Tenille Townes is set for great things, and her compassion shines through both in her music and endeavours. Having released her ‘Living Room Worktapes’ EP this year, she is working on her debut LP and currently performing with Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town on the Bandwagon Tour. Here, she shares her journey into music, her songwriting process and what to expect from her new music.
How does it feel to be a part of The Bandwagon Tour and how did it come about?
I am freaking out about the opportunity to be on this tour. It’s a dream to get to watch my musical heroes every night, to study their shows and have a front row seat to learn about what a tour of this magnitude looks like. I can’t wait to look back on this summer someday already, marking the first of the road adventures like this.
When did you first start writing songs and how? Which songwriters first inspired you?
I was 14 when I first started realizing I could string chords together and put a story to them. It really was just realizing three chords that sounded right together and creating something lyrically in the middle of those chords that felt right. And keeping a journal of ideas together for it. And I used to follow along in lyric booklets to my favourite records as a kid in the backseat. I noticed artists like Shania Twain and Carolyn Dawn Johnson who had their names as writers beside their songs and I thought that was pretty cool.
When did you first realise that music was going to be your path in life?
I always loved to sing. And loved to watch people feel joy from music. I hoped it would work out as a dream from when I was 5 years old, but I really started believing it could when I started writing songs at 14.
What about country music captivated you from the beginning?
I love the storytelling anchor in country music. It’s the music I listened to around the kitchen with my family growing up and is very much a part of the identity of the people in northern Alberta!
I know you’ve been very involved in charity initiatives, even receiving the CCMA Humanitarian Award, is this something that is continuing to be a big part of your life and which philanthropic movements do you tend to feel the most affiliation with? Can you talk about your Play It Forward tour and what that meant to you?
What I love most about music, is its ability to bring a group of people together with a common ground. It has been life changing for me watching what music can do to create a platform to help others. It makes me excited to watch that grow as the music grows. That’s what drives me the most. I grew up with amazing support from my family and the community around me and we always had conversations about how we could help those around us who maybe didn’t have the same support system. They inspire me to want to reach out and that’s a big part of where the Play it Forward Tour came from! It meant so much to see the look on those kids’ faces at all those schools as music connected us in their gymnasiums. The tour was all about encouraging kids to do what they love and make a difference with it and we got to recognize and award students at every school who were making a difference in their hallways. I heard so many amazing stories every day about the incredible things they were doing. And I had the best time getting to wake up playing music everyday.
You moved to Nashville at 19 – an incredibly brave move – what gave you the confidence to relocate, and what made it so important to move there?
I had an amazing time in Canada and my experiences there made me hungry for more, and hungry for a city where I could constantly be surrounded by lots of fellow creative souls in one place. I made my first trip to Nashville for writing when I was 14 and dreamed of getting to live there someday ever since then because I loved the city so much. The day my dad and I arrived from our 45 hour drive from my hometown to Nashville was pretty special. I’ll never forget the feeling of showing up in this new city far from home, dreaming about all the music I wanted to make. It marked a new beginning for me and I’m so grateful to be here.
What has moving to Nashville meant for your musical direction and career?
It definitely encouraged me to go home and practice harder and write more and more songs. Being surrounded by so many people in that community who are talented and incredibly driven makes you hungry to dig in deeper. Nashville has also built me this amazing community of fellow collaborators and dear friends that have shaped this music I’m so excited to be making.
Obviously your roots are back in Canada, is it important to you to have that as the basis for your music, with amazing Canadian artists like Shania leading the charge?
I will always be proud to be Canadian. I do think my music comes from the wide open spaces and kind hearted people I grew up surrounded by and I’ll always hold that close. And yes, so many Canadian artists to look up to who have paved a path to follow!!!
What was it like putting out ‘Living Room Worktapes?’ Was it important to you to initially introduce yourself in such a raw, stripped back way and why?
It makes me so happy that the beginning of sharing this new music goes back to the way these songs were created in their raw and vulnerable state, leading with the stories of these songs and my heart for the process of songwriting. I like to think of this as a way to introduce myself to somebody, like we really are just sitting in a living room, letting all the walls down getting to know each other. Living Rooms are a happy place for me, they make me think of home and my family and all the conversations that can happen in that kind of a safe space.
The stories on Living Room Worktapes are so beautiful, where do you draw the inspiration for your songs?
Thank you! I draw from the people around me. I’m fascinating by the stories I hear or notice in what is going on around me. Writing is a very spiritual experience for me too. Finding a home for these stories in a song is very much like a vessel feeling process to me and it is an honour to carry them.
Which song from the EP meant the most to you and why?
It means the most to me when people come and tell me a story about their life that a song made them think of. I have heard so many “Jersey on the Wall” stories of people who have lost someone they love and it means so much when they tell me this song made them think of those people they miss. I feel incredibly honoured to hear they are moved by that song. I also feel incredibly sad that so many of us have experienced that kind of loss, and incredibly grateful that music has a way of making us feel less alone in that.
You’ve always imbibed the names of writers and producers, when going into creating your LP, was it vitally important to have Jay Joyce on the album? What did he bring to the project?
Jay Joyce has always been a dream producer for me… I am such a fan of the art he has created from Flaming Red to all the Eric Church records and I was truly honoured to have the opportunity to get to step in the studio with him and dive into creating this music. Seeing these songs come to life in the way that he trusted them to was such an amazing thing to be a part of. I learned so much from Jay and the way he believes in the process.
What has the process been like of putting together your debut LP and what can we expect?
I can’t wait to get the rest of this music out there. I am grateful for this season in my life and the places it has brought me meeting all kinds of people who have inspired these songs and ideas that we got to weave into this record. I hope it encourages people to look for the light in themselves and in the people around them.
Final 10
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White wine or whisky? I’d take lemonade over them both but White Wine over whiskey ha!
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First record you ever bought? I don’t remember which one was first, but I remember walking around with my walkman and a CD case of Backstreet Boys, Shania Twain, Carolyn Dawn Johnson and Celine Dion
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What’s the one record you couldn’t live without if you were stuck on a desert island? ‘Lorraine’ by Lori McKenna
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What would you name your first headline arena tour? The Come As You Are Tour!
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What’s your dream concert venue? Ryman Auditorium
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What are you reading at the moment? Just finished reading “A Man Called Ove” and I loved it so much. So heart warming!
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What’s your one must-have on the road? My journal and my headphones 🙂
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What’s your one beauty essential? Mascara!
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What’s the strangest song inspiration you’ve ever had? I get ideas from books I read and movies I watch. I recently wrote one after watching a This Is Us episode!
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Complete the sentence:
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Music is… something that connects us and brings us together in the same living room.
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Country music is… family, stories and heart.
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Tenille Townes is… a big fan of peanut butter, cribbage and Patty Griffin songs.
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