“We lived on a train for 15 days and played 65 shows. The boxcar was a stage, and we would pull into towns that don’t get live music very often”: How Tenille Townes is taking her country sound to the people

Tenille Townes has been on the country music scene for many years, steadily gathering a fanbase and releasing music with her first collection, Real, dropping in 2011. 2022’s mini-album, Masquerades, saw a new side to her songwriting.

“I’ve always enjoyed songwriting from the storyteller’s perspective,” Tenille says. “The pandemic forced a period of self-reflection, so I couldn’t help that the songs were more personal.” Her current EP, Train Track Worktapes, was created on the road across Canada, where she was born and raised.

Breaking out

Tenille’s breakout album, 2020’s The Lemonade Stand, started the shift in focus from a ‘birdseye view’, which she previously used, to a more introspective bent; a transition that took some getting used to.

“I wrote Villain In Me and it was the scariest thing to share a song about wearing a brave face but struggling underneath with the inner critic and doubt,” Tenille admits.

“I posted a clip online and felt encouraged by people feeling the same way and knowing the feeling of sometimes hiding behind a smile. It gave me courage to continue working on the songs that became Masquerades; I couldn’t be happier with that collection.”

In the beginning

“My grandparents got my first guitar when I was 14,” Tenille says. “I figured out a couple of chords and started pairing them with pages from my journal. I remember thinking I could figure out how to write songs and it just opened up a universe of possibilities. It was a way of sharing these stories with other people and that’s what made me fall in love with the road.

“I graduated from high school and went out on this school tour where I travelled across Canada for 32 weeks. It was sort of a pitch to my dad that I wasn’t going to college and was serious about music. I loved living on the road. At the end of the tour, I decided to drive to Nashville and focus on the creative side of things, and figure how to get back on the road in a real way.”

Train Track Worktapes

Tenille’s most recent project, the Train Track Worktapes EP, was recorded while travelling by rail across Canada.

“We did this tour where we lived on a train for 15 days and played 65 shows in all of these communities from Montreal to Calgary,” she explains. “The boxcar was a stage, and we would pull into towns that don’t get live music very often, then we’d step out onto the stage and play. The shows were free, but there was a suggested donation that went to the local food bank.

“It was so cold! The resilience of the crowd made me so proud to be Canadian. I loved that adventure and was inspired to write a journal. Once there were a few songs we set up a jam area and started playing them.”

In the picture

When it came to recording Train Track Worktapes over the 3,000-mile journey, Tenille kept it simple. “I have a Martin OM-28 guitar painted with symbols and lyrics from Masquerades. I’ve had it since 2020; I got it new. I had a vintage 000 that I got in Austin and it didn’t have a truss rod and was hard to tour with because it didn’t stay in tune. So when I was making new music I got this guitar.”

Riding the rails

Sharing music is key to Tenille’s outlook and is what inspired the railroad trip. The EP is a natural companion to that tour, with the music left unadorned and in its true state.

“Often in music you lose the human element when you’re trying to chase [perfection],” Tenille says. “I’m trying to remind myself of that for when we do the next one. Although it won’t be on a train in motion, I still want to capture the essence of it feeling real; it’s the most important thing and very much in the driving seat of what motivates me.”

Train Track Worktapes is out now via Sony.