An artist I have long wanted to interview is Canadian country songstress Tenille Townes. Her debut album, The Lemonade Stand, arrived in 2020 and included the gold-certified, chart-topping “Somebody’s Daughter” and, especially, the award-winning “Jersey on the Wall (I’m Just Asking),” making Townes the first female artist in Mediabase Canada history to earn two number one singles.
Townes was raised in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and attended Peace Wapiti Academy high school. She was introduced to country music by her parents and grandparents during family car trips. At the age of nine, she attended a concert by Shania Twain during her Up! Tour bearing a sign asking for a chance to sing with Twain on stage, which Twain granted.
She recalled, “I was always such a huge fan. She was such an inspiration to me, especially being a fellow Canadian. My family surprised me with tickets to her show. And I made a little sign that said, ‘Shania, can I please sing with you?’ I had my mom glue gun me a costume that dried on our five-hour trip from my hometown to the show. She randomly saw me in the crowd and pulled me up on stage. It was one of those just crazy dream-come-true moments standing next to my idol. It lit a fire in me. I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Townes is still working on paying it forward to any other little dreamers out there. Twenty years later, in a full-circle moment, she opened for Shania Twain.
Now, as an independent artist, Townes has released 3rd full-length record, The Acrobat, an album originally conceived as simple work tapes. With this magnificent work of art, she returns to a deep trust in her own intuition. What began as an attempt to make sense of uncertainty became an act of reclamation. The Acrobat took shape in quiet moments of solitude, with Townes writing, performing, producing, and mixing the album herself in the spare room of her home. She also played every instrument.
The Acrobat is the Nashville-based songwriter’s third album, marking a clear shift toward a more intimate, singer-songwriter, folk-leaning sound, one that strips everything back to lyric, melody, and emotional truth.
It also includes an additional feature with recent Grammy winners I’m With Her on “Grey Like Emmylou” and other tracks written with Grammy-winning writers Lori McKenna, Amy Wadge, and Daniel Tashian. The collection also includes a few penned solely by Townes.
The songwriting prodigy Lori McKenna was one of the first people Townes saw perform once she and her dad made the 47-hour drive to Nashville.
She shared, “We flukily got two seats at the Bluebird Cafe. And Laurie McKenna was playing that night. I was so inspired by her style of writing and the way she makes human experiences feel all the depths of the emotions. She’s been a hero to me ever since. She was always at the top of my bucket list of somebody to get to work with someday.”
Seven years later, she got to write with McKenna, whom she now considers a mentor and a friend. One of the songs they wrote together is called “The Acrobat,” the title track of her new album. The song addresses the struggles of trying to become what someone else needs and the importance of not losing oneself while trying to please others.
“I’m grateful for the full-circle moment of singing with her on this song,” she stated.
The first song on The Acrobat album is called “ordinary love song.” It is a simple tune that compares love to a tambourine. She agreed, “I think love is so much more than the box that we try to fit it inside of. And to me, music is a big part of what love means to me.”
The first song released ahead of the album is called “enabling.” It has been a fan favorite, featured on SiriusXM On The Horizon and Bobby Bones’ Top 30 Weekend Countdown. The song is about how we often excuse bad behavior by saying “it’s OK” when it really isn’t.
Townes explained, “It’s like you don’t recognize that love isn’t love if it means losing yourself. It means a lot to hear people connecting with this song. It makes me feel less alone in this experience.”
Written and produced entirely by Townes, we could use a little more, is a soul-nourishing song about the power of empathy. The quietly impactful single speaks to the polarized society we live in and the need for compassion and empathy for others. Proceeds from this song will support Sunrise House and other nonprofits, such as Crossroads, that aid unhoused youth.
While she sounds like she is strumming a tune on your front porch, Townes uses personification to describe loneliness as an old friend in the song “lonely talking” and “what’s meant for you” is about facing the inevitable.
“She plays the piano” is a true story about a lady at Townes’ great-grandmother’s nursing home. Townes recalled, “This woman would sit at this keyboard. She couldn’t tell you her name, but she could play this polka like it was nobody’s business. She would turn around, and we would cheer and clap. It was like she was playing Carnegie Hall.”
I’m With Her joins Townes on the song, “grey like Emmylou.” The song is about losing a friend, and you don’t know what happened to them. “When I experienced it, I was like, ‘Man, this is hurting my heart.’ But no matter what happened to them, you hope they get everything they ever hoped for, like Emmylou’s beautiful silver hair. I’m glad to have written about it.”
Being “in love with the sky” is autobiographical for Townes. She is thrilled to be chasing her dream of becoming a singer-songwriter, but it can be hard on her personal life. “Music has always been the greatest love of my life so far,” she admitted.
For those who order the vinyl of The Acrobat, you will get an extra 10th song, entitled “if you’re hearing this.”
With The Acrobat, what has emerged is Townes’ most stripped-down and intimate body of work to date, rooted in vulnerability, courage, and the quiet tenacity it takes to keep moving forward when certainty falls away.
But it’s not just the record that is stripped down. Her Living Room Tour will be an intimate experience that diehard fans will be excited to attend. She kicked it off the sold-out show at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley and Townes’ show was even more remarkable in person. See photos and videos here.
Whether on record or on stage, Townes continues to create what she calls a “safe space” for listeners. Her live shows balance moments of quiet reflection with joy and release, grounded in the belief that music can help people feel less alone.
Follow Tenille Townes on her website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and all streaming platforms.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and TikTok.
THE ACROBAT TRACKLIST
- ordinary love song
- the acrobat (feat. Lori McKenna)
- enabling
- we could use a little more
- lonely talking
- she plays the piano
- grey like Emmylou (feat. I’m With Her)
- what’s meant for you
- in love with the sky
Bethany Writes 
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