Tenille Townes Talks First ACM Nomination, Women In Country Music

Tenille Townes is nominated for two awards at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards. One nomination is for New Female Artist of the Year and the other is a nomination for Music Event of the Year for her participation in the all-female cover of “Fooled Around And Fell In Love,” featuring Miranda Lambert, Caylee Hammack, Elle King, Maren Morris and Ashley McBryde. As a first time nominee, Townes is happy to be nominated among her peers.

“I’m feeling so excited,” she tells Sounds Like Nashville. “What a wild thing. I feel so thankful to be a part of this country music family!”

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My goodness I did some dancing in the kitchen this morning!!!!! This is so wild! Honoured to be nominated for the @acmawards for the very first time. 😭 So proud to stand beside such a badass group of artists for New Female Artist of the Year. And I’ll never forget hearing the voices of @mirandalambert, @marenmorris, @elleking, @ashleymcbryde and @cayleehammack coming through the headphones recording Fooled Around and Fell In Love. Still can’t believe I wasn’t just dreaming that whole collaboration up in my sleep. Thank you Miranda for bringing us all together for this song and for being the most encouraging kind of hero. ❤️

A post shared by Tenille Townes (@tenilletownes) on Feb 27, 2020 at 9:42am PST

Townes is feeling particularly proud of the nomination for the “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” collaboration, which was spearheaded by Lambert. Townes was not only invited on the track by Lambert, but she also spent time on the country headliner’s tour this past year.

“I will honestly never forget hearing all of those incredible voices coming through the headphones recording this song,” says Townes. “Feels very much like a dream that happened! I look up to Miranda so very much and being a part of this song and her tour was an incredible honor. Watching and learning from the way she tours and the culture she creates on the road, and just being able to turn to her is the most amazing thing.”

The Music Event of the Year nod also points to the camaraderie that is currently being seen in country music, and Townes says she’s incredibly proud to be part of the movement.

“I feel so thankful to be surrounded by such incredible women on this ride and to feel honest encouragement for and support towards each other,” she says. “Everyone’s voices and style on this song is so different from each other in such a cool way.”

Townes will head to Las Vegas for the 55th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Keith Urban, on April 5th. When asked what she’s most excited for at the show, her answer is pretty simple.

“I’m just so excited to get to be in that room,” she says. “I can’t wait for Vegas!”