Mitchell Tenpenny‘s Midtown Diaries EP is out! The eight-track project was written entirely by Tenpenny, alongside hit writers like Jordan Schmidt, Brad Tursi, HARDY and more.
“It’s a combination of about three years of songs,” Tenpenny tells Everything Nash. “It’s hard to pick eight songs on an EP when you’ve written 500, and a lot of great songs with awesome people like HARDY, and some of the best songwriters in Nashville. And so, I really had to go back and just look at these songs and find out, ‘Am I still in that same place now, like I was when I wrote it ?'”
Not surprisingly, Tenpenny had his fans foremost in mind when narrowing down which songs would make it onto Midtown Diaries.
“I wanted to have a lot of diverse songs, so people could find their song on the record,” Tenpenny reflects. “‘Cause I have my songs when artists release records. I’m like, ‘Oh, that song was written for me.’ And so, I wanted to make sure we had love songs, breakup songs, heartbreak songs, fun songs, weird songs out of nowhere.”
The Tennessee native took a lot of time, and a lot of care, choosing songs that he thought would relate the most to his loyal — and growing — fanbase.
“I wanted everyone to be able to find their story,” Tenpenny shares. “It took a while to kind of hone in on eight to do that. I think we gave a wide variety, and I love every single one of these. They’re my story. They’re my story of growing up in Nashville, hopefully becoming a little bit more mature and becoming an adult and just kind of some real life situations and scenarios that I think a lot of people can latch on to.”
It’s been more than three years since Tenpenny introduced himself to country music with his hit single, “Drunk Me.” Since then, Tenpenny has worked on writing and releasing new music, in spite of being forced off of the road for over a year because of COVID-19.
“Since we lost a year or two, I feel like I just was up in the room signing a record deal and then heading out on radio tour for that song,” Tenpenny says. “So it’s amazing how fast it flies by, and that’s why we have to fully take advantage of every moment that we get.”
Tenpenny acknowledges he has a lot of varying emotions as he shares Midtown Diaries with the world.
“It’s a vulnerable thing to put some of the things you say on a record out to the world, because some people know it’s about you,” Tenpenny concedes. “You’re not going to say their name, so how are people going to take it? I’m the weird guy that immediately gets online and looks at the DMs and the comments, not for the bad ones. I love to see what songs people are relating to, which ones are hitting home. That’s always special for me. It’s really cool when people reach out and say stuff like, ‘I think this song is written about me. I’m going through this right now.’ It’s amazing. I love it. I live for that. So there’s that excitement, but a little bit of anxiousness of hoping people dig it.”
Tenpenny’s current single, “Truth About You,” is included on Midtown Diaries. The rising star is spending much of the next few months on the road, including on his own To Us It Did Tour, which includes his first headlining show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. He will also join Chris Young on several dates on Young’s Famous Friends Tour. Purchase Midtown Diaries, and find tour dates, at Mitchell10Penny.com.