Courtney Marie Andrews Answers the the DRTI Proust-ish Questionnaire

A quick note to our community: we cannot thank you enough for reading and subscribing to our little country newsletter this year! We're very excited for what 2026 will bring, and hope that you will let us know in the comments what you hope to see more of next year? Any particular artists or type of feature? Anything you don't love? Let us know. That said, we are going to be taking the rest of the year off to hang with our families and new babies and rest and refill those cups so we can be our best selves in the new year. We'll see you in 2026, and are excited to end the year on this post with an artist we really love, Courtney Marie Andrews.

I remember when Kelly told me about Courtney Marie Andrews. It was on the eve of the release of Honest Life in 2017, and Kelly (McCartney, my editor at the Bluegrass Situation) insisted I listen.

"Moss," Kelly said. "You will like this."

I took Kelly's advice because if you know Kelly, you know it's probably advice worth taking, particularly when it comes to music. And then, for the next few months, I think all I listened to was "Irene" and Honest Life. The voice just hooked me, the melodic sense, the poetic rhythm to her lyrics. Andrews is multidisciplinary artist - she's a published poet and painter - and somehow you can hear that in her work, as if she's always thinking about ways to explore and hit your different senses. It makes for truly emotionally-rich, textured albums: music you can feel, songs you can touch. Her new song, "Little Picture of a Butterfly," from her forthcoming record Valentine (out January 16th) is a perfect example of this. It feels alive, growing and changing and maturing and drifting off into the sky by the end of the song, letting love drift away more gently than when we started.

Another preview from the new record, "Keeper," is a stunner of a song that taps into that part of a relationship when you're desperately trying to get your partner on the same page: when she ends with "I'm a keeper," it's vulnerable as hell, like she's convincing them as much as she's trying to convince herself.

While we anxiously await her new album, we thought we'd ask Andrews to answer our Don't Rock the Inbox Proust-ish Questionnaire, anticipating she'd have some good answers and wise advice. We weren't wrong.

The Don’t Rock the Inbox Proust-ish Questionnaire: Courtney Marie Andrews

1. What country album is your idea of perfect happiness?

The Very Special World of Lee Hazelwood - Lee Hazelwood 

2. What’s your greatest fear about your career?

My greatest fear is that I’ll stop finding new lanes of passion and discovery. The moment I stop feeling like a student, the moment art becomes obsolete. 

3. What is the trait you most deplore in other artists?

A lack of humility. 

4. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I deplore my moments of impatience! I think patience is a wonderful virtue as an artist, and I would like to practice more of it. 

5. Which living country artist do you most admire?

Lucinda Williams. 

6. What is your greatest extravagance on tour?

I love taking the band out for a nice dinner. Dining in new places is one do the greatest pleasures of tour. 

7. What is the most overrated virtue in the country music world? 

Being “traditional.” 

8. Which of your past aesthetic choices do you dislike most?

I dislike anytime I leaned too hard into a trend. One time I wore one of those tasseled nudie type suits. As beautiful as they are, I don’t think that kind of country glam is very me. I’m more of a white silk dress, and Mary Jane shoes kind of gal!

9. Which country artist, living or dead, do you most despise?  

Overall, I despise the concept of anyone making music with strong marketing intentions before heading into the studio. Authenticity is hard to come by, and ultimately is something more artists should be leaning into.

10. Which words or phrases do you most overuse in your songwriting? 

Lonely. 

11. When and where were you happiest?

Bisbee, Arizona or Muir Woods on the California coast. I am truly a western gal. 

12. Which talent would you most like to have, other than music?

I’d love to get better at plein air oil painting, landscapes and portraits. 

13. If you could change one thing about your career so far, what would it be?

This is a dangerous question. I wouldn’t change anything, because I have no control of these kind of outcomes. I would change how I felt in my heart, if it wasn’t satisfied. 

14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Continuing to be an artist everyday. Getting to quit my bartending job at 26. 

15. If you were to die and come back as another country artist, living or dead, what would it be?

I would be reincarnated as a bluebird or a monarch butterfly. Not a country artist. 

16. Where would you most like to live if you didn’t have to be tied to one particular place for work (if you are)?

A remote town on the California coast, or Bisbee, or Lisbon, or Greece!

17. What is your most treasured musical possession?

I have an early 1900’s parlor guitar that’s very special.

18. Which historical figure in country music would you most like to collaborate with?

I would have loved to duet with Kris Kristofferson. 

19. Who are your heroes in real life?

My mother, aunt, and grandmother. My painting mentors in Bisbee. 

20. What is your greatest regret?

No regrets, coyote. 

21. What is one perfect country song, to you?

End of the world — Skeeter Davis.