Columbia Nashville

This week, newcomer Tenille Townes is enjoying her first top-thirty hit in the U.S. with her debut single.

“Somebody’s Daughter” already hit the top of the charts earlier this year in her native Canada. Tenille was lucky enough to be in her home province of Alberta on tour with Dierks Bentley when she got the news.

“Backstage the night before one of the charts was closing, right before the show, my parents came back,” she tells ABC Radio. “And they were sitting on the couches in the dressing room, and we kinda like looked at each other, and I was like, ‘I think it could happen tonight. Like I think tonight’s the night that it’s gonna happen.’”

“And so we all kinda cried and had a little dance party in the dressing room and then hugged it out,” Tenille recalls. “And then it did happen! So it was like our pre-party.”

Tenille’s tour of her homeland was especially meaningful, because she and Dierks were playing the very arenas her mom and dad used to drive hours to so Tenille could go to concerts.

“There’s something that’s really crazy about walking around the empty arena, before people file in,” she explains. “I’ve found myself sitting there during the daytime often, just like imagining the people who are gonna sit in those seats, and remembering that I was that little kid that went and sat up in the nosebleeds screaming these songs at the top of my lungs.”

“And it’s a powerful sort of reminder,” she confesses, “and it’s very surreal to me to get to do this. I’m really, really grateful.”

Tenille, Dierks and Jon Pardi kick off the next leg of the Burning Man Tour May 30 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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