When Canadian singer-songwriter, Tenille Townes belts outs the words “I wonder if she got lost and they forgot her. Somebody’s daughter” from her song “Somebody’s Daughter” her voice has a timber to it, like an aged soul that’s harvested decades of experience and stories passed down from generations to generations. Townes’ voice, however, on the other line of the telephone on this Friday morning is beaming with rays of sunshine and sounds like the 25-year-old that she is.

“It’s a dream, I’m so thankful to be out here doing this,” Townes said, referring to life on the road and having a heavy schedule, including supporting Dirks Bentley. On this day, it’s her last stop on Bentley’s Burning Man Tour. Just after this interview she will take her customary walk through the arena after soundcheck and before doors open. She’ll capture a view from an empty seat, imagining the night ahead. She will return to the road this fall, once again supporting Miranda Lambert.

“I’m so excited to get back on the road with Miranda this fall and continue these adventures,” the Alberta, Canadian-born Townes said. “I’m having a blast getting the music out and just traveling, meeting sweet people. It’s a lot of fun.”

She’s also recently collaborated with Brandi Carlile and the legendary Tanya Tucker on the “Five Decades, One Voice” Cracker Barrel 50th anniversary initiative. It’s a perfect fusion – the trio’s collective voices are powerful and sincere on Townes’ “Somebody’s Daughter.” It’s an awe-inspiring, goose-pimples reaction for listeners.

Much like the storytelling in “Daughter”, Towne’s new single, “Jersey on The Wall” is a stirring tale of loss, nostalgia and a feeling of small-town athletics. It’s sad. It’s poignant. It’s fitting for a Canadian that still has strong ties to her own hometown – Grand Prairie, Alberta. At the age of 15, Townes started the first ever Big Hearts For Big Kids. While she’s now based in Nashville, she plans to make the trek back for the 10th anniversary event. Big Hearts For Big Kids will mark the occasion on September 14, and Townes said she’s planning on once again giving back to the local youth shelter, The Sun Rise House.

“The people in my community are pretty remarkable, they’re extremely generous,” Townes said. “We’ve raised over 1.5 million…that’s what music is for to me – to bring people together. Over these past few years, it’s been life -changing for me.”

Looking back to find that turning point in her life, where music would be her calling, Townes said, wasn’t specific. “It’s definitely a collection of moments,” she said. “My grandparents bought my first guitar when I was 14 and I started reworking cords and see how I could put them together, and how I could incorporate journaling and poetry that I had been doing. That was a moment to me, when things clicked that I really loved to write songs and when it all made sense in the sense of wanting to dream about wanting to play those songs live.”

In 2009 Townes, then 15, released the story-rich “Home Now”. The song, written from the perspective of a daughter whose father is deployed to the war in Afghanistan. The astute songwriter channels her own wise-beyond her years artistry, with the power of inspiration from some of her songwriting heroes.

“I am a huge Patty Griffin fan – I’m inspired by the raw, vulnerability of her voice,” Townes said. “I absolutely love Lori McKenna and her style of writing about such beautiful, ordinary things, in a way, I don’t even know, hits home every time…I absolutely need to add Dolly (Parton)! There’s a song that sets the bar for me, that my great-grandmother’s favorite of all time that I grew up hearing is ‘Coat of Many Colors.’ Dolly just caries
herself like nobody else.”

As the interview continues, it’s obvious Townes is well-versed in life and in literature. She thinks beyond the pages and applies the lessons to her songs. She’s got a different disposition on life –she paints smiley faces on her toenails. Who wouldn’t smile after seeing those! And yet it’s another way to connect with people.

“I love to read, I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter,” Townes said. “I like to read fiction – things that stir up vocabulary and imagination that can lend itself to songwriting. I like to read books about human existence that make us think, books about being connected.”

Maybe the timber in her voice, the echoing choruses are seedlings of the cadence she follows. Like the prairie grass, blades of grass remain standing all year long, even during the cold winter months. Townes has already discovered her lows and highs in the music business. The hardest part about the industry, she said, it’s getting back to the normal day-to-day.

“For me, it’s the highs and the lows,” she said. “When you come off a show and you’re out on the road and it’s like Neverland out there. It’s its own world. It’s so wonderful and filled with the things that I love. Then, it’s going home and doing laundry.”

Just keep the feeling of the ground as well, she said. Her strong supportive family, including volleyball-player brother, parents and Grand Prairie community help her sustain her balance. Even more so, she said, her fans’ openness has allowed her to be a part of their lives. Country music, Townes said, is very much “anchored in stories which lends itself to that open
arms spirit.”

“People send in messages a lot through Instagram…my favorite part of social media is hearing the stories from people,” Townes said. “I’m just in awe of the courage of that it takes to really talk about things that are hard and how these songs bring up many different memories of people in their lives and what it makes them think of. Getting to hear about that is like thinking that music is a way of kicking the walls down of the places that are kinda scary to go into. Somehow someone makes it more, I don’t know, maybe a little easier to walk through those spaces. To me hearing about that through people listening is the greatest gift.”