Courtney Marie Andrews Archives

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023

More Things To Do in York and beyond when city comes under art attack. Hutch’s List No. 9 for 2023, from The Press, York

THE cook, the dinosaurs, the pots and the mums serve up a week of cultural contrasts, as recommended by Charles Hutchinson.

Exhibition of the week: Lincoln Lightfoot, Grand Opera House, York, until May 31

ALIENS, dinosaurs, UFOs, even King Kong, invade the Grand Opera House box office as York artist Lincoln Lightfoot explores surreal concepts reminiscent of the poster art for the Fifties and Sixties’ B-movie fixation with comical science-fiction disasters.

Depicting unusual happenings with large beasts, staged in familiar settings and on iconic architecture, from York Minster to the Angel of the North, Lightfoot’s artwork escapes from everyday problems to tap into the fears perpetuated by the news media and politicians alike in a post Covid-19 world.

*Artist LIncoln Lightfoot surveys his dinosaurs towering over York Minster in an earlier exhibition at The Den at Micklegate Social*, *York*

The gig of the week: Courtney Marie Andrew, Leeds Brudenell Social Club, Wednesday, doors 7.30pm

PHOENIX singer, songwriter, poet and artist Courtney Marie Andrews initially approached making her latest album, Loose Future, by composing a song every day. Feeling “the sounds of summer” flowing through her writing in a Cape Cod beach house, she collected material imbued with romance, possibility and freedom for recording at Sam Evian’s Flying Cloud Recordings studio in the Catskill Mountains, New York State.

Dipping in the creek every morning before proceeding, she wanted to embody the feeling of letting love in after the break-up reflections of 2020’s Old Flowers. Hear the results in Leeds. Box office: brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.

*Courtney Marie Andrews: Plunging into new love in her Loose Future songs at Leeds Brudenell Social Club*

Topical monologue of the week: Black Treacle Theatre in Iphigenia In Splott, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

GREEK myth meets modern reality in Gary Owen’s “horribly relevant” one-woman drama Iphigenia In Splott, set in contemporary Cardiff and rooted in the ancient tale of Iphigenia being sacrificed by her father to placate the gods.

Under the direction of Jim Paterson, York company Black Treacle Theatre presents Livy Potter in this 75-minute monologue about Effie, whose life spirals through a mess of drink, drugs and drama every night, and a hangover worse than death the next day, until one incident gives her the chance to be something more. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

*Livy Potter: “Spiralling through a mess of drink, drugs and drama every night” in the role of Effie in Gary Owen’s monologue Iphigenia In Splott*

Food for thought: Prue Leith: Nothing In Moderation, Grand Opera House, York, Thursday, 7.30pm

“I’M probably nuts to try it, but it’s huge fun,” says Dame Prue Leith as she mounts her debut tour at the age of 83. Nothing is off the menu as she shares anecdotes of the ups and downs of being a restaurateur, food writer, novelist, businesswoman and Great British Bake Off judge.

For the first time, Dame Prue tells tales of how she has fed the rich and famous, cooked for royalty and even poisoned her clients, while singing the praises of food, love and life. Audience questions will be answered post-interval. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*Cook’s confessions: Prue Leith opens up in Nothing In Moderation on her debut theatre tour*

The show that comes with strings attached: Chloe Bezer in The Slow Songs Make Me Sad, York Theatre Royal Studio, Friday, 7.45pm

CELLIST, writer and theatre maker Chloe Bezer’s “rollicking night of cabaret storytelling about post-natal depression” is her chance to make her mark, deal with the big stuff, and leave an inheritance before she is an ex-cellist and theatre maker.

Refusing to stay silent over the stuff usually kept quiet, and resolutely life affirming, Bezer addresses unrecognised hardships faced by new mothers, complicated relationships with making music and the question of what we leave behind. Cue clowning, heartfelt stories and raucous cello songs. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

*Writer, performer, musician and mother: Theatre and home maker Chloe Bezer in a whirl in The Slow Songs Make Me Sad*

Mum’s the word: Mumsy, Hull Truck Theatre, Thursday to March 25

AS part of Hull Truck’s 50th anniversary programme, Hull playwright Lydia Marchant delivers the world premiere of Mumsy, wherein Sophie (Jessica Jolleys), her mum Rachel (Nicola Stephenson) and nan Linda (Sue Kelvin) battle through the friendship, drama and love of mother-daughter relationships.

“What a privilege to be directing this funny, warm, authentic new play,” says director Zoe Waterman. “Crammed into a one-bed flat in Hull with rising bills and decreasing wages, three generations of women push at their circumstances – and sometimes each other – to let their dreams soar.” Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

Not keeping mum: Sue Kelvin, as nan Linda, in rehearsal for Hull Truck Theatre’s world premiere of Lydia Marchant’s Mumsy

Top of the pots: York Ceramics Fair, York Racecourse, March 4 and 5,10am to 5pm

THE Craft Potters Association has curated artworks from 60 prominent British ceramicists and potters, hailing from Cornwall to Scotland, for the return of York Ceramics Fair after a Covid-enforced short break.

Among the Yorkshire makers there will be Ruth King, Loretta Braganza and Emily Stubbs, from York, Katie Braida, from Scarborough, Penny Withers, from Sheffield, and fair chair Anna Lambert, from Keighley. Both Emily and Katie will be giving a demonstration. For tickets and a full list of exhibitors, go to: yorkceramicsfair.com.

*Emily Stubbs: Taking part in the York Ceramics Fair at York Racecourse*

High old time of the week: Attic Theatre Company presents James Rowland in Learning To Fly, Helmsley Arts Centre, March 4, 7.30pm

COMBINING theatre, comedy and music in his new show, James Rowland tells the story of a remarkable friendship he made when he was a lonely, unhappy teenager with the scary old lady who lived in the spooky house on his street.

“It’s about connection, no matter what the obstacles; about love’s eternal struggle with time; about music and its ability to heal,” says Rowland. “It’s also about her last wish: to get high once before she dies.” Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyartscentre.co.uk.

*James Rowland: Winging it in Learning To Fly at Helmsley Arts Centre*

Comedy coupling incoming: An Evening Shared With Jasper Carrott and Alistair McGowan, Grand Opera House, York, April 16, 7.30pm

COMEDIANS Jasper Carrott and Alistair McGowan join forces to “split the bill and your sides” with a night of stand-up and impressions.

Their pairing for a one-off festival appearance turned out to be a match made in comedy heaven, prompting the decision to tour together. They first played the Grand Opera House in November 2018, when McGowan’s opening set prompted Carrott to say, “I said ‘warm them up’, not boil them!”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*Double bill: Jasper Carrott and Alistair McGowan*

June 20, 2022June 24, 2022

More Things To Do in and around York for June 18 to June 26, as the Romans invade again. List No. 87, courtesy of The Press

*Cherie Gordon in Everyday, on tour at York Theatre Royal in Deafinitely Theatre’s 20th anniversary tour. Picture: Becky Bailey*

FROM the Pride parade to Roman festivities, Americana musicians to English prog legends, defiant deaf theatre to bracing art, Charles Hutchinson savours a diverse diary ahead.

Empowering play of the week: Everyday, Deafinitely Theatre, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7.30pm

FOUR people come together to perform a ritual of community and catharsis. Gathering up true stories of deaf women and non-binary people’s experiences of surviving abuse, they form a witches’ coven like no other, replete with a cauldron of newt’s eyes and butterflies, deep scars, and blazing signs.

Commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, Deafinitely Theatre’s playful, urgent, defiant world premiere by writer-director Paula Garfield combines British Sign Language and oral English as it draws on interviews to explore domestic abuse and mental health in the deaf community. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

*Davina De Campo: Performing at York LGBT Pride at Knavesmire*

Fiesta of the week: York LGBT Pride, June 18, from high noon

THE York Pride Parade leaves from outside York Minster at Duncombe Place. Best advice: arrive at 11.45am, ready for departure at 12 noon, with the parade arriving at Knavesmire (Tadcaster Road end) between 1pm and 1.30pm.

On the main stage, hosts Miss Sordid Secret and DJ Kira introduce live music and entertainment from Nadine Coyle, Davina De Campo, Duncan James, Marcus Collins and Jo O’Meara. York Pride is a free family-friendly event, but donations are welcome.

*Dolphin Hotel, by David Finnigan, at According To McGee, York*

Exhibition launch of the week: Contemporary Painting: Elementals and Synthesis by Freya Horsley and David Finnigan, According To McGee, Tower Street, York, June 18 to July 11

EXHIBITING Freya Horsley, from York, alongside David Finnigan, from Scarborough, is “not so much a duo show, more like two exhibitions in one gallery,” says According To McGee co-director Greg McGee.

“Freya and David are far removed in terms of subject and mark making, but there’s enough intersection to be able to build an event like this.”

Horsley’s Elementals works focus on seascapes full of bristling light and spray, serenity and inner-lit joy; Finnigan’s four new Synthesis paintings are geometric abstractions influenced by sound and modulation.

*Sunday’ll be the day for That’ll Be The Day! at Grand Opera House, York*

Tribute gig of the week: That’ll Be The Day!, Grand Opera House, York, June 19, 7pm

THIS long-running show, now into its 36th year, celebrates the golden age of rock’n’roll and pop from the 1950s through to the 1980s.

That’ll Be The Day combines comedy sketches and impersonations with stellar vocals and musicianship, fronted by director, producer and vocalist Trevor Payne. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York.

*Courtney Marie Andrews: Third time lucky for Phoenix singer-songwriter as she returns to Pocklington at last*

Americana gig of the week: Courtney Marie Andrews, Pocklington Arts Centre, June 19, 8pm

AMERICAN singer, songwriter, poet, musician and now artist Courtney Marie Andrews makes her long-awaited return to Pocklington this weekend.

Phoenix-born Courtney, 31, twice had to postpone the follow-up to her December 2018 gig. The focus was expected to be on the 2021 Grammy-nominated Old Flowers, but now that she has announced the October 7 release of ninth album Loose Future on Fat Possum, hopefully she will showcase new material too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

*Yes, it is Yes: Playing Close To The Edge at York Barbican*

Progressing to the past: Yes, York Barbican, Wednesday, 8pm

PROG rock pioneers Yes’s Album Series Tour 2022 celebrates the 50th anniversary of Close To The Edge, the September 1972 album inspired by Siddharta and their “state of mind” at the time.

Wednesday’s concert combines the iconic album in full with further Yes classics, performed by Steve Howe, guitars, Geoff Downes, keyboards, Jon Davison, vocals, Billy Sherwood, bass guitar, and Jay Schellen, drums and percussion. Legendary Yes artwork artist Roger Dean opens the show with a video wall of images and graphics and a reflection on his long history with the band. Tickets remain valid from the postponed May 19 2021 date. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*The Felice Brothers, James, second from left, and Ian, right, with band members Will Lawrence and Jesske Hume*

If you are yet to discover…The Felice Brothers, Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday, 8pm

THE Felice Brothers, the folk rock/country rock band from the Hudson valley of upstate New York, are led by Ian and James Felice, joined on this tour by Will Lawrence on drums and Jesske Hume on bass.

Inspired equally by Woody Guthrie and Chuck Berry, they began in 2006 by playing subway platforms and sidewalks in New York City and have since released ten albums, the latest being 2021’s From Dreams To Dust. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

*Charge! The Eboracum Roman Festival is on its way*

Festival of the week: Eboracum Roman Festival, June 25 and 26, all day

THE Legions of Rome take over York Museum Gardens for a packed weekend of outdoor festivities featuring a Roman Living History Encampment between 10am and 5pm each day; the Kids Army and Roman-themed family activities run by Playful Anywhere from 11am to 3pm on both days. Entry is free.

Head inside the Yorkshire Museum to discover Roman treasures, especially the new exhibition The Ryedale Hoard: A Roman Mystery.

Authors of Roman fiction and non-fiction will chat and sign books in the Tempest Anderson Hall from 10am to 4pm each day.

*The Chemical Brothers: Get ready for Block Rockin’ Beats at Castle Howard*

Big beat of the week: The Chemical Brothers, Castle Howard, near York, nearer Malton, June 26; gates open at 5pm

HEY boy, hey girl, electronic pioneers The Chemical Brothers are taking to the stately-home grass this summer as Manchester big beat duo Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, both 51, galvanize rave diggers.

Expect such dancefloor nuggets as the chart-topping Setting Sun and Block Rockin’ Beats, Hey Boy, Hey Girl, Let Forever Be, It Began In Afrika, Star Guitar, Galvanize, Do It Again. Got To Keep On and Go. Camping will be available. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.

June 19, 2022June 19, 2022

Third time lucky for Courtney Marie Andrews at Pocklington Arts Centre tonight

*Courtney Marie Andrews: New album in October*

AMERICAN singer, songwriter, poet, musician and now artist Courtney Marie Andrews makes her long-awaited return to Pocklington Arts Centre tonight (19/6/2022)

Courtney, 31, had been booked to follow up her December 2018 appearance on June 17 2020, but pandemic restrictions put paid to that show and its rearranged date of June 17 2021.

Third time lucky, the Phoenix-born Grammy nominee plays PAC this weekend, having announced the October 7 release of her ninth studio album, Loose Future on Fat Possum.

Already Courtney has launched the aptly named first single, Satellite: a departure from the more traditional Americana sound of her earlier work, building from a breezy guitar and vocal arrangement into a dreamy tapestry of synths, layered vocals and reverb-heavy slide guitar.

“I’ve written a lot of love songs, but there’s always a tinge of heartbreak, but Satellite is a love song without caveats,” she says. “I wanted to look forward and fall in love with the mystery of someone. Let love in, without questioning or instigating how it might hurt me. Sonically, I wanted to go to space. This kind of love isn’t earthbound.”

Courtney initially approached recording a new album by writing a song every day. Feeling “the sounds of the summer” flowing through her writing, gradually she collected an album’s worth of material imbued with a sense of romance, possibility and freedom.

She enlisted Sam Evian (Big Thief, Cassandra Jenkins, Anna Burch) to co-produce the songs from recording sessions at Evian’s Flying Cloud Recordings studio in the Catskill Mountains in New York State.

*Courtney Marie Andrews’ artwork for Loose Future: “I knew I wanted to paint the cover for this record,” she says*

Joining her on Loose Future are Grizzly Bear drummer Chris Bear and Bonnie Light Horseman’s Josh Kaufman on multiple instruments.

Committing her life to music from a young age, Courtney played in punk bands in high school before becoming a touring member of Jimmy Eat World at 18. She garnered her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Americana Album for 2020’s Old Flowers, subsequently receiving International Album Of The Year and International Artist Of The Year honours at the 2021 Americana UK Awards.

In the quietude of an emptied diary during the pandemic lockdowns she branched out into publishing her debut poetry collection, Old Monarch, through Simon & Schuster.

Her last Pocklington show – sold out by the way – came at the end of a week when Courtney was felled by a viral infection the morning after her London gig and had to call off her Birmingham, Bristol and Oxford gigs.

Rested and recuperated, she was still nursing a cough but found the energy for a solo set of songs and stories, introducing Ships In The Night and It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault, two compositions that would end up on Old Flowers.

Now comes Loose Future, featuring Courtney’s own artwork too boot. “I knew I wanted to paint the cover for this record,” she says. “I was afraid to at first, but after a talk with an encouraging friend, I threw all caution to the wind and painted a season of my life in shapes.”

The album track listing will be: Loose Future; Older Now; On The Line; Satellite; These Are The Good Old Days; Thinkin’ On You; You Do What You Want; Let Her Go; Change My Mind and Me & Jerry.

Tickets for tonight’s 8pm concert, part of a seven-date whistle-stop tour, are on sale at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

November 30, 2021November 30, 2021

Native Harrow close in on Fulford Arms concert with new single Do It Again out now

*Native Harrow’s Stephen Harms and Devin Tuel*

PENNSYLVANIAN folk/rock duo Native Harrow are on the final leg of their tour travels showcasing their beautiful fourth album, Closeness. Close at hand is their York gig, booked for the Fulford Arms on December 7.

Now re-located to Brighton, guitarist-singer Devin Tuel and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Harms have just completed a string of European dates supporting American country singer Courtney Marie Andrews.

Native Harrow’s autumn concerts are accompanied by a new single, Do It Again, a song conceived during the sessions for Closeness, the album they released in September 2020 on Loose Music

Without the possibility of touring to support their most expansive record to date, Tuel and Harms elected to return to the studio where they had made Closeness to continue living in that world, if only for a few more days.

They recorded six new songs, again in tandem with drummer/engineer Alex Hall, and Do It Again emerges as the second and final single to be issued from the sessions. Tuel and Harms next will turn their focus towards a new sound, a new direction and the next era of Native Harrow.

*Native Harrow’s artwork for September 2020’s album, Closeness*, *on the Loose label*

“As much as someone could say this one speaks for itself, I don’t think it’s that simple,” says Tuel. “Yes, it could be only about the pandemic, but quite honestly this is how I felt before all of this unfolded.

“I am typically drawn to hiding away and being lost in my own dreamland; living for moments with nature and quiet. I read the news and see the lack of understanding going around, which has been accelerated by the utter state of chaos wreaking havoc on the world.

“The brains turn off and we seem to just putter along, ‘en routine’. We tell the same stories, each time embellishing upon them a little more. You still love the storyteller, but we have to have a sense of reality.”

Doors open at 7.30pm for Native Harrow’s 8pm gig (originally booked for March 1 until Lockdown 3 intervened). Box office: seetickets.com/event/native-harrow/the-fulford-arms/1471604.

October 30, 2021October 30, 2021

REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Courtney Marie Andrews, Leeds Brudenell Social Club, 28/10/2021

*Courtney Marie Andrews performing under the Leeds Brudenell Social Club glitterball on Thursday night. Picture: Paul Rhodes*

IN a more just world, one of Courtney Marie Andrews’ songs would always be playing on a country radio station or what passes for a digital jukebox. Blessed with a beautiful, powerful voice and a bent for aching tunes, her Grammy award nomination for Old Flowers, her 2020 album, feels both just deserts and a career kick-starter.

While crossover success may still be ahead of her, she charmed the sold-out crowd with a solo set. The Arizona native has a soft spot for Leeds, even obliging a pushy celebrant with a few bars of Happy Birthday.

Without a band (too expensive if COVID calls while on tour), Andrews’ material sounded rather samey when stripped down. New tunes also ran in a similar vein, including a number inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Wire-thin support band Memorial provided light backing vocals to pleasing effect.

*Courtney Marie Andrews, when joined by support act Memorial on backing vocals. Picture: Paul Rhodes*

Andrews’ break-up clearly inspired her, as there are some wonderful songs on Old Flowers. To see her, eyes closed, really enunciating the words to How You Get Hurt, was to witness greatness – far more than a pretty voice, but someone with remarkable control to channel all that strength of feeling.

The elements, particularly the moon, loom large in her writing. Prefacing If I Told with a story about how the record’s cover photo came to be taken high on a full-moon Arizona hill, her off-mic vocalising provided the musical highlight to the set. Andrews perhaps leaned a little too much on the heartache button, but it clearly felt good. On record, Carnival Dream drags, but live she made it both shorter and sweeter.

While the newest album took centre stage, Andrews also wisely drew from her back catalogue throughout. The 75-minute set ended with a lovely version of Rough Around The Edges. Dinner For One, always a standout in her sets, showed her at her best; singularly sad and hummable.

Review by Paul Rhodes

February 11, 2021February 11, 2021

More Things To Do in and around York eventually and deep into lockdown at home now. List No. 26, courtesy of The Press

Worrying times : Story Craft Theatre’s Janet Bruce, left, and Cassie Vallance to present four half-term Crafty Tales sessions built around The Worrysaurus

SNOWHERE to go in freezing-cold Lockdown 3, except for yet another regulation walk and Chai Latte, as the live arts remain in pandemic hibernation, Charles Hutchinson looks online and ahead to bolster his sparse diary.

Online half-term fun, part one: Story Craft Theatre’s Crafty Tales, The Worrysaurus, February 17 to 20, 10am to 11am

YORK children’s theatre company Story Craft Theatre are running four storytelling and craft-making sessions on Rachel Bright’s The Worrysaurus on Zoom over half-term.

Janet Bruce and Cassie Vallance will begin each session for two to seven-year-old children with the Crafty Tales song and a butterfly craft-making session, followed by the interactive story of the little Worrysaurus dealing with butterflies in the tummy. Cue songs, games, dancing and fun galore.

The February 17 session is fully booked; prompt booking is advised for the other three at bookwhen.com/storycrafttheatre.

Wizard and Frog: Magic Carpet Theatre’s Jon Marshall and his amphibian accompanist in The Wizard Of Castle Magic

Online half-term fun, part two: Magic Carpet Theatre, The Wizard Of Castle Magic, streaming from February 18

MAGIC Carpet Theatre and Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC) are teaming up for a free online streaming event for the February half-term.

The Hull company’s family show The Wizard Of Castle Magic will be shown on PAC’s YouTube channel from Thursday, February 18 at 2.30pm, available to view for 14 days until March 4.

Filmed live at PAC behind closed doors by Pocklington production company Digifish last autumn, director Jon Marshall performs an enchanting show based on the traditional Sorcerer’s Apprentice tale for children aged three to 11 and their families with a script packed with comedy, illusion and special theatrical effects.

Solo show: Harpist Cecile Saout will be playing at *Opera North*‘s ONe-to-ONe online home performances in Lockdown 3

Opera North goes home: ONe-to-ONe personal live performances on Zoom, February 15 to February 27

OPERA North is launching ONe-to-ONe, a digital initiative to bring live performance into homes across the country during Lockdown 3.

ONe-to-ONe will provide personal online performances delivered by members of the Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North, with slots available to book at operanorth.co.uk.

From a cappella arias and folk songs to Bach cello suites and a marimba solo, the recipient will be treated to a free virtual solo at a time of their choice, performed by a professional musician over Zoom.

Something fishy this way comes: Six Sprats, by Giles Ward, from Blue Tree Gallery’s online show, Revive

Online exhibition of the season: Revive, curated by Blue Tree Gallery, Bootham, York, until March 13

BLUE Tree Gallery’s latest online show, Revive, is bringing together paintings by artist-in-residence Giuliana Lazzerini, Steve Tomlinson, James Wheeler and Giles Ward.

Memory and imagination come to interplay in Lazzerini’s landscapes; the sea and the “associated physical and emotional experiences it brings” inform Tomlinson’s work; memory and desire in the light and atmosphere mark out Glaswegian Wheeler’s landscapes; the natural world inspires Giles Ward’s experimental, other-worldly paintings.

Revive can be viewed online at pyramidgallery.com, and artworks are being displayed in the gallery and gallery windows for those passing by.

Courtney Marie Andrews: New date for her Pocklington Arts Centre gig

Rearranged gig: Courtney Marie Andrews, Pocklington Arts Centre, June 17

PHOENIX country singer Courtney Marie Andrews has moved her Pocklington gig from June 17 2020 to exactly one year later, on the back of being newly crowned International Artist of the Year at the 2021 UK Americana Awards.

Courtney, 30, will perform the Grammy-nominated Old Flowers, her break-up album released last July, on her return to Pocklington for the first time since December 2018.

In the quietude of an emptied 2020 diary, she completed her debut poetry collection, Old Monarch, set for publication by Simon & Schuster on May 13.

York River Art Market: Artists and makers sought for summer return

Down by the river: York River Art Market call-out for artists

YORK River Art Market 2021 is issuing a call-out to artists for this summer’s riverside event on Dame Judi Dench Walk, Lendal Bridge, York.

After a barren 2020, the organisers have announced plans to return for markets on June 26; July 3, 24, 25 and 31, and August 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28, when 30-plus artists will be selling original art and hand-crafted goods at each stalls day.

Applications to take part should be emailed to yorkriverart@gmail.com with three quality images of your work; a few sentences about your art; links to your digital platforms, and your preferred choice of dates, listed in the YRAM biography on its Facebook page.

Glenn Tilbrook: The Crescent awaits in March 2022

Making plans for next year: Glenn Tilbrook, The Crescent, York, March 13 2022

SQUEEZE up, make room for Glenn Tilbrook, freshly booked into The Crescent for next March.

One half of the Tilbrook-Difford song-writing partnership known as Deptford’s answer to Lennon and McCartney, singer, songwriter and guitarist Tilbrook, 63, can draw on a catalogue boasting the likes of Take Me I’m Yours; Cool For Cats; Goodbye Girl; Up The Junction; Pulling Mussels; Another Nail In My Heart; Tempted; Labelled With Love and Black Coffee In Bed.

Expect picks from his solo works, The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook, Transatlantic Ping-Pong, Pandemonium Ensues and Happy Ending, too.

And what about?

DISCOVERING debut albums by rising British stars Celeste (the chart-topping Not Your Muse on Polydor Records) and Arlo Parks (Collapsed In Sunbeams on Transgressive Records). Revelling in the soundtrack while crying your way through Russell T Davies’s five-part mini-series It’s A Sin on Channel 4. Savouring Joe Root’s batting against spin in the return of Test Match Cricket to Channel 4 as England take on India.

February 5, 2021February 5, 2021

Courtney Marie Andrews to release debut poetry collection ahead of Pocklington gig

Courtney Marie Andrews: Double award winner at the 2021 UK Americana Awards

COURTNEY Marie Andrews will play Pocklington Arts Centre on June 17 on the back of being crowned International Artist of the Year at the 2021 UK Americana Awards.

The Phoenix singer-songwriter also saw off competition from American Aquarium, Margo Price and Katie Pruitt to win Best International Album for Old Flowers at the January 28 virtual ceremony presented by Bob Harris, host of The Country Show on BBC Radio 2.

Elvis Costello, Steve Earle and Gillian Welch all performed at the awards, run by the Americana Music Association, to celebrate the very best in country from Britain and internationally.

This summer, Courtney, 30, will perform the Grammy-nominated Old Flowers, her break-up album released last July on Loose/Fat Possum Records, on her return to Pocklington.

She last played a sold-out PAC in December 2018, at the end of a week when she was felled by a viral infection the morning after her London gig and had to call off her Birmingham, Bristol and Oxford gigs.

Rested and recuperated, she was still nursing a cough, but found the energy for a solo set of songs and stories, introducing Ships In The Night and It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault, two new compositions that would end up on Old Flowers.

Courtney had been booked to play PAC on June 17 last year, but Covid restrictions forced the postponement of her six-date tour. In the quietude of an emptied diary, she completed her debut poetry collection, Old Monarch, set for release in the UK on May 13 (preceded by April 6 in the United States) through Simon & Schuster.

The book cover for Courtney Marie Andrews’ first poetry collection, Old Monarch

“It’s been hard to contain my excitement about this news…my first poetry collection,” Courtney said on Instagram, introducing a book that “reads like a transformation, me, the narrator, being the figurative Old Monarch”.

“Some people are like monarch butterflies – solitary by nature, on a passionate search for somewhere,” the publicity explains for a collection divided into three sections, Sonoran Milkweed, Longing In Flight and Eucalyptus Tree (My Arrival to Rest).

Centred on themes of longing and a desire to belong, while excavating scenes from her childhood in the American Southwest, the poems address Courtney’s childhood in Arizona, family and the naive assumptions of youth; leaving home; falling in love for the first time and becoming an adult as the Old Monarch butterfly arrives in a figurative garden.

“Last summer, while on an island out at sea, I decided to finish some poems I started years ago. Pondering metaphysical transformation, I collected these questions and instilled them onto these pages,” Courtney’s Instagram post said.

“From my childhood in Arizona to allegorical gardens of rest, you can follow my journey as an Old Monarch. Between its pages, I hope you find patterns of your own path reflected.”

Summing up the third section in the book’s press release, Courtney concludes: “There are a lot of metaphysical and philosophical poems in this section. I arrive at the figurative garden, and I finally understand the journey at the edge of my life.

“There are a lot of poems in the context of a garden here, accepting mortality and the ever-changing world. These are meant to be wise old woman poems.”

“Between its pages, I hope you find patterns of your own path reflected,” says Courtney Marie Andrews of her Old Monarch poetry collection

You will have to wait until June 17 to discover if Courtney will include any of Old Monarch’s poems in her Pocklington set, when she will be accompanied by a full band.

Looking forward to Courtney’s return, PAC director Janet Farmer says: “We would like to congratulate Courtney on her impressive, but not surprising, UK Americana Awards wins, as well as the publication of her debut collection of poetry.

“We can’t wait to welcome Courtney back to Pocklington this June when we’ll get the chance to hear her perform her stunning album Old Flowers live.

“If you don’t want to miss this incredible opportunity, I would urge you to buy your tickets now to avoid disappointment.”

Old Flowers was created in the aftermath of a long-term relationship ending, leading to her most vulnerable writing on ten songs that chronicle her journey through heartbreak, loneliness and finding herself again.

“There are a million records and songs about heartbreak, but I did not lie when writing these songs,” Courtney says. “This album is about loving and caring for the person you know you can’t be with.

“It’s about being afraid to be vulnerable after you’ve been hurt. It’s about a woman who is alone, but OK with that, if it means truth. This was my truth: my nine-year relationship ended and I’m a woman alone in the world, but happy to know herself.”

The cover artwork for Courtney Marie Andrews’ break-up album, Old Flowers

Truth hurts, love hurts, but Courtney found writing Old Flowers “a safe place, a place of comfort”. “I didn’t lie in what I wrote because it was a very cathartic process,” she says.

“It was the only way I could channel what I was going through but I think sometimes people do lie in these situations because vulnerability is scary – and when you’re vulnerable you show your weakest emotions, and people are uncomfortable with that.”

By way of contrast, Courtney benefited from the confessional self-analysis. “Songs can predict your future or look back at what’s happened, and I didn’t realise that I felt the way I did until I started writing them,” she says.

“I definitely learned a lot about vulnerability: not hiding behind a character I learned so much about my relationship and goodbyes. Everything has a reason and we’re always searching for ourselves and for joy in our lives. This record is no different: when you reach the end of the tunnel, you reach the light and life goes on.”

Produced by Bon Iver and Big Thief producer Andrew Sarlo, Old Flowers was recorded at Sound Space Studio, a private studio in Los Angeles, with only three musicians: Andrews on vocals, acoustic guitar and piano, Twain’s Matthew Davidson, on bass, celeste, mellotron, pedal steel, piano, pump organ, Wurlitzer and background vocals, and Big Thief’s James Krivcheniaon drums and percussion.

“I think it may be only the third or fourth album to have been made there. Andrew had made a connection with the owner, and it’s just an amazing downtown space in the arts district of LA with giant windows and so many cool instruments in there,” says Courtney.

“Andrew and I had both decided the album needed to be made in a very intimate space with the fewer cooks in the kitchen, the better, and this place was perfect.

“A friend of mine once said to me that flowers are timeless, and I can agree with that sentiment,” says Courtney, reflecting on her album title

“A lot of the record was just Matt and me and I guess it was like a musical dance of communication between the two of us, and then James added those small moments of magic between our ‘dancing’.”

Old Flowers is Courtney’s seventh album, following on from 2018’s May Your Kindness Remain; 2016’s Honest Life; 2013’s On My Page; 2010’s No One’s Slate Is Clean; 2009’s Painters Hands And A Seventh Son and 2008’s Urban Myths.

“I definitely look at albums in their own right. I’m with Neil Young on that,” says Courtney. “Every album has its own journey. It would be a disservice and an injustice if I were to try to make the same record over and over again. The best artists are constantly re-born with each album.”

Old Flowers finds Courtney in full bloom. “The title means lots of things to me, one of them being that you can’t revive old flowers, but they remain beautiful even when they’ve died and they’re preserved.

“A friend of mine once said to me that flowers are timeless, and I can agree with that sentiment.”

Tickets for Courtney Marie Andrews’ 8pm concert at Pocklington Arts Centre on June 17 cost £20 at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Did you know?

Courtney Marie Andrews recorded a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s America with Liz Cooper and Molly Sarlé in 2020.

June 17, 2020June 17, 2020

Old Flowers will be older but Courtney will be in full bloom in Pock a year from now

Courtney Marie Andrews: June 17 2021, not June 17 2020, for a night out in Pocklington

AMERICAN country singer Courtney Marie Andrews should have been playing Pocklington Arts Centre tonight. Instead she will do so on…June 17 2021.

Courtney’s postponed date with a full band was to have been a showcase for her new break-up album, Old Flowers, originally set for release on June 5 on Loose/Fat Possum Records.

Phoenix-born Courtney, 29, is now rescheduling the album launch too, again in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Hello dear ones,” she says on the Loose website. “Unfortunately, I must push back the release to July 24^th. In order to protect the safety of its workers, the vinyl manufacturing plant producing my record is temporarily closed for the time being, meaning it won’t be possible to meet the original release date.

“During these strange times, I think it’s important we work together, rather than trudge ahead alone and abandon those who have helped artists along the way. I can’t explain to you how much this record means to me personally, and I am so incredibly excited for it to reach your ears soon. It’s just showing up fashionably late, 2020 style.”

In the meantime, Courtney has released another taster from Old Flowers: the late-May single It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault, accompanied by a video directed by V Haddad and choreographed by Marlee Cook-Parrot, alias Marlee Grace, a writer and dancer who focuses on improvisation and self-expression.

Haddad reflects: “It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault inspired us to create a video exploring being and becoming a woman and the world that surrounds her in this journey. Through dream-logic, we set out to interweave our characters through choreographed echoes and mirror moments of dance to draw out an ode to matriarchy, empathy, and sisterhood.”

This chimes with the overall theme of an album created in the aftermath of a long-term relationship ending, leading to Courtney’s most vulnerable writing on ten new songs that chronicle her journey through heartbreak, loneliness and finding herself again.

“I didn’t lie in what I wrote because it was a very cathartic process,” says Courtney Marie Andrews of her break-up album

“It’s about being afraid to be vulnerable after you’ve been hurt. It’s about a woman who is alone, but OK with that, if it means truth. This was my truth this year: my nine-year relationship ended and I’m a woman alone in the world, but happy to know herself.”

Truth hurts, love hurts, but Courtney found writing Old Flowers “a safe place, a place of comfort”. “I didn’t lie in what I wrote because it was a very cathartic process,” she says. ”It was the only way I could channel what I was going through but I think sometimes people do lie in these situations because vulnerability is scary – and when you’re vulnerable you show your weakest emotions, and people are uncomfortable with that.”

“I definitely learned a lot about vulnerability: not hiding behind a character I learned so much about my relationship and goodbyes. Everything has a reason and we’re always searching for ourselves and for joy in our lives.This record is no different: when you reach the end of the tunnel, you reach the light and life goes on.”

“You can’t revive old flowers, but they remain beautiful even when they’ve died and they’re preserved,” says Courtney, drawing parallels with the end of her long-term relationship.

“Andrew and I had both decided the album needed to be made in a very intimate space with the fewer cooks in the kitchen, the better, and this place was perfect.

“A friend of mine once said to me that flowers are timeless, and I can agree with that sentiment.”

Courtney Marie Andrews plays Pocklington Arts Centre on June 17 2021. For tickets, go to pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

May 14, 2020May 14, 2020

Courtney Marie adds to Pocklington Arts Centre’s raft of rearranged shows

Courtney Marie Andrews: June date at Pocklington Arts Centre put back by a year

AMERICAN country singer Courtney Marie Andrews is moving her June 17 2020 concert at Pocklington Arts Centre to…June 17 2021.

“All customers are being contacted this week to offer them a transfer or refund,” says venue manager James Duffy, whose 30^th birthday falls today, by the way.

Courtney’s now postponed date next month with a full band was to have been a showcase for her new album, Old Flowers, originally set for release on June 5 on Loose/Fat Possum Records.

John Smith: November 3 date at Pocklington Arts Centre

Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC) continues to update its list of rescheduled shows for 2020/21, with the prospect of more being added in the coming weeks and months.

Inquisitive folk truth seeker John Smith has switched from May 21 to November 3; American singer-songwriter Jesse Malin, from June 27 to February 2 2021; retro country soul band The Delines, from July 28 to February 23 2021, and BBC Radio 2 and Channel 5 presenter Jeremy Vine will now ask “What the hell is going on?” on February 26 2021, rather than May 1 2020.

Billy Bremner & Me, comedian Phil Differ’s comedy-drama recounting his dream of eclipsing the fiery Leeds United and Scotland captain’s footballing deeds, has moved from June 5 to March 11 2021; Herman’s Hermits will re-emerge on April 22 next spring, and Mock The Week comedian Andy Parsons’ sold-out April 28 gig is re-booked for April 24 2021.

Led as ever by vocalist Maddy Prior, folk favourites Steeleye Span’s 50^th anniversary celebrations of debut album Hark The Village Wait will have to wait until its 51^st anniversary, their show now moved from May 3 2020 to May 7 2021.

BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners Catrin Finch, from Wales, and Seckou Keita, from Senegal, will be joined by Canadian multi-instrumental trio Vishten on June 10 next summer, rather than June 13 2020 as first planned.

The Felice Brothers, from the Catskill Mountains, New York State, will be playing almost a year to the day later than their original booking. Ian and James Felice, joined by drummer Will Lawrence and bass Jesske Hume, are in the PAC diary for June 22 2021, replacing June 23 this summer.

Pocklington Arts Centre director Janet Farmer

The spotlight would have been on their 2019 album Undress, as well as their back catalogue from 2006 onwards, but now there should be new material too. .

All existing tickets holders for the rescheduled shows are being contacted by the PAC box office for ticket transfers or refunds.

PAC director Janet Farmer says the public response to the East Yorkshire venue’s prolonged closure, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, has been “wonderful both in terms of financial support and well wishing”.

“To date, we have raised £8,660 from crowdfunding and customer ticket refund donations, a total well beyond our original target,” she reveals.

“We have been working with artists and agents to reschedule the whole of the venue’s spring and summer 20th anniversary season and most, if not all, shows are being transferred to late 2020 and into 2021.”

*Shed Seven guitarist Paul Banks and singer Rick Witter: Acoustic headline set at Platform Festival 2020 at The Old Station cancelled*. Hopefully they will be Chasing Rainbows next summer instead

July’s Platform Festival, organised by Pocklington Arts Centre, with a line-up including Robert Plant’s Saving Grace, Shed Seven’s Rick Witter & Paul Banks, Richard Thompson and Omid Djalili at The Old Station, has been called off too, Again negotiations are on-going to feature as many of the 2020 artists as possible in the 2021 festival’s run from July 21 to 27. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.

“It was heart-breaking to have to postpone the majority of the venue’s 20th anniversary celebrations but the safety of our audience members, performers, staff, volunteers and wider community has to come first. We intend to turn these events into 21st anniversary celebrations next year,” says Janet.

“During this period, we believe it is critically important that PAC continues to support its staff, artists and creative partners. We are working closely with our peers, across the region and indeed the country, on collaborative projects during the closure and we hope to announce a series of online events very soon.

“While we will be increasing the venue’s online artistic output, we are very aware there is no substitute to watching a live performance and sharing this experience with fellow audience members. We, like all of our customers, look forward to the time when this can resume.”

Pocklington Arts Centre remains in regular contact with Arts Council England, the Music Venues Trust and the Cinema Exhibitors Association. “All have been very supportive with advice and support,” says Janet. “PAC is determined to weather this storm and emerge from this challenge stronger and more vibrant than ever.”

“We are all braving this crazy storm, in different ships, but together,” says Courtney Marie Andrews

The last word, for now, goes to Courtney Marie Andrews: “We are all braving this crazy storm, in different ships, but together,” she says. “I am continuously inspired by everyone coming together, in so many ways, during this unprecedented time.”

March 8, 2020

Courtney Marie Andrews to showcase Old Flowers break-up album at Pocklington

Courtney Marie Andrews: Pocklington return in the summer. Picture: Sam Stenson

PHOENIX singer-songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews will showcase her new album at Pocklington Arts Centre on June 17 on her six-date tour.

Old Flowers will be released on June 5 on Loose/Fat Possum Records as her follow-up to 2018’s May Your Kindness Remain.

Created in the ashes of a long-term relationship, Andrews’ ten new songs amount to her most vulnerable writing to date as she chronicles her journey through heartbreak, loneliness and finding herself again.

“Old Flowers is about heartbreak,” says Courtney Marie, 29. “There are a million records and songs about that, but I did not lie when writing these songs. This album is about loving and caring for the person you know you can’t be with.

Produced by Andrew Sarlo, who has worked with Bon Iver and Big Thief, Old Flowers was recorded at Sound Space Studio and features only three musicians: Andrews, on vocals, acoustic guitar and piano; Twain’s Matthew Davidson, on bass, celeste, mellotron, pedal steel, piano, pump organ, Wurlitzer and background vocals, and Big Thief’s James Krivchenia on drums and percussion.

*“This album is about loving and caring for the person you know you can’t be with,” says Courtney Marie Andrews*

Defining their intentions, Sarlo says: “Before we got to the studio, we agreed to prioritise making this record as cathartic and minimal as possible, focusing on Courtney’s voice and her intention behind the songs.

“Because of this, the record is all about performance. I believe a great recording is the chemistry between everything during basics and the ability to feel something happening, instead of obsessing over the perfect take. Courtney embraced this approach and we ended up with a raw, natural and human record.”

The resulting track listing comprises Burlap String; Guilty; If I Told; Together Or Alone; Carnival Dream; Old Flowers; Break The Spell; It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault; How You Get Hurt and Ships In The Night.

Courtney Marie last played Pocklington in December 2018, at the end of a week when she was felled by a viral infection the morning after her London gig and had to call off her Birmingham, Bristol and Oxford gigs.

This time Courtney Marie will play with a full band in the lead-up to her series of summer festival engagements. Tickets for June 17’s 8pm gig cost £20 on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.