Tenille Townes

For Tenille Townes, writing songs is a way of reaching out to anyone longing to make sense of a wildly confusing world. In the last five years alone, the Canada-born artist’s full-hearted and soul-searching songwriting has led to such milestones as touring with legends like Stevie Nicks, Miranda Lambert and Shania Twain and taking home two JUNO Awards —all while building up a globe-spanning fanbase irresistibly drawn to her intensely honest storytelling. With her many accolades also including 17 Canadian Country Music Association Awards and two Academy Of Country Music Awards, the Nashville-based rising star now begins a bold new chapter with her most fully realized work to date: a gorgeously sculpted batch of songs that bring a moodier and more unfettered sound to her compassionate lyrical outpouring.A stunning showcase for her raw yet nuanced vocal work, “As You Are” expands on the boundless generosity of spirit Townes has brought to her songs from the very start. As a little girl growing up in Grande Prairie, Alberta, she first fell in love with music thanks to the eclectic mix of artists her parents played at home (“A lot of Dolly Parton and U2, and whatever else they were controlling the stereo with”), then discovered her passion for songwriting at age 14.

Thanks to the massive success of “Jersey on The Wall” and “Somebody’s Daughter” (a song that tells the imagined backstory of an unhoused girl Townes encountered in Nashville), she soon emerged as the first female artist in Mediabase Canada history to score two No. 1 singles, adding to a fast-growing list of triumphs that also included The Lemonade Stand’s winning Country Album of the Year at the 2021 JUNO Awards. Townes seized that coveted prize again with 2022’s Masquerades, a seven-song project revealing her more introspective side on hits like “When’s It Gonna Happen” and its candid account of the aching frustration that sometimes accompanies single life. Later in 2022, she headed overseas and toured all over Europe and the UK, hit the road with country icon George Strait, and capped off the year by embarking on a train trip across Southern Canada—a 3,000-mile trek in which she played 65 shows in 15 days in support of local food banks. The following April, Townes returned with Train Track Worktapes: an EP mostly made up of songs written on the journey and recorded in the train’s caboose.

By embracing a more stripped-back and free-flowing sound than she’d ever attempted before, Townes has exponentially magnified the intimacy of her music—an element that’s especially abundant in her live performance. “I think a lot of people come to see me for the more emotional songs, but we also love to have those moments that feel like an explosion of joy, where everyone can have fun and stomp around and forget about everything else for a while,” says Townes, who’s now toured with Keith Urban, Reba, Zac Brown Band, and Dierks Bentley. Referring to her live show as a “safe space where everyone can be whoever they are,” Townes is quick to note that the most rewarding moments often occur at the end of the night, when she gets to interact with her fans one-on-one. “To me, the greatest measure of success is the stories that people share with me about how my songs have affected them,” she says. “It just proves how powerful music can be—there can be a door inside you that’s closed for a long time, and then you hear a song that cracks it open a bit, and all of a sudden there’s light coming in. It’s always a reminder to keep creating what feels true to me, so that hopefully it’ll end up making other people feel more understood.”