Tenille Townes Wants People to Feel Welcomed with Her Songs — Meet the New Country Star

Tenille Townes was just 17 when she was nominated for the Canadian Country Music Award for Female Artist of the Year, and she hasn't looked back since.

Tenille Townes is a star, and she's arrived. At 15, she wrote her first song and released her first album, "Real." at 17. It was that album that garnered her first nomination for the Canadian Country Music Awards, but the confirmation of her mainstream success came with the hit single, “Somebody’s Daughter.”

“Somebody’s Daughter” took the 18-year-old Townes to her epic debut on the stage of the mythical Grand Ole Opry, the dream of every man or woman who has ever wanted to sing country music.

In 2019, Townes made a clean sweep of the Canadian Country Music Awards, winning the accolades for Female Artist of the Year, Single of the Year, Video of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year thanks to "Somebody's Daughter"

WELCOMING MUSIC

The appeal of Townes' music is the universality of the stories she tells. She wants to give voice to the lives of ordinary men and women, and give them a feeling of coming home when they listen to her music. She revealed:

"To me as a writer, it's an honor to get to shed light on things that might be harder to talk about (...) It's always a goal for me to make people feel welcomed, to show up and come as they are."

A case in point is "Somebody's Daughter," the song she took to the stage of the 2020 ACM Awards.

Townes revealed that she wrote the song after seeing a young girl on the side of the road begging with a sign in her hands. Townes sings:

"Now this light'll turn green and I'll hand her a couple dollars/ And I'll wonder if she got lost or they forgot her/ She's somebody's daughter"

"Somebody's Daughter" brings home the harsh reality of the plight of America's homeless, the uncomfortable reality people would rather look away from. Townes' song makes every destitute and desperate American on the streets scrabbling for a meal someone the listener knows, his or her sister, friend, or daughter.

AWARD-WINNING SINGER

In 2019, Townes made a clean sweep of the Canadian Country Music Awards, winning the accolades for Female Artist of the Year, Single of the Year, Video of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year thanks to "Somebody's Daughter." The Songwriter of the year award, she shared with Barry Dean, and Luke Laird.

2020 has been another triumph for the young singer, who won two awards at the Academy of Country Music Awards: the New Female Artist of the Year Award, and the award for Musical Event of the Year for "Fooled Around and Fell In Love."

MAKING THE BIG TIME

Townes has also been nominated for the Musical Event of the Year Award by the Country Music Association, and the winners will be on November 11, 2020, in Nashville.

Townes has collaborated with Miranda Lambert and shared the stage with Dierks Bentley on tour. Her greatest pride was that her beloved great-grandmother got to witness her rise, and attend her concerts where she'd proudly sit in the front row, drinking beer and cheering her great-grandaughter on.

Sadly, the venerable old lady has passed on, but Townes paid tribute to her in her song "When I Meet My Maker," from her album "The Lemonade Stand." Townes said about her great-grandmother:

"She just was enchanting and the best teddy bear, taking care of everybody, and I miss her."

In honor of her great-grandmother, Townes wore her earrings when she stepped into the studio to record "When I Meet My Maker."

Townes is only 26, and she's already topped the Canadian country music charts with "Somebody's Daughter," and the song "Jersey on the Wall (I'm Just Asking)" from "The Lemonade Stand."

After her dazzling performance at the 2020 ACM Awards, Townes is a star, not just in Canada, but also in the US, and anywhere that country music is loved.