Honest life

"Entranced by the myth of the open road, Arizona songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews once spent four days crossing America on a Greyhound bus and her sixth album, which is the first to bring her to wide attention, skews heavily towards country tradition ... So the album goes: over and above the intimacy of the sparse acoustic landscapes and her unaffected vocals - Joni Mitchell and Alela Diane are clear influences - the delicate lyrical barbs make Honest Life one to hear. It could have done with an upbeat song or two to puncture the introspection, but that's just being picky".

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"Andrews has been eliciting lofty comparisons to Joni Mitchell back in the States. Certainly, tunes like "Irene" or "Not The End" are marked by that same crystalline glide and swoop, especially the manner in which she caresses the higher notes. Though there's more of a quiver in Andrews' voice that aligns her just as equitably to the late Judee Sill or, on the more countrified songs, Emmylou Harris. Like Harris, she has a natural ability to traverse folk and country with apparent ease".

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