The Long Road Sit Down with Tenille Arts
Tenille Arts has become a regular visitor to the United Kingdom, playing venues up and down the country but over the August Bank Holiday weekend she made her The Long Road Festival debut with a rocking full band set on the main stage. Since we last spoke with Tenille in January (read HERE) before a pair of truly special performances in London at Omeara and at The Camden Club as part of Song Suffragettes, she has shared some new songs and a wonderful reworking of “Jealous of Myself” which features LeAnn Rimes. Prior to the festival, Tenille embarked on a co-headline tour with Caylee Hammack, with support from Alyssa Bonagura to play shows in Glasgow, Manchester and at Lafayette in London, where she spent some time with Jamie for a good old catch up.
It's so good to see you, how are doing?
“Not too bad, glad I made it over here. I flew in yesterday morning straight to Glasgow and had a show last night so that was interesting but we made it flying from Nashville to Atlanta, Atlanta to Amsterdam and there to Glasgow so a little bit of a change.”
How was the show up in Glasgow?
“It was so great. Oh my gosh, they had they little chant that they did last time and last night they did it again so, it was really fun.”
I spoke with Caylee earlier and she was saying how it feels really nice to be doing a tour with other girls and you have Alyssa opening up for you both too so it must feel cool to just have girl time on the road for a change.
“It is fun and it’s unusual, especially travelling in the US and performing where it’s very rare that you have all women on a show so yeah it’s been fun.”
As well as these shows, you’re here for The long Road Festival, which is going to be awesome, playing on the main stage up there. Last time when you played Omeara, it was just you and your guitar but I’m guessing that you have some friends playing on stage with you this time?
“I do, yes, I have my drummer and my guitar player, then I’m playing electric, acoustic and keys.”
What have you heard about The Long Road as a festival?
“I’ve just heard so many amazing things about it. I have a good friend, Jordan Harvey who is also playing too, I’ve just heard so many amazing things, everybody says it’s a great time and a lot of variety in the music with different genres so I think it’s going to be awesome.”
Are you someone that likes to walk around and see everything that is going on at festivals?
“Absolutely and especially here. At a lot of the US festivals, you are kind of seeing the same sort of stuff but I think here, I want to just walk around and just see what it looks like and just immerse myself in that experience for the day.”
It's so good to see you, how are doing?
“Not too bad, glad I made it over here. I flew in yesterday morning straight to Glasgow and had a show last night so that was interesting but we made it flying from Nashville to Atlanta, Atlanta to Amsterdam and there to Glasgow so a little bit of a change.”
How was the show up in Glasgow?
“It was so great. Oh my gosh, they had they little chant that they did last time and last night they did it again so, it was really fun.”
I spoke with Caylee earlier and she was saying how it feels really nice to be doing a tour with other girls and you have Alyssa opening up for you both too so it must feel cool to just have girl time on the road for a change.
“It is fun and it’s unusual, especially travelling in the US and performing where it’s very rare that you have all women on a show so yeah it’s been fun.”
As well as these shows, you’re here for The long Road Festival, which is going to be awesome, playing on the main stage up there. Last time when you played Omeara, it was just you and your guitar but I’m guessing that you have some friends playing on stage with you this time?
“I do, yes, I have my drummer and my guitar player, then I’m playing electric, acoustic and keys.”
What have you heard about The Long Road as a festival?
“I’ve just heard so many amazing things about it. I have a good friend, Jordan Harvey who is also playing too, I’ve just heard so many amazing things, everybody says it’s a great time and a lot of variety in the music with different genres so I think it’s going to be awesome.”
Are you someone that likes to walk around and see everything that is going on at festivals?
“Absolutely and especially here. At a lot of the US festivals, you are kind of seeing the same sort of stuff but I think here, I want to just walk around and just see what it looks like and just immerse myself in that experience for the day.”
Since you last came to see us at the start of the year, you’ve been giving us some new music and you’ve done a little rework of a track where LeAnn Rimes hopped on. When you re-release a song and get an artist of that calibre putting their vocals to it, it does give it more reach but also I guess the other important thing about it is giving it a second opportunity to get it’s moment really.
“It does and for me, the song with LeAnn is a song that I absolutely love singing by myself but she heard it and wanted to put her vocals on it as well and I’m just so grateful. It really is a full circle moment for me because I grew up singing her music and the fact that she wanted to be a part of my music was just so cool. I think back to little ten year old me, singing “Blue” and if I told her that I think she would be really excited and happy with that full circle moment happening. It just kind of happened, we knew it was a powerful song and knew it was a song that LeAnn might like so, it wasn’t really we need you on this song type of thing, it was more we want you to listen to this song and if you loved it we would love to have your vocals on it. We weren’t pressing really hard on it, it was just this really organic thing that happened where she just loved the song and it did give it a second life, which is kind of the beauty of it.”
Whilst you have been sharing some new music, the last extended release was back in 2021 so are we building up towards a next bigger chapter that may be on the horizon?
“I have finished writing an entire album, it is recorded and it is ready to go I am working on the visual side of everything at this point and it is some of my favourite work that I have ever done. I am trying out some new songs so you will hear a song called “Wonder Woman” which is hopefully going to be the next release leading up to the next record so, we’re just trying out the new music for people. I wanted it to be out a little bit earlier and then the more I thought about it, I kind of wanted to take my time to make sure all of the visuals are right, have the photos done and all the things to make it really very cohesive. For the past few records, it has sort of come together a little bit last minute and I really just wanted to take my time with this record, I was way more involved in the production, the vocals and all of that on this record so I wanted to take my time and make sure that everything is great so I can just be really proud of it when I release it.”
You said you have been more involved in the production side of things with the new record, has that been something that you had always wanted to expand towards since you have been putting records out?
“I definitely don’t produce anything but as far as ideas, being in the studio and actually being present for a lot of that stuff because in the past, I’ve been on the road so much that I haven’t been able to be in the room when the background vocals are being recorded or when the guitar solos are being recorded. It’s things like that so I have just been more involved with all of it and been very particular about things like I’ve done a ton of my own background vocals on this record, which is something that I haven’t really done before. I love the music so, so much that I just want it to come out the way that I wanted it to.”
“It does and for me, the song with LeAnn is a song that I absolutely love singing by myself but she heard it and wanted to put her vocals on it as well and I’m just so grateful. It really is a full circle moment for me because I grew up singing her music and the fact that she wanted to be a part of my music was just so cool. I think back to little ten year old me, singing “Blue” and if I told her that I think she would be really excited and happy with that full circle moment happening. It just kind of happened, we knew it was a powerful song and knew it was a song that LeAnn might like so, it wasn’t really we need you on this song type of thing, it was more we want you to listen to this song and if you loved it we would love to have your vocals on it. We weren’t pressing really hard on it, it was just this really organic thing that happened where she just loved the song and it did give it a second life, which is kind of the beauty of it.”
Whilst you have been sharing some new music, the last extended release was back in 2021 so are we building up towards a next bigger chapter that may be on the horizon?
“I have finished writing an entire album, it is recorded and it is ready to go I am working on the visual side of everything at this point and it is some of my favourite work that I have ever done. I am trying out some new songs so you will hear a song called “Wonder Woman” which is hopefully going to be the next release leading up to the next record so, we’re just trying out the new music for people. I wanted it to be out a little bit earlier and then the more I thought about it, I kind of wanted to take my time to make sure all of the visuals are right, have the photos done and all the things to make it really very cohesive. For the past few records, it has sort of come together a little bit last minute and I really just wanted to take my time with this record, I was way more involved in the production, the vocals and all of that on this record so I wanted to take my time and make sure that everything is great so I can just be really proud of it when I release it.”
You said you have been more involved in the production side of things with the new record, has that been something that you had always wanted to expand towards since you have been putting records out?
“I definitely don’t produce anything but as far as ideas, being in the studio and actually being present for a lot of that stuff because in the past, I’ve been on the road so much that I haven’t been able to be in the room when the background vocals are being recorded or when the guitar solos are being recorded. It’s things like that so I have just been more involved with all of it and been very particular about things like I’ve done a ton of my own background vocals on this record, which is something that I haven’t really done before. I love the music so, so much that I just want it to come out the way that I wanted it to.”
It wouldn’t be right to catch up with you in London without talking about your favourite place and I know you have just been to that wonderful restaurant which is very close to where we are here. Did you literally fly down from Glasgow, hop on a train here and say right, I don’t know what I’m meant to be doing now but this is where I’m going and we need to work around it?
“Yes, Dishoom is one of my favourite places to go and I’ve actually been to this location round here quite few times so it was obviously high on my list of things to do here. I am a huge foodie, I love going to new places and all that so, me and the boys in my band are always texting each other where we want to go meaning our day off will probably be filled with food. I like to change it up, I’m vegetarian so there are a lot of great options there. I’ve seen a lot of vegetarian places around here which is different because there is not a lot of vegetarian dishes in Nashville where it is all bar-b-que.”
So, what’s next for you after the tour and festival? Straight back home and on the road or any time to chill or be a tourist?
“A bunch of people in my band are staying here and touring for a little bit because I am actually not playing shows for the next week after this trip and going home to Canada to see my family, see my little nephews and hang out for a little bit, then I’ll be back in Nashville and be right back at it. Things will be pretty busy so it’s trying to find time to film the content and everything that we need for the album because I’m hopeful that we can get the album out in January or February. It’s planning all of that, looking at album release parties and that kind of stuff is what the later half of the year is going to be for me.”
Then hopefully you will keep coming to see us over here too.
“Absolutely, I love it over here!”
A love that is a mixture of the fans and the food then.
“Oh yeah but the fans are hard to beat, I’m telling you. It’s my favourite place to play, for real.”
The latest track “Jealous of Myself” featuring LeAnn Rimes from Tenille Arts is out now and available HERE. You can also keep up to date with what Tenille is up to through her socials on TWITTER INSTAGRAM TIKTOK and FACEBOOK to get all the latest news on her upcoming tour dates and future releases.
The Long Road Festival will return in 2024 to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire over the weekend of 23rd to 25th August where the initial release of limited early bird tickets have already SOLD OUT. Further tickets will be available in the future on their WEBSITE which you can be the first to know when by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
“Yes, Dishoom is one of my favourite places to go and I’ve actually been to this location round here quite few times so it was obviously high on my list of things to do here. I am a huge foodie, I love going to new places and all that so, me and the boys in my band are always texting each other where we want to go meaning our day off will probably be filled with food. I like to change it up, I’m vegetarian so there are a lot of great options there. I’ve seen a lot of vegetarian places around here which is different because there is not a lot of vegetarian dishes in Nashville where it is all bar-b-que.”
So, what’s next for you after the tour and festival? Straight back home and on the road or any time to chill or be a tourist?
“A bunch of people in my band are staying here and touring for a little bit because I am actually not playing shows for the next week after this trip and going home to Canada to see my family, see my little nephews and hang out for a little bit, then I’ll be back in Nashville and be right back at it. Things will be pretty busy so it’s trying to find time to film the content and everything that we need for the album because I’m hopeful that we can get the album out in January or February. It’s planning all of that, looking at album release parties and that kind of stuff is what the later half of the year is going to be for me.”
Then hopefully you will keep coming to see us over here too.
“Absolutely, I love it over here!”
A love that is a mixture of the fans and the food then.
“Oh yeah but the fans are hard to beat, I’m telling you. It’s my favourite place to play, for real.”
The latest track “Jealous of Myself” featuring LeAnn Rimes from Tenille Arts is out now and available HERE. You can also keep up to date with what Tenille is up to through her socials on TWITTER INSTAGRAM TIKTOK and FACEBOOK to get all the latest news on her upcoming tour dates and future releases.
The Long Road Festival will return in 2024 to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire over the weekend of 23rd to 25th August where the initial release of limited early bird tickets have already SOLD OUT. Further tickets will be available in the future on their WEBSITE which you can be the first to know when by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
