Grammy nominee Ingrid Andress, coming to Blue Note, brings 'Lady Like' strength to country music

Ingrid Andress is learning to enjoy the fruit of delayed gratification. 

The country singer's debut, "Lady Like," emerged in late March 2020 — just as the world came to a standstill. The album earned Andress three Grammy nominations, including best new artist, and revealed a clear, strong artistic voice able to twine modern meditations and timeless style with ease. 

The wider world heard Andress' good vibrations emanating from speakers and between headphones, but missed out on her physical presence. With touring inhibited by the pandemic, her only opportunities to share these eight songs came at a safe distance. 

Now Andress is criss-crossing the country — and bouncing between concert experiences. She warms up arenas for platinum-selling duo Dan + Shay, then occupies venues where her name sits atop the marquee. Her headlining trek will bring her to Columbia and The Blue Note later this month. 

"It’s only been me singing to a Zoom camera for a year and a half. To then go out and sing these same songs for actual human beings, it brought everything back to life for me," Andress said.

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At these shows, Andress enjoys a phenomenon some artists wait a lifetime for, one she endured an extra 18 months to know for herself — hearing crowds sing the songs from "Lady Like" back to her.

"It’s definitely gone from 0 to 100 real quick," she said. 

Album opener "Bad Advice" presents a wonderful microcosm of Andress' talents. Swelling strings and spry, tiptoe rhythms that suit pop and country records from half a century ago introduce Andress' tale of stepping into a Trader Joe's and making a beeline for the wine department. 

"Got a bottle of Merlot / 'Cause my friend told me if I drink the whole thing / Then I wouldn't think about you / And after glass two, well, I'd be brand new," she confesses in a sing-speak delivery that marries bravado to vulnerability. 

Whatever divide listeners might perceive between relevance and enduring songcraft, irreverence and sincerity, immediately disappears. 

Andress discovered her artistic voice at a time and place she least expected — in the middle of making a living writing for other artists; her credits include songs recorded by Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha and Dove Cameron. Expressing herself on behalf of someone else enabled Andress to see who she did and didn't want to be as an artist, she said. 

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Initially, she worried her assertive streak might hamper a solo career — "At first, I didn’t think I was an artist because I had so many opinions," she said. Other performers testified to the freedom the enjoyed, assuring Andress of her path. 

The more she wrote, the more she knew which songs were hers and hers alone.

"I realized the songs that I really enjoyed and nobody was recording — it was because they were so specific to me," Andress said. 

Somebody needed to record those songs, she added, and it might as well be her. Indeed, "Lady Like" is marked by musical moments you can't imagine in anyone else's voice.

"We're Not Friends" finds Andress wringing the most of the title phrase's syllables over banjo currents and a cello's warm peal. A piano-led ballad marked by its forward motion, "More Hearts Than Mine" is marked by the little, lived-in details of bringing a new love home to meet your family and shuffle around your old stomping grounds.

"If we break up, I'll be fine / But you'll be breaking more hearts than mine," Andress sings, landing a tender punch. 

The title track and album closer challenges country-music, and larger social, conventions with its well-drawn portrait of one expression of womanhood:

"I could bring you to your knees and / get you kicked out the Garden of Eden / Untamable, unframeable, Mona Lisa."

Having lived with these songs through several cycles of stop and start, Andress is grateful and proud of just how well such sentiments connect.

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"I’m happy that whatever story I was trying to tell was so relatable to other people," she said. "That’s the whole reason I enjoy writing anyway — it’s to almost validate that I’m not the only one feeling the things that I feel."

The candor in these songs, especially as sounded out by a female voice, has been missing from country for too long, Andress said. Surveying the good work she and other women are doing, she expressed hope that this moment isn't just a phase or a chance for the industry to pat itself on the back. Andress is interested in a longer game and lasting change. 

"We can only go so long without having everyone’s perspective amplified. That’s what music has done for every generation — it is the voice of a generation," she said. "The longer we hold out and decide we’re not ready for that — well, it’s going to happen eventually."

Andress plays The Blue Note at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 15; Georgia Webster shares the bill. Tickets are $20. Visit https://thebluenote.com/ for more details. 

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731.