BY LESLEY HASTINGS

Canadian country star Tenille Townes released her latest single last Friday, March 15th, a co-write with Ben Rector that Tenille also produced alongside Logan Wall. And while “Thing That Brought Me Here” is ostensibly a love song to her old Tacoma truck (hence the song’s sub-title) the lyrics also reveal that it is an homage to Tenille’s dreams of becoming a country artist and the twists and turns that her career path has taken. Just like the twists and turns of her two thousand mile physical journey from Grande Prairie, Alberta to Nashville back in 2013.

Delivered very emotionally as always, Tenille’s trademark vocals are powerful and compelling as she sings about the lessons she’s learned and she tells us that despite some wrong turns “I will keep my hands on this steering wheel“, determined to hold on to both her truck and her dreams. Yes, she may have at times considered taking a flight back home, buying a smaller car, but “every hard-earned scratch and dent is a part of me that I just can’t trade in”. And I feel that refers not only to her truck’s bodywork but to her own life experiences. A very clever write for sure.

The track begins with just Tenille and her acoustic guitar but quickly builds in both pace and instrumentation with some almost gospel inspired backing vocals too. Things get stripped back down again before the final chorus. I love this variety that really helps the listener focus on the lyrics.

Stream/Download “ Thing That Brought Me Here” https://tt.lnk.to/

Tenille has also just announced a major US and Canadian headline tour later this year, tickets available now https://tenilletownes.com/