“I love to be the storyteller, I always will. Townes has spent the last few months during the pandemic, working on new music and has approached songwriting differently. It can be hard on my heart to be wrapped up in that moment but it’s such an honour to get to stand there, sing that and think about the people who have left us too soon. I try to completely be enveloped in the emotion of that every time I sing it because I want anybody who’s out there who just needs to feel that emotion to be able to feel it. When I play the songs I think about the stories that people have told me and the names of the people. “Getting to hear a story about someone who’s lost someone too soon and how painful that is and to just be able to kind of talk about that for a minute, that always means the world to me and I will never ever take that for granted. Songs like Somebody’s Daughter and Jersey on the Wall would bring a tear to the eye of even the hardest of hearts. Townes’ unique voice helped her to clinch the Female Artist of the Year title whilst her evocative songwriting helped her to take home the Songwriter of the Year award.

I grew up singing along to the little yellow radio in my dad’s garage, or we’d drive around in the motorhome with my grandparents across the wide open spaces of Alberta’s plains into the Rocky Mountains, on our summer field trips, listening to Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton.” That’s the beautiful thing about country, I think it just sort of has this universal truth. I grew up very much surrounded by country music and the stories.

I’m so grateful to have got my start there and to be able to call Canada home. “It still seems so surreal to get to celebrate music at home and to feel the community that I grew up with, wrapping their arms around this path.” Townes begins, “It means the world to me. Currently residing in Nashville when she’s not touring the world, Townes reflects upon her experiences growing up in Canada after recently winning three Canadian Country Music Awards. Canada has always produced talented country stars from Shania Twain to Terri Clark but there’s a new kid on the block, Tenille Townes, that’s been making strides within the scene as her compelling story telling lyrics truly tug on the heart strings of anyone who hears them.

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