TENILLE TOWNES

W/ SACHA

Thing That Brought Me Here Tour

London Music Hall | October 30. 2024

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.

“What I love about making music is the potential for my songs to meet people right where they are, but then leave them feeling a little bit more seen and lifted-up than they were before,” says Townes. “I feel like it’s my job to make sure people come away with some sense of hope, even if it’s just the comfort of knowing that someone else out there feels the same way they do.” The first offering from Townes’ latest body of work, “As You Are” strays sonically from past hits like her gold-certified, chart-topping smash “Somebody’s Daughter” and leans toward a more spacious and hypnotic breed of Americana. In composing the track’s gauzy guitar tones and shapeshifting textures, Townes headed to the Seattle area to collaborate with producer/engineer Ryan Hadlock—a Grammy nominee known for his work with Brandi Carlile, The Lumineers, and seminal alt-rock acts like Blonde Redhead and The Afghan Whigs. “I’d been feeling the need to explore a new sonic direction, something that would hold space for real vulnerability but also allow for more of the indie-rock edge that my band and I organically bring to our shows,” says Townes. Written by Townes, Maggie Chapman (The Highwomen, Wafia) and David Pramik (Joy Oladokun, LANY), “As You Are” ultimately matches its mesmerizing sound with a tender meditation on shame, acceptance, and unconditional love. “The whole time we were working on that song I was thinking about the idea of loving all the parts of someone, especially the parts they’re scared to show to the world,” says Townes.

“When I listened back later, it hit me that on a much deeper level I’d written exactly what I’d want to hear when I’m struggling and putting up walls: someone to tell me, ‘Hey, you’re good just as you are. Don’t change a thing.’” 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. “My grandparents gave me a guitar and I started learning the chords I needed to make songs out of what I was writing in my journal,” she recalls, naming singer/songwriters like Patty Griffin and Lori McKenna among her enduring influences. “It was so liberating to take all the things I had a hard time saying out loud and put them into a song—it felt like I’d found a much easier form of communication.