Tenille Arts Showcases Array Of Finest Country Songwriting During MusicRow Visit

Tenille Arts. Photo: Haley Crow/MusicRow

Two Tenille’s breaking on country radio at once? Not to be confused: there’s Tenille Townes and the “I Hate This” Reviver Records charmer Tenille Arts.

“I was named after Captain & Tennille, most people probably haven’t really heard that name since,” Arts told MusicRow during a recent visit. “And Arts is my real last name. When my parents named me, they gave me two middle names for other options just in case…so my whole name’s Tenille Jade Dakota Arts.”

Nearly three years to the day the Weyburn, Saskatchewan native’s Visa cleared, Arts took time to reflect on her journey to Music City with MusicRow. “Everyone I really wanted to work with was in Nashville. So being able to move here was a big deal.”

During one writing trip, Adam Wheeler introduced Arts to who would become her other co-producer, Matt Rovey, in addition to music publisher Hal Oven. “That was a really good writing session,” recalled Arts. “He just said, ‘Hold up, I’ve gotta bring some other people in the room.’”

Oven eventually created an indie label to release 17 of Arts’ songs over two projects. Those releases earned consecutive Album of the Year at the Saskatchewan Country Music Association Awards in addition to Arts’ receipt of two nominations at the country’s larger CCMA Awards.

Arts wrote her striking single “I Hate This,” with Wheeler, about a friend’s relationship, but came to find a deeper meaning in her debut title a month ago. “My boyfriend and I were together since I was 15,” shared Arts. “We did the long distance thing and just broke up. Now I relate to this song a whole lot more.”

For her MusicRow performance, Arts brought out “Call You Names,” a fresh, reflective track written with a country lyrical twist about an angsty mother-daughter relationship during teenage years that matures to now constant phone calls. Arts surprised her mother, who drove 10 hours to see her daughter open for Reba McEntire in Minnesota.

“Normally I send her all the songs I write right away, but I wanted to play this one for her in person,” recalled Arts. “It was just like waterworks. I don’t know how I got through that. I guess it was kinda my way of saying sorry for all those teenage years.”

Reviver Records signed Arts after the viewing party for an episode of The Bachelor she appeared on, performing “Moment of Weakness.”

“There have been so many new doors opening after signing with Reviver Records,” said Arts. “We just released ‘Mad Crazy Love’ as my first single in Canada. So we’ve got two singles going on right now.” “I Hate This” was a Top 6 debut on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart three weeks ago and has a brand new music video.

Arts has been writing since her last album’s release for a Reviver Records debut, expected by mid 2019.

Pictured (L-R): Tenille Arts, MusicRow Publisher/Owner Sherod Robertson. Photo: Haley Crow/MusicRow

Pictured (L-R): Lorie Hollabaugh, Eric T. Parker, Sarah Skates, Tenille Arts, Sherod Robertson, Alex Kobrick, Haley Crow. Photo: MusicRow