Review: Tenille Townes, The Lemonade Stand

Don’t let the dazzling sonic sheen of The Lemonade Stand fool you into thinking that the full-length debut from Alberta-reared, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Tenille Townes is just another boardroom-hatched exercise in strategic country crossover. Sure, there’s crossover potential (see Holding Out for the One), and the dozen songs here, all co-written by Townes, gleam with fancy production values. Plus, girl can sing.

But dig in and themes of exceptional gravitas emerge. There’s an uncommonly level-headed breakup song (I Kept the Roses), a compassionate glance into the eyes of homelessness (Somebody’s Daughter), and an almost transformative reflection on what matters in this life (The Most Beautiful Things). Really, when was the last time a song chorus prompted existential rumination? All that alone would be enough to recommend The Lemonade Stand but then there is the candlelit, acoustic, and disarmingly lovely When I Meet My Maker. Insanely poignant— and notably written by Townes alone — the song summons reverence with such startling force that even atheists will be dumbstruck. If Townes never wrote another song, she could lay down her guitar with pride.

The Lemonade Stand is released June 26, 2020.
Listen to it here.

Music video by Tenille Townes performing When I Meet My Maker