Tenille Townes – The Acrobat
Today, acclaimed singer-songwriter Tenille Townes announced her new album The Acrobat, due out April 10, 2026.
Alongside the announcement, Townes has released an introspective and soulbearing new single “The Acrobat” featuring renowned singer-songwriter Lori McKenna.
Tenille’s most stripped back and honest body of work to date, The Acrobat was a labor of love, completely recorded, produced and mixed by Townes’, who also played every instrument on the record. This raw and heartbreakingly intimate album tells the story of reclaiming the pieces of yourself lost by pleasing others and the freedom that comes with vulnerability and a perspective on the preciousness of time. The sparse production places an emphasis on Tenille’s beautiful storytelling ability and powerhouse vocals, creating a resonance that leaves the listener feeling like they’re in the room with the artist.
As Tenille steps out onto her own, she has already been met with incredible support from fans. Townes is releasing the album independently and put up a fans only pre-sale on social media where she has already sold over 1,000 vinyl copies of the record, prior to announcing the release date, album name or any of the tracks beyond “enabling”.
“The Acrobat” feat. Lori McKenna is the second single off the album, an emotional and empowering anthem about trusting yourself and learning that you don’t have to change yourself to be worthy of love.
Speaking on “The Acrobat,” Tenille Townes shares, “‘The Acrobat’ is about the slow erosion that comes from trying to become what someone else needs, constantly balancing, bending, and reshaping yourself. The quiet whisper to the character in this song that I hope people hear, is that you don’t have to contort yourself to be worthy of love. That’s what I needed to hear in my struggles with self abandonment and writing this with Lori from a channeled observer perspective helped me get back to that belief. Lori’s songwriting has deeply shaped the way I hear music and tell the truth. She is a true hero of mine and has been a compass influence since I first moved to Nashville. Writing this song with her, and feeling her presence on it as a vocalist, makes this release an incredibly meaningful, full-circle moment for me.”
Lori McKenna continued, “Every time I write with Tenille, it’s like a new layer of honesty shines through her. In the case of ‘The Acrobat’, it seemed like she was almost channelling someone else. We wrote about a character we both could identify with – like she is someone we ourselves narrowly missed being. When Tenille asked me to sing this one with her, it made sense for my voice to represent the elder-knowledge in the song – but Tenille is the one pointing straight to that wisdom. I’m a big fan of the magic Tenille makes, and my favorite part is that even when you distill it down, all she’s doing is singing somebody’s truth.
The Acrobat is the Nashville-based songwriter’s third album, marking a clear shift toward a more intimate, singer-songwriter, folk-leaning sound, one that strips everything back to lyric, melody and emotional truth. Written during a period of profound personal and professional transition, the record finds her standing at a crossroads between who she has been and who she is becoming. Relationship endings, career shifts, and the overwhelming noise of the world around her pushed Townes inward, where she began peeling back long-held patterns of people-pleasing and self-sacrifice. What emerged is her most stripped-down and intimate body of work to date, rooted in vulnerability, courage, and the quiet tenacity it takes to keep moving forward when certainty falls away.
“The truth of this song led me to find the courage to trust my own intuition again, and to reclaim my creative autonomy in making this entire album, “ says Tenille, “It became a symbol of the leap into the great unknown, choosing to be an independent artist again without a safety net, and I’m deeply proud of this collection of songs I made in that flight path.”
The Acrobat also includes an additional feature with recent Grammy winners I’m With Her on “grey like Emmylou” and other tracks written with Grammy winning writers Lori McKenna, Amy Wadge and Daniel Tashian. The collection also includes a few penned solely by Townes.
Previous single “Enabling,” has been stirring up momentum as a quietly devastating song that confronts the emotional cost of loving someone at the expense of yourself.
“Enabling” is rooted in self-awareness and resolve. It captures the moment when empathy collides with self-preservation, and when boundaries stop feeling like distance and begin to resemble care. The song’s power lies in its restraint, allowing unresolved tension, vulnerability, and quiet strength to coexist without forcing closure.
Commitment to emotional honesty has defined Townes’ career from the beginning. The Canada-born, Nashville-based artist has earned two JUNO Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards, and 17 Canadian Country Music Association Awards, while touring alongside artists such as Stevie Nicks, Miranda Lambert, Shania Twain, Keith Urban, Reba, Zac Brown Band, George Strait, and Dierks Bentley. Across every chapter, she has built a devoted global audience drawn to her empathy, lyrical precision, and willingness to sit with difficult truths.
Townes begins touring this spring with two dates in Texas joining Muscadine Bloodline, and then heads out for headlining theatre dates on the first half of “The Living Room Tour”, where a solo evening with a girl and her guitar is set to hold the audience in the palm of her hand. The eleven run tour will take her across the country and will see her performing not only new songs from “The Acrobat” but the collection of heart-led songs fans have come to know and love. The deeply intimate acoustic tour kicks off this March including an album release show in Nashville on April 9 as well as dates in San Antonio, Seattle, Cleveland and more.
TENILLE TOWNES THE LIVING ROOM TOUR
Mar 6 – Beaumont, TX – Jefferson Theatre #
Mar 7 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theatre #
Mar 18 – Richmond Hill, ON – Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts
Mar 19 – Chatham, ON – Chatham Capitol Theatre
Mar 20 – North Bay, ON – The Capitol Centre
Mar 21 – Kingston, ON – Kingston Grand Theatre
Mar 22 – Oakville, ON – The Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts
Mar 24 – Brantford, ON – The Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts
Mar 25 – St. Catharines, ON – FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
Mar 26 – Brampton, ON – The Rose Brampton
Apr 9 – Nashville, TN – City Winery *&
Apr 16 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic *&
Apr 17 – Chattanooga, TN – Walker Theatre *&
Apr 18 – Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theatre *
Apr 21 – Regina, SK – Casino Regina *&
Apr 23 – Calgary, AB – Jack Singer Concert Hall * @
Apr 25 – Calgary, AB – Jack Singer Concert Hall * @
Apr 27 – Vernon, BC – Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre ^
Apr 28 – Kamloops, BC – Sagebrush Theatre ^
May 2 – Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre * &
May 3 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall *&
May 14 – Evanston, IL – SPACE *&
May 15 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom *&
May 16 – Newport, KY – Southgate House Revival *&
#On tour with Musadine Bloodline
* Newly announced dates
& w/Corrina
^ w/ Chris Buck Band
@ Special evenings with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
#tenilletownes