Texas singer-songwriter Andie Kay Joyner released a single this summer that marks the final studio collaboration with her mentor, the late Tommy Alverson.
“This recording is so dear to me, as well as bittersweet, because it is the last one that I’ll ever get to make with my longtime friend, Tommy Alverson,” Joyner says.
Alverson died from liver cancer at the age of 74 on November 14, 2024. A staple in Texas country music, his career spanned decades. His name is synonymous with toe-tapping, soul-stirring tunes with his own unique flair that blends traditional country with hints of folk and rock.
Joyner sang backup on his recordings from time to time and performed with him often throughout her own career.
She began performing live shows at the age of 10 with her family band. She was an honorary member of Stone Mountain Bluegrass Band at 12, and then, joined other bands as a backup and guest lead singer at 13. She formed her own band with her childhood friend, Heather Stalling, and recorded two albums, while touring the country with their full band, blacktopGYPSY.
After surviving UT Southwestern Medical Center’s first lifesaving heart/liver transplant in 2016, she recovered, regained her voice, and began her solo career in 2018. She is currently playing as a solo act, as well as with her full band, The Borrowed Angels. She recorded and released her version of Tom Petty’s “Angel Dream” in honor of her organ donor and her fifth transplant anniversary on Valentine’s/National Donor Day in 2021.
Her single with Alverson is her version of the song “Couldn’t Do Nothing Right.”
“(It) is one of the first songs that I remember hearing,” Joyner says. “I have great memories of my mother and I singing it together with Roseanne Cash on the radio in her long, white Ford LTD when I could still stand up in the front seat.
“It is an emotional tearjerker full of heartbreak and hopelessness, beautifully penned by Gary P. Nunn and Karen Brooks. I have loved every version of it that I’ve ever heard, including from Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary P., and others.”
After years of performing it live with her band, Alverson would ask her to sing it regularly at his shows.
“As he always does, he added more musical magic to the tune, and with encouragement from other friends, including Gary P. Nunn himself, we decided to include it on my latest project,” Joyner says. “We had a really great day in the studio last September, unaware that we would experience the devastating reality of losing him weeks later.”
With his family’s permission, Joyner released the recording on Alverson’s birthday, June 10.
“I am honored to release it on the day he came into this world,” she says. “I appreciate everyone’s talents and the hard work they put into making this record, including friends and bandmates, Jerry Abrams and Danny Cochran.
“This recording is for all of you who love Tommy, as well as those who don’t know they love him yet.”
The song is available on Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, and other platforms.
After Alverson passed, Joyner began hosting his weekly residency at Rickhouse Brewing in the Historic Crazy Water Hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas.
With gratitude for her donor and her many other heroes, she promotes awareness of organ donation and of her genetic blood disorder, Hemochromatosis as she continues to perform at shows across Texas.
See Joyner perform in East Texas with her full band at 7 p.m. September 20 at The Forge Bar & Grill at 7 p.m. September 20.
Read more about her journey through organ transplant and getting to know her donor’s family in the County Line article, Two Families, One Heart.
