19 minutes | Monday, 15 January 2024
'The CountryLine Songwriter Series', is where you'll hear from some of the most successful artists and songwriters working in Nashville today. Country music is all about storytelling and this is where you'll discover the stories from the people themselves of how they managed to find their way into such a competitive industry and rise to the top. What motivates and inspires them and what they've learnt along the way.
A native of Nashville, Mitchell Tenpenny grew up in a city and home surrounded by music. His grandmother was Donna Hilley, a president of Sony/ATV Publishing, and through her, he had brushes with such Music City heavyweights as Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman. Inspired by their writing, he decided to pursue country music as a vocation. Picking up the guitar at the age of 13, Tenpenny learned how to play and write. After graduating with a music business degree from Middle Tennessee State University, he set out on his professional career. In April 2015, his debut, “Black Crow”, was released and featured cameos from the SteelDrivers, Ace Frehley and Brian "Head" Welch.
As he worked on establishing himself as a performer, Tenpenny gained attention as a songwriter in 2016. He co-wrote Granger Smith's Billboard Country Airplay Top Ten hit "If the Boot Fits", along with Jon Langston's single "All Eyes on Us”.
Tenpenny signed with Riser House Entertainment in 2017, releasing "Alcohol You Later", in April before the EP "Linden Ave", arrived in July. Both the single and EP showed him following a more soulful direction, one that was reminiscent of the country-R&B of Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett. His 2018 single "Drunk Me”, then wound peaking at two on the Country Airplay chart -- and set up the December release of Tenpenny's album, “Telling All My Secrets”, which debuted at number five on the Top Country Albums chart and even cracked the Billboard 200.
He issued the seasonal EP "Neon Christmas", in 2020. "Bucket List", then appeared in early 2021, the first single pulled from "Midtown Diaries", a mini-LP that arrived in September. Just a month later, he released his third album and first full-length Christmas set, “Naughty List”. Tenpenny then got harder and louder on “This Is the Heavy”, an album delivered in September 2022.
In March of 2023 he performed at the C2C festival and chatted with Stuart Banford in Dublin.