Tenille Townes Talks The Acrobat, UK Fans and the Songs She Hopes Glasgow Will Request
Written by Lauren Page | @LiveWithLP
Tenille Townes has a theory about UK audiences: we’re the land of second verses.
“You guys listen through the whole song. You know even the second verse,” she told me when we caught up ahead of her Living Room Tour. For an artist bringing a stripped-back show across the Atlantic, that sounds like a pretty ideal crowd.
Townes is returning to Glasgow with The Acrobat, a record she made in the spare room of her house during a period when she felt, by her own admission, pretty lost. It’s also her first release since returning to life as an independent artist, and the first record she’s produced herself. That is a lot to put into one album.
“It was terrifying, to be honest,” she said. “This was my first leap into the great unknown of returning to being an independent artist.”
That leap gave the album its name. Making it meant learning to trust her own instincts, from the songs right down to the production decisions. There was no committee to satisfy. The question became much simpler: did it feel true to her?
The response has made that leap feel a little less frightening. “When you bet on yourself again, sometimes it turns out, and people show up,” she said.
And people showing up is exactly what she’s looking forward to in the UK. Townes said audiences here have always met vulnerable songs with real attention, which makes this tour feel like the right way to share The Acrobat. She described the show as bringing the best of what she can fit in her suitcase from her living room to ours.
Glasgow has seen Tenille on a much bigger stage before. This time, the smaller room gives her space to do something different: talk to the audience, take requests and build the evening with the people in front of her.
“What do you guys want to hear?” is a question she’s been asking on the tour so far. Occasionally, a request sends her reaching for her phone to check she remembers an older song. Only one particularly deep childhood cut has been turned down.
Naturally, I asked which requests Glasgow should have ready.
“Light in Your Eyes is always one of my favourites,” she said, before adding The Acrobat tracks Grey Like Emmylou and She Plays the Piano to the list. Those deeper cuts didn’t get as much of the spotlight when the album came out, so hearing somebody call for one makes her especially excited to play it.
As Grey Like Emmylou happens to be my favourite on the record, consider this a completely impartial message to everyone going to the Glasgow show: you know what to do.
Returning to independent music has changed more than Townes’ recording process. She’s grateful for what her time in the major-label system allowed her to build, particularly the community that still comes to her shows. But she’s enjoying the freedom to share something she loves without chasing what she called a moving target.
That freedom may already be leading somewhere new. Townes told me she feels The Acrobat chapter might not be quite finished, while a handful of songs she’s written recently could be the beginning of another album. After making music from such a solitary, healing place, she’s feeling the pull to have some fun creating with friends again.
We also talked about her collaboration with Adam Doleac, a song I informed her has gone triple platinum on my personal Spotify listening history. Townes remembers writing it as a joyful, almost seventies-style throwback.
“Do we dare write us a happy song?” she recalled thinking. Thankfully, they did.
As for an artist she’d love to sing with next, Medium Build was the name that came to mind. She’d been listening to his new record while walking her dog that morning and was full of praise for the way his lyrics can hurt “in the most devastating, beautiful way.”
She also gave Canadian Americana artist Mason Villa a shout-out after meeting him at a folk festival and writing together recently.
For now, though, Townes’ focus is on bringing the Living Room Tour to UK audiences. She hopes the shows feel like somewhere people can arrive exactly as they are, cry at one song, laugh at the next and perhaps leave with a new friend.
I asked whether that meant waterproof mascara, tissues and my most sociable behaviour were required.
“You have understood the assignment fully,” she said.
Don't miss Tenille Townes The Loving Room Tour this October