THESE are golden days for discovering a new age of American singer-songwriters, from Margo Price to Phoebe Bridgers to Courtney Marie Andrews, from Phoenix, Arizona.

Strictly speaking, 27-year-old Andrews is not new, having been on the road for a decade since the age of 16, but she is still an emerging talent, building on last year's breakthrough album Honest Life with this spring's May Your Kindness Remain, released over here on Loose, a label with impeccably good taste.

Tonight you can hear Andrews play live in Leeds where she opens the British leg of her European tour at the Brudenell Social Club, her songs having drawn comparison with Joni and Emmylou and Linda Ronstadt, with echoes of Marie McKee too.

Forget comparisons, hers is a singular voice, one that addresses the frayed emotions of modern life. "The people that I’ve met on the road these past few years got me thinking about my childhood, and the people around me that I’ve known, and the stories that come from my family," she says.

"It became clear how many people are struggling through the same issues. People are constantly chasing that bigger life. A lot of people are poor in America, and because of those unattainable goals, they’re also mentally unstable, or sad, or depressed or unfulfilled. A lot of people – myself included at some point in my life – are loving somebody through this. That’s sort of the theme of the record: coming to terms with depression and the reality of the world we’re living in."

Leaving her home in Arizona, Andrews spent a decade as a session and back-up singer and guitarist for 40 artists, Jimmy Eat World and Damien Jurado among them. "But my intention was always to write my own music; that was the dream that I wanted to realise, and it was sort of a lucky stumble that I backed up other people, and I would take the chance in breaks, in rooms where we staying, to write songs, to get my craft in order."

Three albums of songs from her teen years were shelved by Andrews herself. "They will never be heard and I feel good about that, I was very young; I was in such a different head space as a teenager and I don't feel those songs resonate with me any more. They were my learning years."

She found her true voice in her 20s, self-funding 2013's now reissued On My Page and producing Honest Life herself. "I love to rise to my own challenges, my own pressure, and it's a little scary but I have to remind myself why I make art and do that in its purest form. That's my goal, to try to do it as honestly as possible," she says.

Her next challenge was to ask Mark Howard, esteemed producer for Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits in Los Angeles, to work with her on May Your Kindness Remain. He said yes. "I'd seen Mark's name on all those records I loved; I really admire his non-traditional way of working, and I wanted to create something unique with him, where he would bring his spontaneity," she says. "Often he had a perspective that would surprise me, but it worked."

Before tonight's 7,30pm Brudenell gig, Andrews will perform an intimate set at the 5pm to 7pm launch of on-the-fly music photographer Maron Stills' Dare To Dream II exhibition at Leeds Gallery in Duke Street.

Stills' exclusive Leeds show, a follow-up to Dare To Dream at ArtEZ, Academy Of Music at Enschede, in the Netherlands, will feature Alice Cooper, Paul Weller, Kasabian, Editors, Biffy Clyro and, yes, Courtney Marie Andrews.

"These stills reflect the energy the artists bring on stage in the best way," says Stills, a self-taught photographer. "I dared to dream and followed my heart. I hope these pieces are an inspiration to everyone."