Courtney Marie Andrews – Valentine
I’ll be blunt: I’m a fan of Courtney Marie Andrews. I was there when she collected the UK Americana International Artist of the Year Award in 2018 and saw her live in Birkenhead a couple of years later, so I listened to Valentine with a mixture of hope and trepidation — and I’m glad to say it met and often exceeded my expectations.
From the first note, Courtney’s voice is the thing that holds you: intimate, clear and emotionally precise. The arrangements on Valentine favour acoustic textures and tasteful electronic undercurrents; nothing is overworked, and that restraint lets the songs breathe. This is not a party record. It’s a late‑night, bedroom album — quiet, introspective and richly detailed — the kind of record that reveals new lines and small production choices on each listen.
There’s tenderness threaded with regret across the album, and a handful of lines land so plainly they linger. From “Little Picture of a Butterfly”: “Guess your love is not a cure, Guess I should’ve known better,” to the aching admission in “Outsider”: “I wanna be an outsider, It’s too painful looking in, Have fun with the insiders,” the resigned longing of “Only the Best for Baby”: “I will settle for your crumbs, The child in me needs your love,” and the quiet ache of “Best Friend”: “Best friend, Wish I had a best friend, Someone to talk to, To tell my deepest thoughts to.”
Those moments are small and exacting; they’re the reason you keep coming back. Melodically, a few passages nudged familiar territory for me — most notably the melody and chordal movement of “Little Picture of a Butterfly,” which at times recalls the shape of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” The resemblance is striking enough that it pulled me out of the song for a moment; whether that registers as homage, influence or coincidence, listeners will hear the echo. It’s a minor quibble in an otherwise compelling collection, but one worth noting for anyone who knows Kristofferson’s classic balladry.
My favourites on repeat have been “Pendulum,” “Cons and Clowns,” “Everyone Wants to Feel Like You Do,” “Best Friend” and “Hangman,” though the album’s consistency makes it hard to skip tracks. Courtney walks a line between alt‑folk, country and indie, and the result here is an album that feels both timeless and contemporary: literate songwriting, a voice that feels like a close conversation, and production that serves the songs rather than competing with them.
Find more information here on her website: https://www.courtneymarieandrews.com
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Courtney Marie Andrews “Old Flowers” Is the Record We Need in 2020
Musicians on the album are Courtney Marie Andrews on lead and background vocals, six string and high strung acoustic guitars, drone electric guitar, Yamaha cs-60, piano, prepared piano, Roland RS09, flute, flutter piano, tambourine, mellotron and Wurlitzer; Jerry Bernhardt on bass, piano, twelve string acoustic guitar, tremolo guitar, rhythm king, slide guitar, Juno 60, snare drum, background vocals, Molina, farfisa, mellotron, piano, prepared piano, landscape guitar, drone, fuzz bass, glockenspiel, and fuzz electric guitars; Chris Bear on drums, percussion, conga, and water bottle.
The album was produced by Jerry Bernhardt and Courtney Marie Andrews; recorded by Michael Harris at Valentine Recording Studios, Los Angeles, CA; with assistant engineer Travis Pavur; and additional engineering by Jerry Bernhardt at Cobbly Casita, Madison, TN. It was mixed by Sam Griffin Owens at Flying Cloud, Upstate NY and mastered by Josh Bonati, Brooklyn, NY. Album photography was by Wyndham Garnett; and album design by Caio Wheelhouse.