Welcome to Music Matters Podcast with Daryl Craig Harris, talking about all things music with celebrities, artists, music business insiders, and more. Tenille Towns, how are you doing today? Hey, I'm so well. How are you today? I'm good. So where are you coming to us from? Okay, well, I'm in Nashville. I'm in my little spare room that I've turned into my studio, but I am originally a crazy Canadian from northern Alberta. Oh, okay. Yeah, I love Alberta, actually. It's such a pretty place. A little chilly in January, February. This is true. I love that you've been there, though. It is. It breeds a certain kind of resilience to survive the cold up there, but I loved getting to grow up there. It's a really beautiful place and lots of great people. Yeah, and country music is very strong in Alberta. I actually played at the Wrenchman's Club many years ago. Club that's in the Cool Running, the movie. Right, that's right. So two Juno Awards, which is basically the Canadian Grammy, two Academy Country Music Awards, which is the CMAs, 17 Canadian Country Music Awards. So you have quite a pedigree and you're an amazing songwriter. I love the new single Enabling, which I believe that's actually already came out, right? Yes, that's officially out there. Thanks for saying that and loving that song. That was kind of the song I wanted to introduce this new season of music with. It comes from the story of sort of like the heart of the turmoil of a situation that really kind of woke me up to wanting to like get better at having some boundaries and standing up for myself. And like writing this helped me process the fact that like love isn't love if it means losing yourself. And so that's sort of the jumping off place that I went through to create the rest of this music and pulling these songs together for this whole record. So it felt like a good place to start. Yeah. And checking out your catalog, you have a very organic, I would say almost intimate style because the production is not overblown. A lot of it's you and a guitar, an acoustic guitar, which I love that sound. How did you, who were some of your early influences? How did you come up with that vibe? Obviously, you love that style. I do. I'm a fan of that music, for sure. I'm a huge Patti Griffin fan, and Living With Ghosts is one of those records that just sets the bar for me. And I love her music. Lori McKenna is another big hero and songwriting legend to me and influenced sonically, too. her guitar playing and all those open tunings have very much been a part of my um sphere of influence but I grew up listening to a bunch of different things it kind of depended on who was driving the car like I was the kid in the back seat right exactly who's controlling the stereo in the front but with mom it was like a lot of female powerhouse voices a lot of Shania Twain and dad was like a lot more rock and roll like Fleetwood Mac and U2 vibes and my grandparents I got to hear a lot of the classics. So we'd listen to a ton of Dolly Parton. And I feel like a lot of her storytelling was kind of like an anchor for me as far as songwriting goes and going, if this is this is like that coat of many colors to me, that song is just so gorgeous. And it's like that arc of humanity that she has in her songs has always been something that has been inspiring to me. Yeah. Do you think songwriting, obviously, it's very cathartic. And you kind of talked about that with enabling the reason why you wrote it. Do you find like that? So Ronnie really helps you get that stuff out and kind of finding a way to a path to deal with those problems and those issues we all deal with. Oh, absolutely. I'd be lost without that. It's my way of I don't know. I actually struggle sometimes to have a conversation about things that I'm going through and like what feels hard or I can't even quite understand it in myself. But somehow being able to like sing about it or write about it in a song is like a much easier dialogue in my brain. I think it's kind of like moving thought out of the way and letting like the subconscious kind of kick in and take you where it needs to take you. And songwriting feels like it just kind of opens up those channels to me. It's a very healing thing. And what's really interesting is like there's the part one level of it to me is the creation and like actually sitting down and writing and like almost harvesting the emotion or the truth out of yourself. And like that's one part. But the second part comes from like the live exchange and like what it what happens when you share that truth with other people and like just feeling that someone else has felt the same way I felt. And my whole goal with writing music is always to make or to help somebody feel a little less alone. And that's what music has always given to me is the gift of that. It's like hearing songs that I love, it's like, oh, they've felt the same thing. Or, wow, they've walked that out too. And to me, that's quintessentially the best part of music. So I love getting to participate in that with writing and also with sharing the songs that I've created from those kind of deeper places. Yeah, and those are all kind of universal things we all deal with, right? Love, loss, keeping yourself in a relationship. That's always a challenge, not losing yourself. I know women especially often have to deal with that, and it's changing, but that's something that we've always dealt with. tell me about how you got to Nashville from Alberta what was that journey like and what motivated you to go to Nashville yeah I actually made a few trips I think I was in 8th grade the first time I convinced my parents to let us take a trip there And I had been writing a lot locally and around my hometown And there was a workshop. One of the mentors that came through was from Nashville. And he's like, if you ever want to come check out the city and write some songs, they're coming. So then I was like, we got to go. I want to see it. I want to be there. And so I just kind of kept going back and forth as much as my parents would let me skip school. And when I turned 18, it was time to be like filling out college applications. But I just felt like my heart was being pulled to the road. And so I had like a kind of a come to Jesus moment with my parents at the table where I was like, hey, this is I don't want to go to college. This is the plan. And and I pitched my 10,000 hour theory to my dad because he's a big Malcolm Gladwell fan. And I was like, all right, I got it. I got to hit the road to get hours. Yeah. And so when that came through, I spent 32 weeks in a motor home traveling across Canada, playing for middle schools and high schools and kind of like getting my chops in that area. And when that tour wrapped, I was like, okay, now I need to go creatively put in my hours. And I really want to get to Nashville for that and learn from the community of creatives there. And so my dad conceded to my plan and helped me load up my little Tacoma. And we drove 47 hours from my hometown to Tennessee. And that was almost 14 years ago. So it's been I literally remember sitting in the vehicle driving going, I really hope this works out because I don't want to have to drive 47 hours all the way back home. So I'm still here. I'm grateful. It's yeah, we're kicking. Yeah. Well, you know what? I mean, that's a very brave thing to do. And it's especially, you know, a Canadian young woman coming to Nashville. Nashville is not an easy town. I love it down there, but it's challenging for artists. How long did it take you to kind of break through that? Because people talk about it taking years, but how quickly did you, were you able to gain traction in Nashville? Well, some of the early time I spent making trips, I think helped to my total accumulation of time, like in between school and like coming and going. But from the time when I officially moved and was like, okay, I'm doing this, like I'm planting myself here. And it was probably four or five years before I met my first publisher and got introduced to A&R at Sony at that time. And things kind of just kept unfolding from there. But yeah, that was, it felt kind of fast on the front end of that, but it's definitely been a winding adventure of, There's so much that I just love about Nashville and the way that it cares about songs and cares about people and can be such a huge, inspiring asset to that. And then there's also a side of this town that's very much like a machine and a system. And it's easy to kind of lose yourself on the conveyor belt a little bit. And I struggled with that for a few years for sure. And I think making this record I'm making, I just made now is kind of like been my like return to self after coming out the other side of that and just being like, OK, what's where's my truth? What am I doing here? And it feels really good to come back to that. How important is it, especially in that town, but just in music in general, to find your authentic voice? And did it take you a while or did you feel like you kind of you were kind of there when you showed up? um let's see I when I first moved to town I kind of spent a lot of time going to live shows and being so inspired by the songwriters I was hearing and then I would just go all the way back to the little apartment I was renting and spend hours writing and singing and crafting my voice and kind of like feeling like there was such a sonic shift that happened in that time and I really feel like I kind of found my voice. It's like I listened to recordings from before that time of like intense diving in and after and there was definitely a transition that happened. So I think that once I kind of narrowed into that, I'd kind of like landed into what my maybe sonic vocal like imprint thing is and that just kind of always was there. That was there before I got the deal and started kind of doing all that stuff. So it's always an evolution, though. Like, I feel like a return to that part of my, like, feisty, independent self that was in that zone, but also, like, a totally different human at the same time. It's like you just kind of keep growing and changing and evolving. But, yeah, the anchor's always kind of been there. Yeah, and it's – yeah, we have a friend joining us. Sorry, this is my dog, Sam. He's like, excuse me. I know. He wants attention. He's a kitty. Yeah, that's awesome. And I think that you mentioned Dolly Parton and I can kind of I can although you guys have very different voices, but I can hear that in your voice. There's an authenticity, hard to say, but also it feels very intimate. Like you're singing just to the person listening, which is a unique ability. And do you find like those signature voices like a Willie, a Dolly, Shania? Is that something that you're personally drawn to? Oh, for sure. I'm always looking for something that sounds different than the others. It's got like that sort of fingerprint that's your own thing. I've always been drawn to voices that are just like you hear you hear two seconds of it and it's undeniably you know exactly who it is. That's such a powerful thing. Yeah, it's a rare gift, too. I've often talked about that. There's people that have better voices, maybe not as amazing voices, but they have that thing. You hear Willie say a word, you hear Dolly say a word, you know it's them. And you think about all the billions of people in the world, that's such a unique gift, right? Yeah it really is It pretty amazing Yeah Talk about collaboration because on this album obviously I actually mentioned the producer if you could but also talk about collaborating and even with songwriting Yeah. So this record I actually made sitting right here in my little music room. So I produced this record myself, and I played everything on it. I actually learned how to mix in the process of this, too. So I ended up doing that, and then I sent it off to get mastered. And so a lot of these songs are ones that I'd written through the years with friends and people I've been fortunate to get to write with. And like some of them were actually quite old and they just hadn't found their moment on a record yet. They hadn't fit the theme of what I was doing in the past. And so I'd always kind of bookmarked them like these songs are special. I want to go back to these at some point. And then a few of them were just new that I ended up writing on my own and kind of added to that whole collection. and all of them tie into this theme of freedom and vulnerability and like sort of surrendering what isn't meant for you and knowing that what is isn't going to leave you behind. And I think there's like a preciousness of time that kind of comes from that perspective as well. And all of those things are kind of in the cocktail of the themes for this record. But they were very much very raw and kind of messy. my plan was just to make guitar vocals of these songs to get them to a point and go, okay, what songs do I want to take into the studio with a producer or a band? Almost like a pre, like a demo mix of. Yeah. And then when I started working on those, I was like, I kind of like leaving these as is. Maybe this is the record already. So that's what I ended up doing. Yeah. Well, you know what? You succeeded. Well, thank you. It's really cool. And I love, again, like kind of reminds me of when I first heard Dale's big album. I was like you felt like you were sitting in a little club and it was a very intimate sound which yeah I love that because it really reaches right into the heart I love that first record she did too it's so good yeah it sounds like you're just sitting there with her in the studio like you have the same thing you can sing so you don't have to hide behind production do you find like that's important are those the kind of artists that you're attracted to when you're listening that could just do it live of course that's such an amazing way to get to hear music is like I'm always a fan of stripping the noise away and getting to the heart of it for sure. And I absolutely love working with a bunch of different producers and I've had a lot of fun. I love things that feel more rocking and, you know, the whole full band. Like there's so much magic to that too, but I really do love stripping it all away and just getting back to the core of what the song is saying. And I really felt like I was craving that in my sort of creative evolution right now. Mm hmm. You've and speaking of like sort of playing live and playing with the band, you've you've toured with a lot of major artists, Stevie Nicks, Shania Twain, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, I'm sure many others. What's that like? Because as you feel, do you feel pressure in that situation? I'm sure it's changed for you over the years, but with those kinds of artists, they have loyal, loving fans. Do they accept you? How has that been for you? oh I've loved every experience and it's it's like I don't know getting an education being able to just watch and learn from these people who are masters of the craft and masters of a live show and also learning how things work you know on and off the stage how how their crew operates how they take care of their people how they create an environment on the road that's really supportive and encouraging and I feel like I've just taken pockets of all my favorite things from people and And I hope to get to pay a lot of those things forward someday from all that I've learned on the road. So, yeah, I mean, such hardworking people and people who just really love music. And also very varied in, like, different styles of entertainment. It's really fun to watch that, too. It's like Miranda's shows are always so special to me because those songs are so great. And she's just, like, one of you, you know, and that's how it feels. And Reba is like a class act in so many ways and just really made the show just like, that was probably the loudest cheering crowd I've seen was opening for her. Like they're so in Brothers Osborne is one of my favorite shows that we watched for sure. And like they just never give up on a crowd. Like they have such a charisma that like demands their audience to participate. And I really enjoyed learning from that. So there's so many different things from the people I've gotten to learn from, but I love being on the road. Yeah, that's kind of like you mentioned university. That sort of is university, right? That's going to school. Absolutely. Yeah. And obviously all legendary artists, which I absolutely love that kind of original country sound to the George Strait thing is so powerful. Tell me what's the actual name of the full album and when's the full album coming out? Okay, so the album's called The Acrobat and it comes out on April 10th. Are you going to be touring? Is that what's your tour plans? Are you doing summer stuff or what's up with that? Yeah, I'm headed out on a tour called The Living Room Tour, which is an acoustic headline run of dates. So I have a handful of Canadian theaters and some U.S. club shows as well. And they're going to be very storyteller, singer, songwriter vibes and just kind of creating that really intimate living room space with the audience to like let the show be a living, breathing thing that we kind of create together every night. and really just get to the heart of the emotion together. So I'm really pumped for those shows. I'm kind of terrified and nervous to do them solo, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to connect with the audience in that space. And then we have a handful of summer festivals as well, so we'll bring the band out for those, and that'll be a good time. And I in the middle of routing a fall tour right now trying to make all the dates magically line up for the rest of the acoustic tour Yeah it takes a village to put all that together as we know What would be some advice for young artists, singer-songwriters, and trying to, I guess, make it? But make it means different things to different people. Talk about that, if you could, and maybe give some advice to people. Yeah, I still feel like I'm learning every single day. But I think the most important thing to me is keeping the love and joy for music at the front of everything else. And being a fan of music and listening to things that inspire you is like that filling your tank is really sort of like creative oxygen. And so much of what it means to be an artist now is so much different than when I started. But a ton of it is just through a screen and being able to like reach people in one line hooks and short attention spans and as incredible as that community online is. And they're so powerful. It's like they can like in a second be able to like support and lift something in such a beautiful way. But there's something like intangible and almost impersonal that kind of happens in that lane sometimes. And I think creatively, like, just staying inspired is, like, what is necessary to balance the, like, business side of what it means to be an artist. So that's kind of a balance I'm always trying to, like, get better at navigating. But I really enjoy all the aspects of it. And what else would I say to advice? I would definitely say when things start rolling, it gets so exciting and like there's such an adrenaline to that. And I think the most important thing is to like hold on to your autonomy and your instinct. And like there's a period that I can look back on for sure where I became so like concerned about what other people thought and does the team think this is right and what's the right move. And the reality is no one has the answers. The only thing is your like artistic magic that you bring to the table. It's like this, it's just this thing you have as, as the artist with the vision that like you have to keep that sacred and, and keep that inspired. And do you find, I've often said this too, because I'm a musician, I've been playing for a bunch of years, but do you find it's important to remember, like when you're that little girl in Canada, and you have these big dreams, it's important to keep that spirit alive, and not let the business squash that thing? Absolutely. That's what fill in the tank is. It's like, oh, my gosh, that younger version of me would freak out at the amazing things that unfolded. And it's like you got to keep her at the front of mind for sure, as you should. It's like that's so much more fun that way. I love that. Yeah. And it just makes life fun. And like you mentioned, we're always learning. This is kind of I always view this life that we lead as college and then we go home. Yeah. Great. It is a one. yeah so true one big experience yeah and it's good to pay attention to be thankful too i think that that that's a big part of it we've all stood out we've all stood on stages and you go man how did i get here absolutely it's so many pinch me moments and it is a lot of hard work but it's really hard to even call it work when it's this thing that you really love so much you know and that's so true i think having moments of gratitude is like so essential is it like it's like oh what an amazing thing and and gratitude for the pursuit of this thing that you love but also for like the people that it brings in your life because of that it's like i've met so many amazing people and heard so many great stories and just like the adventures that this has taken me on is far surpassed anything that that like little dreamer kid would be thinking about you know yeah it's magical it's a magical thing and we're lucky to you know even though we have we all have stories about being in the business or whatever but it's a magical thing and God, whatever your belief system is, has started when Dad touched us and said, it's going to be you. And how rare is that, right? It's crazy. It's so crazy. So true. Yeah. How can people find you online and social media and all that stuff? Oh, all the places. All the places. All the places. Yeah, Tennille Towns on all the platforms. And I love to message with people and keep in touch. And I love that part very much. It does feel like a community, and that's pretty cool to me. Yeah, it's awesome. And it's nice that people can actually reach out to you and tell you their stories and how you touch them. And it's super important to get that. As an artist, it's super important to get that feedback. Absolutely. Yes. You know, I feel like art isn't really art unless it becomes like a two-way street that you get to, like, exchange and share. And I love that. That's my favorite part about it. Danielle, thank you so much for joining me. I know you're a busy lady and you've got a lot going on, but I appreciate you making the time. Well, of course. Thank you for taking the time. It's been a joy to chat with you. And I really appreciate you lifting up the new music. And so fun to share some stories today. Well, it's my pleasure and my honor. Everybody, please check out Enabling. It's out now. Your Spotify, I should mention, is rocking. You've got almost a half a million listeners a month, which is amazing. And also, your full catalog is there pretty much. So check out the songs. A lot of great songs. And again, very, very intimate, important storytelling, which is what I love, an artist. It's something that connects with me for sure. So thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate you. And thanks for caring about music like that. That's really awesome. You're awesome. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Have a good rest of your day. All right. You too. Thanks for joining us. And please consider subscribing to our podcast and follow us on our social media pages for guest announcements.
