Originally from Canada but now living in Nashville, Tenille Townes made her UK live debut back in 2018 as part of the Country Music Week CMA Songwriters’ Round.
Since then she’s been a frequent visitor to this side of the pond – most recently for her first headlining tour back in October – and has won over audiences with her distinctive vocals, songwriting talents and engaging stage presence. This week she was back in the UK to play a short acoustic tour in support of her latest EP, ‘Train Track Worktapes’, which was released in August, as well as closing the Interstate Stage on Friday night at The Long Road Festival.
Ahead of her headline set, I caught up with Tenille to talk about how she found the festival, the EP, her love for UK crowds, working with the likes of Shania, Train and Stevie Nicks, and what’s coming up next for her.
Welcome back to the UK!
Thank you! I’m so glad to be in one of my favourite places.
How have you found the festival?
We’re excited to be a part of kicking it off. I was just walking round earlier before I was getting ready and everybody’s so friendly and saying hi. I was hearing such lovely music walking by. We got some delicious food. I love this festival. I’m excited to be here.
Last time you were here was Country Music Week 2022 – what’s been happening since then?
I’ve been working on lots of new music, and we’ve been on the road a bunch. It’s been a really fun year of touring. We’ve been having fun with all kinds of summer festivals this year, just kind of getting home for a couple of days in between, writing some new stuff and getting it recorded, looking forward to sharing it soon.
Do you have any particular standout memories from your last trip over here?
Ah, that whole trip was incredible. The crazy story that stood out to me was our poor tour manager fell sick, and he couldn’t drive us, and so my band was very gracious and tried to drive this van which was on the other side of the road, and it was not an automatic. So we were like, “OK, it’s not safe to drive, we need some help.” And then our friend Kat was this amazing chef at the Premier Inn in Penrith and he gave us a ride five hours away to our next show, which was incredible. So we made it. And then he helped us the next day and then he went back home, and we got another driver who just showed up to help us. He’s actually our driver this time which is pretty awesome. So the show will go on and there are good people in the world.
You also released your ‘Train Track Worktapes’ EP earlier this year – tell us more about that…
That came from this crazy adventure I got to do back in Canada, at home. We rode this holiday train that went from Montreal to Calgary. We lived on this train for 15 days and we played 65 shows. Some days we were playing like five or six shows a day. And in between them I was just like, “I’m so inspired”. People were showing up bringing donations for their local food banks, and everyone was bundled up in the freezing cold weather. I just witnessed the best parts of the human spirit. So I felt like I had to write about it.
I’d write in the mornings and then we figured out, we were like, “can we borrow gear from the stage car?” And we set it up in the caboose and we just pressed record. And you can hear the rumble of the tracks and the rattle of the engine. I hope it makes people feel like they’re sitting next to us on the train. You guys have a lot of trains over here. Trains are like a much more limited, special thing [laughs] where I’m from, but I hope it feels like people are riding the train with us when they listen.
How was that whole process for you? Did you feel like being in that environment pushed you creatively somehow?
Honestly it just sort of happened. Because I was just on such a high from these shows, and I’d never written songs that fast. Like I would finish a song in 10 or 15 minutes and then I got three of them and I was like, “maybe we should try to record these, like, maybe we should do this!” And then it became something we became intentional about. And it’s kind of like, when you’re limited with resources, I think creativity just finds a way to push you along. We really figured it out. I’m so proud of the way these songs turned out and have a lot of fun playing these songs with my band. I produced this project with my guitar player Jackson and it was really fun. It was a crazy cool adventure. I almost lost my voice [laughs] because of the amount of shows we were doing plus writing and recording this record. But we made it through.
Is there anything you’ve learned from this project that you’re going to take forward into future endeavours?
I think sort of being in the moment. I’ve never really travelled and been on a tour and been able to use the creative part of my brain before. But we had a cabin that was the same every day. This kind of touring where you’re hopping from one van to the next and it’s a different hotel every night, it’s sort of hard to find that consistency. But I figured out how to find that on this train tour and I really enjoyed being on the move. Being in a state of motion is like my favourite place. There’s just something calming to my spirit that feels at home in that, and I think sort of channelling that energy. I’ll definitely carry that with me.
Are there any songs you’re particularly enjoying playing live at the moment?
I’m definitely loving playing some of these ones from the ‘Train Track Worktapes’. We’ve got a few new ones we’ve been kind of circling in the set. I always love playing ‘Jersey On The Wall’, just hearing everybody’s stories about that song will always be special to me. So that one feels special. We’ve been doing a couple of fun covers too. I’m not sure exactly which ones we’re gonna do on Friday night, but we’ll see what we feel inspired to launch into.
You’ve got to work with some real musical icons over the last few months – opening for Alanis [Morrisette], and then Stevie Nicks…
That was insane. And Stevie Nicks was crazy. Oh my word. I just loved getting to stand front of house for those shows and watch. Especially those female incredible artists, icons of the music world. And Stevie was remarkable. Just hearing her tell stories about her life and the journey of music that she’s been on. I just stood there and I was like, “I can’t wait.” I hope I get to her age and get to be standing up there bringing joy to people like that. Just, what a legend.
I particularly wanted to ask you about opening for Shania Twain as I know one of your first performances was at one of her concerts when you were a kid. Did that feel like coming full circle in a way?
[laughs] Yeah! In a way. I keep finding more circles around her that become full which is crazy. But yeah, I got pulled up on stage when I was nine years old at her concert in Edmonton, and it was just a wild night I’ll never forget. I still feel that fire lit inside me today and I hope to get to keep that moving forward. But I met her a few years ago at an industry event. We got re-introduced and I could barely speak. Like, what do you say to someone who’s had such an impact on your life like that? I showed her the picture of us and this is when I was nine and I was dressed up like her Miami concert DVD and I was like, “yeah, that was me!” [laughs] And we laughed about it. I said “thank you” but I could barely get out any other words. So the opportunity came up to be on this tour and I was like, “are you kidding me? This is just crazy”. So I’m so excited. I can’t wait to get to hug her again and then literally scream every word to all of her shows [laughs]. I’m so excited.
The other thing I wanted to ask you about was collaborating with Train on their song ‘I Know’. How did that come about and what was it like working with the band?
I still can’t believe that happened. They are wonderful. Pat’s incredible, and I love that song. It literally got sent to a couple of different members of the team, and we were like, “wait a second, is this…?” I listened to the song and I immediately started dancing round my house singing this, like, “this is so cool, I’m so honoured they’re asking me to sing on this”. So I just recorded it sitting there in my house and sent it on its way.
What’s next on the horizon for you?
I’m working on new things. I can’t wait to share very soon. I’ve been writing a lot and trying out some different things in the studio. I’ve been thinking a lot lately, I posted about it recently but I feel like I’m watching all this pottery, this lump of clay that becomes something, and I’m in the middle of trying to figure out what that’s gonna be. So I’m just enjoying that. But we’re already working on tour plans and I can’t wait to come back here. You know I love it here so much, it’s just the best.
I was going to ask if you had plans to come back but I think that’s answered that question…
We’re working on it. Definitely will be. I just don’t know when but I promise it’ll be soon.
Tenille Townes’ latest EP, ‘Train Track Worktapes’, is out now on Sony Music Entertainment.
