LISTEN: Tenille Townes’ Playlist Spotlights Her Tour Bosses + More Country Icons
Rising star Tenille Townes' playlist includes a wide variety of subjects, eras and musical styles, but all her favorite tunes have one thing in common: They make her feel something.
For example, the singer explains that she included Ed Sheeran's "Castle on the Hill" on the playlist she curated for The Boot because the song helps her get ready to perform. "I love how this song always makes me feel happy," Townes says. "It's reminiscent in a really cool way, and when the chorus comes in, it feels like there isn't anything in the world you can't do. We love listening to this song in the dressing room before going onstage!"
However, Townes' collection of favorite tracks includes much more than pump-up anthems. The list features songs that make her cry, too, such as Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me." Townes admits that song in particular "makes me weepy every time I hear it."
"It takes me back to my childhood house, to being that little kid, and it makes me feel okay about getting lost in the process of growing up sometimes," she recalls, adding, "I look up to Miranda and her art so much."
Townes got to learn from the superstar in person in 2018, when she joined Lambert and Little Big Town's co-headlining Bandwagon Tour. She'll be joining Lambert on the road a second time in the fall of 2019, for the Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour.
In fact, Lambert isn't the only one of her tour bosses that Townes admires enough to include on her playlist. She also added "I Hold On" by Dierks Bentley, for whom she's an opening act on the 2019 Burning Man Tour. As a tourmate, Townes has a front-row seat to watch Bentley perform the song live, and can testify firsthand to how powerfully it affects a crowd.
"I am honored to be opening for Dierks Bentley right now, and I have so much fun singing along to his show every night. This one is my favorite," Townes says of "I Hold On." "When this song comes on, you can feel how honest this story is, and when the whole crowd sings "I hold on" in the breakdown chorus, it gets me. It's such a beautiful sound to hear everybody, look around and feel that we're all more alike that we think we are."
To listen to these songs and many more, press play below to listen to Townes' playlist on Spotify.
LISTEN: Tenille Townes' Playlist
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