Exclusive Interview: Tenille Townes Captures the Spirit of Her Adventure on ‘Train Track Worktapes’

Tenille Townes continues to showcase her empathy through music with the Train Track Worktapes.

Videos by American Songwriter

In December 2022, the Canadian born singer hopped on the CP Holiday Train for a 15-day trek that resulted in a five-song EP recorded on the train. Along the journey from Montreal to Calgary, Townes and her band played a whopping 65 shows over the course of two weeks, crossing through communities that Townes says aren’t often exposed to live music.

When the “Somebody’s Daughter” singer was pitched the idea for the tour, it sparked her curiosity about being able to “capture the experience in the form of songs.”

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“The train would literally roll up to these middle-of-nowhere towns, the doors would fold open, we’d play a little show for 30 minutes, doors would fold up, and we would continue and bring the music to the next town,” she describes to American Songwriter.

The band turned common items like suitcases, paper plates, and teacups into instruments. They even used boxed wine to cover the air vents as to not disturb the sound while recording. “It was so amazing to feel this community spirit of people gathering around the heart of music everywhere that we went,” she continues. “I felt so inspired.”

Album courtesy of Sony Music Nashville

Townes says the stripped-down, “raw storyteller” EP “captures the spirit” of being on the open road that inspired her songwriting, as reflected in the four original songs and one cover that she recorded—”Home to Me,” “Pieces of My Heart,” “Coming Together,” “Wheels” and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s classic “Landslide.”

“I wrote a bunch of songs faster than usually I ever write. We actually just recorded them while we were rolling down the road on this train,” she recalls. “This whole project embodies the spirit of traveling and my love for that, and for the connection with the people, the smiling faces that we were seeing every day.”

In order to attend the free show, patrons brought donations for the local food banks in each town the train stopped in. The 2022 train program raised more than $1 million Canadian dollars and 121,000 pounds of food.

[RELATED: Behind The Song: “Girl Who Didn’t Care” by Tenille Townes]

Train Track Worktapes is due out on Friday, April 21. Watch as Townes talks about her train experience in the video below.

Photo by Robert Chavers/ Sony Music Nashville