Matthew Berinato
It’s hard to believe Tenille Townes’ new album The Lemonade Stand is her debut LP.
The 26-year-old singer-songwriter’s singular voice has become a recognizable and relatable staple on radio and the touring circuit since moving to Nashville from Canada in 2013. With an old soul and a wise-beyond-her-years writing style, Townes has captured fans’ hearts with poignant hits like “Jersey on the Wall (I’m Just Asking),” which finds the singer questioning her faith after a small-town tragedy, and “Somebody’s Daughter,” an empathetic look at a stranger based on a real-life experience.
Now Townes is putting those songs and 10 others on full display with The Lemonade Stand.
“These are songs I've been writing and working on for a while,” she says. “I had the time of my life writing and working with people who very much cared about the messages that I wanted to say and the things I stand for. Being able to pick from that really wide range of songs to go into the studio with was a lot of fun.”
The album takes its name from a line in “Somebody’s Daughter,” but for Townes, it has greater meaning—symbolizing a metaphorical gathering place where anything is possible.
“I want it to be this place where people can come and be reminded of the kid that they used to be: hanging out of the lemonade stand, not afraid to recognize the beautiful things around them, and show up exactly as they are. I want them to be reminded of their dreams.”
For Townes, working on the album with mega-producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Miranda Lambert) was a dream come true in itself.
“The first time I met him I was just losing my mind. I was like, ‘Tell me every story about Patty Griffin,” she says. “Within one minute of arriving, I had my guitar out. We really built these songs from the ground up.”
The Lemonade Stand is flush with Townes’ signature message songs—deep and thoughtful ballads that tug at the heartstrings with evocative lyrics and haunting melodies. Nowhere is her message more powerful than in the tear-jerking “When I Meet My Maker.” Set to a solemn guitar, its relatable lyrics weave the grief of a loss with the optimism of an afterlife to come.
“I wrote that song shortly after losing my great-grandmother who I was very close with. She was the glue to our family, and she’d come to all my shows rain or shine,” she says. “I was sitting in my little rental in Nashville missing her and missing home and it brought a lot of healing on its way through. It was sort of an out-of-body experience writing that song.”
Matthew Berinato
Recording the song was just as spiritual. Joyce, who produces out of his studio—a converted church in East Nashville—had Townes perform the song in a very special spot.
“I walked into the studio wearing her earrings,” Townes says. “Jay had moved everything up to the altar of the church and we just sat around with a couple guitars and ran the song to see what would happen. That first pass is exactly what’s on the album.”
The Lemonade Stand also showcases Townes’ free-spirited side, with clap-along up-tempos perfect for a top-down summer drive or, eventually, an arena show. Album opener “Holding Out for the One” kicks things off with an infectious chorus punctuated with the kind of “hey!” that will have audiences at live shows chanting along from start to finish. And “Come As You Are,” a pep talk of a bop about letting go of self-doubt is an all-inclusive anthem.
“It’s really fun for me to imagine what it would feel like to play these songs live on a big stage someday. What kind of elevated emotions can we bring people together through? And still with a message that I believe in—like a song about showing up exactly how you are to a party and how fun that would be. It was cool to be able to dive into those happier places,” she says.
“The emotional songs are such anchors to me but turning up music in my little apartment and just dancing around with my friends is my favorite thing. I hope people feel inclined to do that when they listen to this album.”