Tenille Townes' 10th Annual 'Big Hearts For Big Kids' Benefit Concert Raises $415,000
By: Kaitlin Milligan Sep. 16, 2019
Emerging singer, songwriter and performer Tenille Townes raised over $415,000 for the Sunrise House-a local youth shelter in her hometown of Grande Prairie, Alberta Canada-this past Saturday at her 10th annual Big Hearts For Big Kids benefit concert. Held at Grande Prairie's Tara Centre, the event featured a songwriter round with Adam Hambrick, Gordie Sampson and Striking Matches, a live and silent auction and a special headline performance from Townes. In the ten years since Townes started Big Hearts For Big Kids, the event has raised over $1.9 million.
Of the event, Townes shares, "It has shaped my life, watching Big Hearts For Big Kids grow through all these years, and this weekend had a special fire in the room. I still can't believe how much was raised in one night. Seeing my community come together, and wrap their arms around the Sunrise House like that, makes me believe anything is possible. Because of their support, so many kids in the last ten years, received the love and guidance they needed to keep putting one foot in front of the other to the rest of their story."
The benefit concert adds to a breakout year for Townes, who recently won four awards at the 2019 Canadian Country Music Awards: Female Artist of the Year, Single of the Year ("Somebody's Daughter"), Anthem Entertainment Songwriter of the Year and Video of the Year ("Somebody's Daughter"). Winning all four of her nominated categories, Townes lead the night with the most awards received.
"Somebody's Daughter" is the lead single from Townes' forthcoming full-length debut album, which was produced by Jay Joyce, and is set for release via Columbia Nashville. In advance of the release, Townes has debuted three additional album tracks: "Jersey On The Wall," "White Horse," "I Kept The Roses." Of Townes, Billboard praises, "...knack for writing story songs that make the listener stop and think," while Music Row declares, "Tenille Townes is the future. Get on board now."
Adding to her breakthrough year, Townes recently participated in Cracker Barrel's "Five Decades, One Voice" campaign-a project created to highlight the importance of women in country music by celebrating legendary female artists and those following in their footsteps. For the project, Townes was personally selected by Brandi Carlile to collaborate on new versions of two songs-Townes' "Somebody's Daughter" and Carlile's "Fulton County Jane Doe."
In support of the new music, Townes will join Miranda Lambert on her "Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour" this fall and will perform select dates with Maren Morris in November. See below for complete tour details.
Already receiving widespread attention, Townes has been named iHeartCountry's "On The Verge" artist and has been included in Amazon Music's "2019 Artists To Watch," CMT's "Next Women of Country," iHeart Radio's "Artists To Watch in 2019," "The Bobby Bones Show's" "Class of 2019," CMT's "Listen Up" and the inaugural class of "Opry NextStage."
TENILLE TOWNES CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
September 24-Nashville, TN-Country Fights Cancer Benefit Concert
September 26-Baltimore, MD-Royal Farms Arena*
September 27-Charleston, WV-Charleston Coliseum*
September 28-Columbus, OH-Nationwide Arena*
October 3-Lafayette, LA-CAJUNDOME*
October 4-New Orleans, LA-Smoothie King Center*
October 5-Bossier City, LA-CenturyLink Center*
October 10-Champaign, IL-State Farm Center*
October 11-Lincoln, NE-Pinnacle Bank Arena*
October 12-Sioux Falls, SD-Denny Sanford PREMIER Center*
October 20-The Hauge, NL-PAARD*
October 21-Bristol, UK-Thekla Bristol†
October 22-Oxford, UK-O2 Academy†
October 23-London, UK-Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen
October 27-Liverpool, UK-Arts Club Loft†
October 28-Glasgow, UK-Stereo†
November 7-Charlottesville, VA-John Paul Jones Arena*
November 8-Columbia, SC-Colonial Life Arena*
November 9-Orlando, FL-Amway Center*
November 15-Milwaukee, WI- Eagles Ballroom‡
November 16-Minneapolis, MN-The Armory‡
November 17-Madison, WI-The Sett
*with Miranda Lambert
†with Striking Matches
‡with Maren Morris
Photo credit: Suzanne Sagmeister
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