Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Tenille Townes reveals that her forthcoming EP, Masquerades, is due April 22 via Columbia Nashville/Sony Music Nashville in partnership with RCA Records. The soul-baring collection sees Tenille pull her own mask down and shine a light on those emotions that we get used to hiding.
Additionally, Tenille announces a UK/European tour, set to kick off in October. The 6-date run, some of which is part of UK Country Music Week, sees the singer hitting Glasgow, London and Berlin, among others.
Most recently, Tenille released “When’s It Gonna Happen,” which will be featured on her forthcoming EP, as a response to an outpouring of fan support on social media responding to the track. With lyrics like “Sometimes I feel like I’m the last one standing / I look around and all my friends are falling in love,” it’s little wonder fans connected with the hope, insecurity, fear, and anticipation Townes brings to life through the driving track.
Tenille Townes 2022 Tour Dates: March 26 / Cumberland Caverns—McMinnville, TN April 7 / Fox Theatre—Atlanta, GA April 8 / Daily’s Place—Jacksonville, FL April 9 / Grand Ole Opry—Nashville, TN April 28 / Merle Fest—Wilkesboro, NC April 29 / Union Stage—Washington, DC May 27 / Amphitheater at Los Colonias—Grand Junction, CO June 2 / Gramercy Theatre—New York, NY June 3 / World Café Live—Philadelphia, PA June 11 / Carolina Country Music Festival—Myrtle Beach, SC June 23 / Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center—Charleston, WV June 24 / Huntington Center—Toledo, OH June 25 / Pine Knob Music Theatre—Detroit, MI July 30 / Watershed Festival—George, WA Aug 12 / Lasso Festival—Montreal, QC Oct 17 / Oran Mor—Glasgow, UK Oct 18 / The Fleece—Bristol, UK Oct 19 / Scala—London, UK Oct 20 / Gorilla—Manchester, UK Oct 24 / Privateclub—Berlin, DE Oct 25 / Häken—Hamburg, DE
Tenille Townes vividly recalls the first time she walked through the East Nashville church her producer, Jay Joyce, had transformed into a studio. A congregation of instruments — a cluster of guitars here, an organ over there — silently stood, waiting for them to get to work. She immediately felt at home in the musical sanctuary.
“He had yellow flowers on the stand by where the mic was set up, and was like, ‘Okay let’s do this!’” she remembers. “Within one minute of arriving, I had my guitar out. We were jumping in. We really built these songs from the ground up.”
Born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter earned accolades for her wise-beyond-her-years ballads before she moved to Nashville in 2013. After years of taking in sets at the Bluebird Café and pushing herself in writing sessions, she started winning over Music Row with the songs that would eventually shape her acoustic EP, Living Room Worktapes. Each track told a potent story: her buoyant voice soared over love songs like “White Horse” and “Where You Are” with their clever choruses, but “Jersey on the Wall (I’m Just Asking),” in which she questions her faith after a senseless tragedy, and “Somebody’s Daughter,” an empathetic look into the life of a stranger, proved she had the range to write through life’s most difficult challenges.
“My way of processing how I feel is writing songs and diving into music,” she says of her tendency to put herself in the listener’s shoes. “I like to write from that observer perspective because it gives me an opportunity to process my emotions. I like to be that storyteller and that witness because it makes me feel like I belong in a situation, but I’m also stepping away from it and zooming out a little bit.”
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