Music News

Nate Smith Enlists Tenille Townes To Collaborate On A New Version Of “I Don’t Wanna Go To Heaven”

March 21, 2022March 21, 2022 Nick Cantwell country music, nate smith, tenille townes

Just over a week ago we were being dazzled by Tenille Townes’ performances here in the UK at C2C, where she and her band rocked out on those big arena stages… and she also performed a fantastic and intimate acoustic showcase in London alongside her friends Alex Hall and Caitlyn Smith. Having already announced two EPs due for release very soon, the first soul-bearing collection “Masquerades” due on April 22nd, and her return in October for a run of headline shows, there was even more good news last Friday for fans of the talented Canadian with the release of the collaborative single “I Don’t Wanna Go To Heaven” with Sony Music labelmate Nate Smith (stream/download here https://ns.lnk.to/IDWGTHduet )
Written by Nate and Daniel Fernandez, Nate’s original solo version went viral when released last year collecting over 2 million total on-demand streams in its first week and earlier this year he teamed up with Nashville’s Echelon Choir to create another critically acclaimed version of the moving, emotional song.
Talking about how this most recent collaboration came about, Nate says “I’m a huge fan of Tenille, and I kind of just cold emailed her asking if she’d be willing to be part of the song“. And Tenille explains “I was such a fan of Nate’s voice and had been hearing the song and already loving it. It’s so fun to sing this with him and I’m so glad he reached out” . Their close and natural connection is evident in the accompanying video, in my opinion, their voices compliment each other so well too.”

While of course Tenille will no doubt be familiar to you all, Nate may not be so here’s a brief introduction to the artist whose personal journey inspired him to be a beacon of country music hope, a mission he puts front and centre. While he is Sony Music Nashville’s latest signing, the California native, former worship leader and lifelong music lover became disillusioned with chasing his dreams in Nashville in his early 20’s and returned home . However, thinking he was “100-percent done” with his artistic journey, fate stepped in. He lost everything he owned in 2018 in the devastating Camp Fire which tore through Paradise, California, and although his family were thankfully safe he struggled to cope and turned back to music, hoping it would comfort himself and others. And indeed it did, inspiring a month-long road trip across the US to Music City, writing and playing dive bars en route. Soon after arriving back in Nashville, he released his biggest song to date, appropriately titled “Wildfire“, and landed a publishing deal with Sony. Since then he has released more new music and rounded off 2021 with a record deal and two brand new songs, “Raised Up” and “I Don’t Wanna Go To Heaven“. More information about Nate and links to his socials can be found at NateSmithOfficial.com.

Article written by Lesley Hastings (twitter.com/lesleyhastings)