Mitchell Tenpenny

Mitchell Tenpenny fuses the relaxed, celebratory atmosphere typical of bro-country with a pronounced soulful dimension. Traces of that combination surfaced on his independent debut Black Crow from 2015, yet he honed the approach and shed certain roots-oriented touches on the 2017 release Linden Ave, built around the nostalgic track “Truck I Drove in High School.” The project secured a contract with Columbia Nashville, which issued the full-length Telling All My Secrets in 2018. Its opening single “Drunk Me” became his breakout success, climbing to number two on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. He built on that momentum with the 2021 short-form album Midtown Diaries, which highlighted his romantic leanings, and followed it immediately with the holiday project Naughty List. On 2022’s This Is the Heavy he emphasized the more intense facets of his sound, qualities only suggested by the hit single “Truth About You.” A run of additional singles appeared over the ensuing two years, among them “Bigger Mistakes,” which found a place on his expansive 2024 album simply called The 3rd.

Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Tenpenny came of age in a household and city steeped in music. His grandmother, Donna Hilley, served as president of Sony/ATV Publishing, granting him early encounters with Music City figures such as Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman. Their songwriting prompted him to commit to country music professionally. He began playing guitar at age thirteen and developed skills in both performance and composition. After earning a music-business degree from Middle Tennessee State University, he launched his career. Creation Lab Records put out Black Crow in April 2015; the set displayed a clear heartland-rock orientation, audible on the single “Love & Rock n’ Roll,” and included appearances by the SteelDrivers on “Cane’s Creek” plus Ace Frehley and Brian “Head” Welch on an alternate take of the title song.

While establishing himself as an artist, Tenpenny attracted notice as a writer in 2016. He co-wrote Granger Smith’s Billboard Country Airplay Top Ten single “If the Boot Fits” and Jon Langston’s track “All Eyes on Us.” Late that year he contributed songs to Hurricane, the debut album by American Idol season-fourteen winner Nick Fradiani.

Tenpenny joined Riser House Entertainment in 2017, issuing “Alcohol You Later” in April and the EP Linden Ave that July. Both reflected a more soul-inflected path, echoing the country-R&B approach of Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett. His self-titled Riser EP from 2018 contained the party-oriented single “Drunk Me,” which rose to number two on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and paved the way for the December release of Telling All My Secrets on Riser House/Columbia; the album entered at number five on Top Country Albums and reached the Billboard 200. A new version of “Alcohol You Later” accompanied the project.

In 2019 he released the standalone single “Anything She Says,” the first of several non-album tracks issued through 2020 that also comprised “Can't Go to Church,” “Someone You Loved,” “Here,” and “Broken Up.” He also delivered the seasonal EP Neon Christmas in 2020. “Bucket List” appeared early in 2021 as the lead track from Midtown Diaries, which arrived that September; a month later came his third album and first complete Christmas collection, Naughty List. The smooth ballad “Horseshoes and Hand Grenades” introduced the April 2022 EP The Low Light Sessions, which spotlighted his gentler material. Tenpenny shifted toward a louder, more aggressive stance on This Is the Heavy, released in September 2022; its first single, “Truth About You,” reached number two on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and the album charted on both pop and country lists. He devoted the following year to joint efforts such as the 2023 tracks “What’s It Gonna Take” with Cheat Codes and “Don’t Lose Heart” with Steven Curtis Chapman, then issued the solo single “Bigger Mistakes.” His opening 2024 release, “Breaking My Heart,” peaked at number 37 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Several of these recordings, including “Bigger Mistakes,” were gathered on his next album, issued that September. The twenty-track set The 3rd included guest contributions from Colbie Caillat and Underoath while displaying the full range of the singer-songwriter’s styles.