MAY her voice remain, we prayed all week after Courtney Marie Andrews was felled by a viral infection the morning after her gig in The Big Smoke.

Birmingham, Bristol and Oxford were called off, the latter two now rearranged, as she rested and recuperated, but come Friday, Courtney made her way to Pocklington, still nursing a cough but well enough, she decided, to play the smallest gig on the tour in a town previously unknown to her. God bless you, Courtney.

She has released one of the albums of the year in May Your Kindness Remain, her sixth and best long player yet, but the rising Phoenix country singer-songwriter was keener to look back and look forward.

Her focus would be on playing old songs rarely aired live, highlighting the exquisite single Sea Town, introducing two new compositions, Ships In The Night and the stand-out It Must Be Someone Else's Fault, and telling stories with a candour, insight and humanist zeal to match her concise, precise lyrics and inviting melodies.

Those stories covered a racist sheriff, the loss of her dog Tucker and bigoted attitudes towards lesbianism in the redneck American south: her heart and intelligence in harmony. Blessed with beautiful singing, gliding guitar playing and keyboards for variation, this was a wonderful, magical solo show by a country talent in full bloom, up there with Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Gretchen Peters, and destined to grow still more.