles line. I’ve lived a lot with either people letting me stay on their couches and I’ve also rented hotels and lived on the road for a few years now – not really living this grand lifestyle but also trying to make ends meet. There’s also bits of depression in those lines but I think the hope and the light is that you have somebody you love surrounding that theme. It’s a song where you feel like the only thing you have is that person – everything else is suffering: your pocketbook, where you live…there’s nothing except for that person. But sometimes that person is sad and love is sad as well.

There’s a lot of sadness on May Your Kindness Remain. But sometimes sad songs just make you feel better.

Courtney Marie Andrews: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Video: Courtney Marie Andrews – “Kindness of Strangers”

From May Your Kindness Remain, out now on Fat Possum.

I can’t remember the last time I got an album based entirely on the record sleeve. But last Friday when Courtney Marie Andrews’ May Your Kindness Remain was released I happened to see the cover image. I immediately went to Apple Music and added it to my collection despite the fact that I had never heard of her.

It sounds as good as it looks. Cosmic American music. Country soul. Dusty, hazy, hurt. If you’re a fan of young Linda Ronstadt (and if you aren’t, you should be), you should definitely check this out.

I will buy this on vinyl the next time I’m at my local record store. Who says you can’t judge a book by its cover?

Courtney Marie Andrews: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.