It’s been two long years since Courtney Marie Andrews graced these shores, so it was perhaps unsurprising that her autumn 2025 run of smaller, but characterful venues sold out in short time. The first date of the tour was based in a rural church setting, in the village of Twyford in Hampshire – St Mary’s is largely of Victorian construction based upon the bones of early medieval and Saxon predecessors, so is somewhat less gloomy than original Gothic churches, but compact and atmospheric all the same.
Support for the evening was Charlie Jonas Walter, who, I think it is fair to say, knows his banjos – his entertaining half-hour set is comprised entirely of banjo instrumentals with accompanying backstories – a niche act, but fine Walter demonstrates fine musicianship and engaging stage patter.
Bang on time, Courtney Marie Andrews emerges from a door at the side of the altar to a rapturous welcome – bravely she starts solo with an unreleased song and one which she doesn’t introduce, but the setlist names as ‘Eleven Red Horses’ – it’s a rolling narrative piece the lyrics of which flowed too fast for this reviewer, caught by surprise at the bold move of song choice. It’s a clever move too, as it forces the audience into attentive mode from the off.
Following this, there are initial pleasantries, but heartfelt and not phatic, about being back in the UK and Europe, before a run of classic CMA (as she signs her name and is oft nicknamed) songs, starting with ‘Rookie Dreaming’ through to ‘Break the Spell’. After ‘Rookie Dreaming’, Andrews is joined by Jerry Bernhardt on electric guitar – and later, piano – there’s a grand piano in the church. It’s a marvellous bit of synchronicity for the songs and the setting.
Mid-set, Andrews forewarns that she’s going to be playing a number of songs from a forthcoming album, “Valentine,” which will be released on January 16th 2026, causing an understandably warm and enthusiastic response from the audience who are the first to hear this news. The first taster from that release is a song known as ‘Best Friend’, written from the persona of the seven-year-old Courtney Marie Andrews (On the set list, it’s down as ‘Best Mate’, but that’s presumably a musician’s in-joke drawn from being in the UK). The song itself is the tearjerker of all tearjerkers. Taken out of context, it could be seen as a little twee, but when aligned to a sweet, melancholic melody and tearful vocals, it’s going to cause a lump in the throat of many a listener.
Other new songs listed as ‘Pendulum Swing’ and ‘Punchline’ follow – the former has appeared on a couple of YouTube videos and has been played in dates in the US, so was not entirely unfamiliar to some sections of the audience – it transpires that this will be the lead-off track to the new album.
Two new song highlights, and not just highlights of the new tunes, but highlights of the set, were ‘Standing in the rain’, a song written one New Year’s Day, and ‘To be wanted’, neither of which were listed on the set list, so the titles are guesswork on this reviewer’s part. The former was aired two years ago on Andrews’ previous tour and has appeared in her sets on several occasions since. Mysteriously, neither song seems to be listed amongst the ten tracks that have initially been published as being on “Valentine” unless they have quite diametrically different names to their lyrical content… hopefully they’re not going to disappear into the void of unreleased Andrews’ gems like ‘James Dean’, ‘On/Off’ and ‘Be Gentle’, or are we getting another album in addition? Previously, she has said that she’d got a couple of albums ready. Whatever. In a live situation, Andrews has an embarrassment of riches to draw upon.
The set is drawn to a close after around an hour and a quarter or thereabouts with Bernhardt and Andrews regularly swapping on piano and guitar, with a chillingly beautiful version of ‘Near You’ and a pretend encore (She explained that she didn’t want to indulge in the theatrics of going off and coming on again) of ‘May your kindness remain’, played solo, which drew matters to a satisfyingly tidy and cyclical conclusion.
So – Courtney Marie Andrews is well and truly back – and if this gig is anything to go by, she’s got a cornucopia of spectacular material ready to be spilt out into the world. Class is permanent.
Photos by and with permission of Nick Barber
