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Celebrating Nashville Music: Tenille Townes Discusses Her Transformative Album and Creative Process · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Hi everyone, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Taking
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: a Walk Nashville podcast. Today, I am here with Canada
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  Speaker 2: born Nashville based singer songwriter toan Neil Towns. Taneil has
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  Speaker 2: earned two Junior Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards,
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  Speaker 2: and seventeen Canadian Country Music Association Awards. Along the way,
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  Speaker 2: Towns has built a globe spanning fan base drawn to
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  Speaker 2: her ability to tell deeply human stories with empathy, clarity,
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  Speaker 2: and hope. Her debut album, The Lemonade Stand, arrived in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty and included the gold certified chart topping Somebody's
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  Speaker 2: Daughter and the award winning jersey on the Wall I'm
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  Speaker 2: Just Asking, making Towns the first female artist and media
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  Speaker 2: based Canada history to earn two number one singles. On
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  Speaker 2: April tenth, she released her most vulnerable, raw and fiercely
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  Speaker 2: independent project yet, called The Acrobat. It's a record born
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  Speaker 2: out of a spare room, written, recorded, produced and mixed
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  Speaker 2: entirely by her, capturing the heartbreaking, beautiful reality of what
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  Speaker 2: happens when you finally stop twisting yourself to fit everyone
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  Speaker 2: else's expectations. I Hope you'll join me today with our conversation.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with your hosts singer
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  Speaker 1: songwriter Sarah Harrelson.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Hey everyone, it's Sarah Harrelson. You're a host of the
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Taking a Walk Nashville podcast and I am here with
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  Speaker 2: toan Neil Towns today. Tanil, thank you so much for
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: being with me on Taking a Walk Nashville. You have
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: had a busy year so far releasing your new album,
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  Speaker 2: The Alcrobat, and you've been on tour.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks. It's so great to get to hang with you.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, thanks for being here. This album, The Acrobat,
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  Speaker 2: it marks a massive shift for you. You wrote, performed, produced,
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  Speaker 2: and mixed it yourself in your spare room. What was
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  Speaker 2: the exact moment you realized that they weren't just work tapes,
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  Speaker 2: that these songs were becoming the actual record.
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  Speaker 3: You know what's funny is I kind of feel like
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  Speaker 3: the music tricked me into this record. It was like
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  Speaker 3: I was actually going through a bit of a low
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  Speaker 3: swing and it was kind of just feeling a little
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  Speaker 3: lost and disoriented, and like my goal was just to
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  Speaker 3: strip all the noise away from these songs and just
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  Speaker 3: get back to like the truth underneath and decide what
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  Speaker 3: songs I wanted to take into the studio and record
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  Speaker 3: with a producer and do the whole thing. So I
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  Speaker 3: was like, all right, let me make some you know,
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  Speaker 3: work tapes and get to a place of deciding on songs.
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  Speaker 3: And I got a few of these done and I
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  Speaker 3: kind of just was like, wait a second, I like,
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  Speaker 3: how these feel like this? Like what if I just
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  Speaker 3: made the record sitting right here? And it became this
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  Speaker 3: like really healing process of kind of getting back that
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  Speaker 3: creative autonomy of going what do I like, what does
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  Speaker 3: do I think this needs a little bass here? Does
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  Speaker 3: it need a little mandolin? Every like decision that I
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  Speaker 3: made kind of felt like it was like lengthening my
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  Speaker 3: own intuition again. And so it really it was like
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  Speaker 3: my inner critic, I think, was exhausted or something at
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  Speaker 3: that point and was just like slumbering to the side.
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  Speaker 3: Thank goodness. So I was able to just sort of
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  Speaker 3: tune that out and get back to just the heart
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  Speaker 3: of the music. So it was a really healing process
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  Speaker 3: for me.
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  Speaker 2: What's so easy to be a critic when you're doing
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  Speaker 2: all of the recording on the record yourself. Was this
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  Speaker 2: the first time you played every instrument on a record?
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  Speaker 3: It is definitely the first time. I yeah, And I've
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  Speaker 3: never you know, mixed or engineered anything before either. And honestly,
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  Speaker 3: I hope that anybody here in this is like, wait,
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  Speaker 3: I could do this. I'm like, yes, if I can
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  Speaker 3: do it, let me tell you you can because I have,
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  Speaker 3: you know, very limited skills and knowledge when it comes
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  Speaker 3: to like the actual engineering stuff. But I just had
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  Speaker 3: one microphone and a little tiny interface at my house,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, learned a few things during COVID about
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  Speaker 3: logic and just I don't really know how to tune vocals,
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  Speaker 3: like none of that fancy stuff was in my repertoire,
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  Speaker 3: and so really kept the heart of the vulnerability intact
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  Speaker 3: on this project. I think kind of my maybe limitations
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  Speaker 3: on the technical side really kept the honesty up front,
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  Speaker 3: and I really loved that. So I kind of just
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  Speaker 3: sang it until I was like, wait, does this feel
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  Speaker 3: like emotionally how I wanted to feel? And even if
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  Speaker 3: it's a little imperfect or messy, you know, I just
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  Speaker 3: wanted to capture that sort of live feeling, and and
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  Speaker 3: that was my measure. It was like does it feel right? Okay, cool,
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  Speaker 3: then we're moving on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds very authentic and honest, does a folk
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  Speaker 2: sound kind of Joni Mitchell?
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  Speaker 3: Hey, yeah, come on, that's like the best compliment ever.
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  Speaker 3: I appreciate that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a beautiful record. So how did you know
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  Speaker 2: when a song was done? Since you were doing everything yourself?
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  Speaker 2: I know you said it was you know.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I did. I really think that part of me
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  Speaker 3: was just so exhausted at that point, and this record
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  Speaker 3: really kind of returned the joy of music for me.
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  Speaker 3: And so I think it was just kind of like
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  Speaker 3: the music would tell me, like I would just trust
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  Speaker 3: and when the song was like okay, does what does that?
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  Speaker 3: What do I feel like this one still needs or
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  Speaker 3: is missing? And a couple of them I'd put some
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  Speaker 3: harmonies on or maybe you know, a little bass or
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  Speaker 3: a little of this or a little of that, couple
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  Speaker 3: of tambourine moments, but beyond that, there's a couple of
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  Speaker 3: them that are literally just a guitar and a voice,
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  Speaker 3: And like I would, I would listen back and be like, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: all right, I think this one's done and let's just
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  Speaker 3: move on. And so it became this really fun project.
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  Speaker 3: About halfway through, I started realizing I was actually having
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  Speaker 3: fun and that felt really great. So I had some
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  Speaker 3: acoustic shows on the calendar for this spring that were
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  Speaker 3: booked a long time ago, and I was like, wait
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  Speaker 3: a second, if I finished this record in time, this
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  Speaker 3: could be a really cool kind of connection to some
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  Speaker 3: of these shows, and maybe I could extend this tour
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  Speaker 3: and really kind of have that story around just getting
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: back to a girl and her guitar. And so that
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  Speaker 3: kind of gave me motivation to finish the project too.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you just came back from a long tour, and
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  Speaker 2: this album tells a story of learning how you can
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: twist yourself to fit others and these others. The title track,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the Acrobat this dive steep into this concept and features
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: the legendary Laurie McKenna. What was it like working with
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  Speaker 2: her on this song?
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  Speaker 3: That was such a crazy cool full circle. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: she's literally my songwriting hero, and it kind of it
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  Speaker 3: makes me smile thinking about the day that I moved
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  Speaker 3: to Nashville, which was like fourteen years ago at this point,
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  Speaker 3: but my dad helped me make the forty seven hour
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  Speaker 3: drive from my hometown all the way here and we
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: got to town and we fluke Lee had two tickets
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  Speaker 3: to the Bluebird and she was playing that night, and
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: so I sat there and I was just like, wait,
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  Speaker 3: I get to live in this community of writers like
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  Speaker 3: and just it kind of was this monumental round for me.
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  Speaker 3: And it's the fact that she was in it was insane.
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  Speaker 3: I just I went back and studied every one of
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  Speaker 3: her songs and records. At that point. I was just
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  Speaker 3: mesmerized by her style of writing and the way she
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  Speaker 3: delivers it and her guitar playing, like so much of that.
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  Speaker 3: I just was such a fan and so I kind
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: of studied and learned, and then, you know, I want
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  Speaker 3: to say it was maybe seven or eight years after
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  Speaker 3: that I was sitting across from her in a writing
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  Speaker 3: room and I was like, come on, this is my hero.
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  Speaker 3: This is so cool. And she was just even more
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  Speaker 3: than I imagined she would be so kind and generous and encouraging.
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  Speaker 3: And so she's become a friend and a mentor, you know,
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  Speaker 3: from that, And we've written lots of songs through the years,
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  Speaker 3: and a few of them are on this record. And
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  Speaker 3: she was always silently cheerleading. She's like Maya Patty Griffin
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  Speaker 3: Living with Ghosts record, like I want to hear more
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  Speaker 3: of your work tapes, and so I called her. I
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  Speaker 3: was like, Okay, I'm doing it. I'm making the record.
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  Speaker 3: I'm a few songs in. I have the acrobaz on here.
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  Speaker 3: I wonder if you might sing this song with me,
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  Speaker 3: And she was just so generous to do that. And
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: she comes and singing on the line about the fortune Teller,
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: which I think is pretty special because she's just like
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  Speaker 3: this voice of wisdom to so many of us. So, yeah,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: I love Lri so dearly.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, I love your voices blended together
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  Speaker 2: on that song. It's so beautiful.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: And you also collab with Grammy Winners. I'm with her
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: on Gray like Emmy Lou. How did that specific collaboration
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  Speaker 2: come together? And you know, what did their acoustic folk
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  Speaker 2: leaning energy bring to that truck? They had beautiful harmonies
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: they do.
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  Speaker 3: I just love them so much. I've been such a
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  Speaker 3: fan of what they've you know, individually done art artists wise,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: and then the collective of them is pretty magic. And
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  Speaker 3: I've just kind of been like watching and cheering along
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: and I just reached out to them on Instagram. I
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  Speaker 3: sent a message. I was like, hey, I have this song,
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  Speaker 3: and I know that we both, you know, were kind
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  Speaker 3: of bonded by our love for Emmylu Harris and I
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  Speaker 3: wrote the song with my friends Jordan shelle Hart and
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Cat Higgins, and we were sitting around talking about Emmy
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  Speaker 3: Lou and what a beacon of true artistry she is,
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  Speaker 3: and like I got to have tea with Emmy Lou
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  Speaker 3: a few years ago and was just like asking her
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: questions about her path and just so inspired by her
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: definition of art end of success. Like at one point
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  Speaker 3: she just kind of smiled and was like, I've built
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  Speaker 3: everything I've ever wanted. I have a dog rescue in
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  Speaker 3: my backyard and I make music with my friends. And
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: I was like, wow, that's pretty much the north star
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  Speaker 3: to me of like what it means to like really
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  Speaker 3: build a true career in music, and so that's kind
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: of always been in my sphere of things. So we
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: were sitting around talking about that before the right and
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  Speaker 3: just how beautiful she is, and my friend Jordan was like,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: I have this coorus idea about it would be kind
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  Speaker 3: of like about a friendship ending and how you could
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: really wish someone well by hoping that they are as
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: beautiful as Emmylou Harris someday and that hair and I
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: was like, oh my gosh, I love this. So we
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: wrote the rest of that song altogether, and so I
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: had a feeling that the I'm with Her girls would
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: would maybe just hear something in that song, and so
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: I sent it to him and they told me they
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: loved it. And they were on tour at the time,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: running a thousand different directions, but they all made time
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: to find a space to make a vocal and send
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: it to me, and it was every layer I got back,
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  Speaker 3: I would like put it in my logic thing and
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  Speaker 3: just be like, oh my gosh, just sounds so cool.
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  Speaker 3: So Sarah Jerrose and I actually did a Emmylou Harris
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: night with Daniel our friend Daniel Tashin at Brown's Diner.
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  Speaker 3: We sang through the Wrecking Ball record and that was
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: right around the time we were working on this song.
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  Speaker 3: So we kind of smiled, like, I think this is
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: meant to be.
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  Speaker 2: That's awesome. So did you already have the song mostly
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: recorded and you thought I could use some other voices
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  Speaker 2: on it? Is that how that worked out?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? I just something about the heart of the song,
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  Speaker 3: you know, and the mission of it being kind of
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: about a friendship thing and two perspectives, you know, going
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: in different directions. I thought that would be really cool
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: to have another another group of voices on this song
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  Speaker 3: representing that.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it. That's one of my favorite.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Your thanks for saying I love that song too. Yeah.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: So you've spent the last five years touring with legends
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: such as Stevie Nicks, Miranda Lambert, and Ia Twain. After
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: being on those stages, how did it feel to step
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: back into the quiet of your home to create something
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: intimate and then do an intimate tour.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's all part of I think it's like one thing,
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  Speaker 3: you know, inspires and leads to the next, and getting
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: to open up for those people, it's just like it's
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: like getting an education. Like it's my favorite part of
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: the tour of you know, obviously getting to meet new
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: audience members and like, I love the time on stage
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: that I get to spend, but I really love getting
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: to just stand up front of house or wherever and
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: watch these people's shows and like how they create that
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: experience with an audience. And so I've loved picking up
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: different things along the way and it's like, Ooh, I
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: like how she did that. Oh that was That's a
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: really great way to make that person feel really seen
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: and heard in the show. And so I kind of
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: took my favorite moments of that. And this tour was
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: actually completely terrifying, to be honest, I was so nervous
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: to just go out there with my guitar and I
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: missed my band a lot, but I felt like I
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: needed to kind of explore this season of like returning
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  Speaker 3: the self and like really take that on the road
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  Speaker 3: as well, and it turned out to be some of
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  Speaker 3: my favorite shows. Like these audiences were amazing. They just
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: showed up with a lot of heart, and I feel like,
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: especially in music, vulnerability is like a two way street,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: like we kind of give each other permission, and these
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  Speaker 3: crowds were just really willing to like go on that
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: whole emotional journey with me. And it's like we had
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: some songs that we were laughing about or you know,
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: stomping our feet or clapping, and then there's some where
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: they were like literally the kick drop in the room,
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: and then there's some some songs where you know, we
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: just really were feeling things and leaning on each other.
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  Speaker 3: And I think there's something really powerful in music when
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: you look around a room and you're like, wait, someone
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: else has felt the same way I have about this,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: or struggled with this, or like with these some of
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: these songs about people pleasing and like hearing some some
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: people sing these songs along and get emotional with me.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: I was like, all right, this is I'm just glad
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: we're not alone in this. And so it was really
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: cool to have that intimate experience on this tour. It
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: was called the living Room Tour. Brought pieces of my
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: set with me that were literally from my living room,
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: so it's really homie and I loved that the energy
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: that that kind of created in the room. It was
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: very request driven too, is like every show is pretty different.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: I'd get to a part and then I'd be like,
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: all right, what does everybody want to hear? And it
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: was very like conversational and getting to meet people during
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: the show, and I loved it. It was really fun.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. You just did a bunch of shows. You
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: have some more shows and Europe coming up later this
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: year too.
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  Speaker 3: Correct. Yes, I'm so pumped to get back over there.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: I love sharing music on that side of the ocean,
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: and I feel like they're like the land of second verses,
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: like they know all the words. It's awesome. So I
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: can't wait to get back over there. And we're actually
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: about to announce some more tour dates for Canada as
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: well for the rest of the fall, so yeah, it's
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: gonna be there. Was gonna be a fun rest of
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: the year. Yeah, more and more planning to come, so
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I can't wait.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Walk Nashville podcast. Welcome back to Taking a Walk Nashville.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Your third single off the album We could use a
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: little more. It shifts the lens from personal heartbreak to
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: global empathy. In such a polarizing world, how do you
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: protect your own peace while still trying to write songs
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: that act as.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: A safe spaces. Thanks for saying that about the song.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: That really means a lot. I think that, to me
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: is the heart of the mission. Always is, Like, I
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: think that's our job as songwriters and artists is to
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: kind of reflect what's happening in our in the time
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: in which we live, and to figure out how we
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: feel about it. And that I think it's kind of
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: impossible for that to not show up in what we create.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: And so this song, to me was the last one
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: I wrote for this record, and I was just feeling
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: so overwhelmed by the noise in the world. There's so
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: much going on in so much division, and so much
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: like these agendas that try to like polarize our stories
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: into in us and of them. I don't know. My
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: belief is that the love that we're made of is
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: so much bigger than all that, and I felt like
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: I needed to say something about it, and this song
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: was kind of my way of processing that. I think
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: that's the other thing about songs is I don't know,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: for me, it's easier to pick up a guitar and
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: talk about something than it is to just like have
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: a conversation with somebody, and so music's been my safe
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: place for that, and that's always like a motivating thing
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: in why I write songs, and so I think initially
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: the song started just as my own personal processing of
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: it and just like taking in what was going on
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: in the world and going, Okay, what's happening here and
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: how do I feel about it? And what do I
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: believe in? And that kind of helped me find my
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: ground on that, and that became something I really wanted
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: to have on this record as a big anchor. And
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: I'm really really glad we got to celebrate this song
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: with a cool video that kind of showed a bunch
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: of different people believe in the same thing, and we
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: had you know, I reached out to the community of
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: fans that have just been building this with me for
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: so long, and like they've just they really have that
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: feeling when they come to a show or you know,
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: they always like show up exactly as they are and
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: they kind of, you know, have each other's backs in
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: a really beautiful way, and so I wanted to kind
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: of honor that. And they all sent in different posts
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: of lyrics of the song and standing up together in that.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: So that was really cool to witness. They filled my
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: cup in what I think the heart of music.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Is for Yeah, that's very beautiful. So this next question,
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: it's not really something I've asked my guests yet, because
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: you know, I like to focus on the music and
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: the humans who create the music. But I'm a little
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: bit interested to your thoughts since everything you do is
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: very honest and authentic, not manufactured. When you're sitting in
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: your room you're writing and recording a song. Do you
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: get worried now with the process of AI generated music
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: that's taking up space in the industry, deterring attention away
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: from human creators, And what's your thoughts on this when
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: you sit down to write a song now.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: To be honest, when I sit down to write a song,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: I'm never thinking about any of that at all. I'm
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: just thinking about what's on my heart that I want
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: to talk about or say. And it's kind of like
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: in my own emotional processing of it. And so that's
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: never like in my creative field, thankfully. I think it
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: comes more to the front of my mind when I'm
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: scrolling on my phone or seeing what's going on out there,
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: and it's like, how do we continue to make noise?
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: And that matters and impacts people in the scale of
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: how much noise is out there and how much is
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: you know, being created in these crazy new ways right now.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: And it's like, Okay, that's what scares me more, is
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: like how to reach people in the noise I think
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: the creative process. To me, that doesn't scare me. I
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: just I have to believe that the fingerprint of you know,
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: human emotion is something that will always have a place
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: that we'll be hungry for, So that doesn't scare me
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: so much.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful. It's always just about, you know,
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: cutting through so much noise that's out there now, and
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: you've been doing that with your new album. So you
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: grew up in Alberta, Canada, decided to forego college to
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: pursue music, and then went on to organize and perform
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: a thirty two week tour across Canada. Did you organize
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: that whole tour yourself? And what was the turning point
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: where you said, Okay, I'm doing this full time and
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: then I'm going to move to Nashville to keep chasing
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: the stream.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that tour is kind of a big part of
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: that storyline. I mean, honestly, it was my pitch to
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: my parents to go, I really want to do music.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: And my dad was a big believer in the Malcolm
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: Gladwell's ten thousand hour theory, and so I totally used
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: that against him in my pitch in my kitchen table
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: PowerPoint and was like, listen, if I'm going to get
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: my ten thousand hours, I don't think I can do
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: it in a classroom money to get out there, and
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: so he was like, all right, well, if you put
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: this together and do it, then then all right. So
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: I just I went. I literally found sponsors and invited
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: people to be a part of it, and we'd like
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: recognize kids at each of the school that we were
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: visiting who were like making a difference in the hallways
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: and so it was like so fun to get to
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: witness all these amazing kids doing really cool things and
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: I had the best time. So that was that was
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: my get out of applying for college application. And then
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: when that tour wrapped up, that to me was like
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: a set up. That was like a moment of going, Okay,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: I think I can do this, Like I feel capable
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: of at least giving it this a shot. And I
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: really wanted to invest the next you know, chunk of
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: my ten thousand hour theory into being in the Nashville
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: community and learning about writing and really working on the
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: craft of that and finding my own voice in that
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: kind of tapestry of it. So that was my next
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: focus and that's when my dad helped me make the
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: drive here. So yeah, it all kind of can you know,
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: it's like, Okay, I'm not going to college. I'm doing
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: the school tour, pulled that off. We spent thirty two
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: weeks in the motorhome. Now I want to drive to
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Nashville and see what that's all about. And I remember, like,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: you know, on that road trip, just being like, I
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: really hope this works out because I don't want to
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: drive forty seven hours all the way back home and
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: I'm still here. So I'm having fun and grateful to
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: do the thing I love.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a lot of stops during that tour too.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Did you have any challenges along? Oh?
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: Always yes. So we had several motor home breakdowns, one
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: on the side of a mountain with no service, which
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: was particularly fun. And yeah, always always interesting little metaphors
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: in that too. It's like, wait, is there a message
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: in this? What am I trying? What am I got
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: to learn from all this? But it was a lot
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: of learning on that tour. I'd never done any you know,
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: road experience like that. So we got to the first
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: few schools and we were like, wait, how do we
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: do this? And we we like color coded all our
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: gear and had like the fifth graders usually come help us,
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: like loading in. So we learned a lot about how
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: to streamline everything. Yeah, it was a good it was.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: It was a college education in its own right for sure. Yeah.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: I mean that's part of it. It's not a tour unless.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Unless there's a disaster. Yeah, yeah, that's right. It's really
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: touring is really just it's it's ninety percent problem solving
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: and ten percent music. Yeah, exactly.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: That's amazing. Your debut album, The Lemonade Stand that led
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: you to being named the first female artist and media
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: based Canada history to earn two number one singles. What
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: was it like when you achieved those accolades.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, it was such an honor. I mean, it's so
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: cool that people heard the music, and like the radio
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: is a part of that story of bringing people into
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: the community, and those are the people who are still
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: getting tickets to shows and like it just really was
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: so cool to watch that grow and be like, you know,
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: I remember we were opening for Dirk Spentley at the time,
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: and we'd go out and all this. It would be
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: like one show and then we'd you know, we kept
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: going and a few more along and it was like
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: more people were singing you know, somebody's daughter at the time.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: I was like, they know it, like they know this song,
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: and so it was so exciting to see that grow
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: in real time. And it's yeah, really cool to achieve
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: that stuff. For sure. It's got to be.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: So special when you go back to Canada playing and
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: you know, one of those towns where you did your
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: first thirty two week tour and going back to play
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: a festival, bigger stage, that's got to be awesome.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: It is awesome. It's all. It's a lot of full circles.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: It's just like remembering that younger version of yourself that
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: like dreamed of doing what I'm doing now, and it's like,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: wait a second, she'd be freaking out. Yeah, there's still
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: like still so much ahead that I'm I think that's
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: maybe the I guess the challenge in chasing a dream
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: of any kind is it's like kind of never enough.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: You're it's always growing, you know, it's always like, Okay,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: what's next, and how do I work up to touring
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: in a bus or how do I get the next
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: album or you know, there's like always those things you're
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: trying to attain. But then at the same time, it's
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: like glancing back to the younger version of yourself that
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: like would have just been freaking out at what you've
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: already come to and I think I've been trying to
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: soak that in more these days in journal about it,
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: and it is pretty surreal to remember the kid who
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: was touring high schools. It's like, we're doing great, keep going.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: It's a constant journey for sure. You also released the
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: Train Track Work tape. This was a collection of songs
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: written and recorded while traveling across Canada by train and
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: support of local food banks.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: What inspired that project, Oh, the momentum and the people
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: showing up at these shows and Minus forty weather that
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: were just like bringing donations to their you know, local
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: food banks.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: We'd show up. This train was like, I mean, we're
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: basically like the Polar Express. It was decked out in
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: Christmas lights and each show up in the town and
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: one of the box cars of the train was the
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: stage and so the door would fold down and there
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: was you know, all the music would start and the
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: fog machine and it was just like these kids like
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: looking at this train like wow, you know. So it
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: was so fun to be to witness communities coming together
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: like that, and a lot of communities that don't get
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: live music. They're in really remote areas along the railroad track,
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: and so that was really amazing to me to witness
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: the resiliency of people just showing up in those conditions,
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: and it just inspired me greatly, and I'd get you know,
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: we'd do sometimes seven or eight of those shows a
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: railroad stops a day, and so between those, you know,
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: you'd take off your layers of all the winter gear
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: and have a few hours to kill, and I was
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: just like writing little pieces of songs. And at one
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: point we decided to steal all the gear from the
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: stage car and brought it to the caboose and set
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: up a little little makeshift studio. And I love that
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: you can, like you can hear the train in the record,
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: you like the rumble of the end of the engine
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: and the tracks as you're going by. There was no
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: way to avoid the sound of it kind of sneaking in.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: And I still smile thinking about that record. For sure.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. That's so special. I had to make the
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: cold weather more bearable absolutely music to people, and that's
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: pretty amazing.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I really loved that adventure.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. Well, to Neil, my last question for you
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: today we're on taking a walk Nashville. Do you have
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: a favorite place in Nashville you like to take a walk.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: Oh gosh, honestly, there's so many places. I definitely walk
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: every morning, kind of just around my house in my neighborhood,
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: and I love that. But Radner Lake is one of
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: my favorites to escape to for sure. And mckaybe around
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: the golf course is awesome too, And yeah, lots of
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: good spots around to just get outside. I love how
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: it still feels like it's tropical here. I know we
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: were just talking about playing on this train in Canada,
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: but where Europe was cold, I'm not gonna lie like
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: for like three quarters of the year here to just
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: get to walk out in a sweatshirt and like enjoy
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: the sound of the birds. And there's so many trees
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: here too. It's just always so green. I love that. So, yeah,
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: lots of good spots. Where's your favorite walking spot?
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: I am in the Bellevue area, so I live pretty
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: close to Percy warn that's so net Warner Park, So
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: love that. Love hiking over there. Yeah, my husband and
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: I are there all the time.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: That's awesome. We look good.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: But yeah, definitely a lot more humidity here than Yeanada.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: I know. At first, I was like, wait, does this
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: mean we actually take a walk while we're doing this podcast?
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: Everyone only says like that'd be fun. I was ready
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: to show up for my yoga fans today.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: I love that well to Neil, thank you so much
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: for being on Taking a Walk Nashville today, and I
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: hope everyone will listen to your latest album.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you so much for having me. It's
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: been a joy to chat with you.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listen listening to Take in a Walk Nashville
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: with Sarah Harrelson. Please check out our other shows produced
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: by Buzznight Media Productions, Comedy Save Me and Music Saved
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman, and Taken a Walk hosted
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: by Yours Truly Buzznight. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Spotify and are part of the iHeart podcast network