Mitchell Tenpenny goes heavy on new 20-song album: Interview

For his new album, Mitchell Tenpenny wanted to go heavy.

His latest collection of songs finds the 33-year-old Nashville native teaming his Warped Tour-era upbringing (name-checking Yellowcard and Motion City Soundtrack as influences) with a modern country-pop storytelling many come to expect from this rising Music Row hitmaker. The result? A mammoth 20-song release where Tenpenny turns up the guitars as he spins stories about tipsy Midtown nights, love lost to passing time and the lessons learned in-between.

Called "This Is The Heavy," the album debuted Friday via Riser House Entertainment/Sony Music Nashville.

In a new Tennessean interview, Tenpenny discusses writing songs about Nashville, his 'Heavy' influence, and why there's a UFO cameo on his album artwork.

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Tennessean: You named the album 'This Is The Heavy,' so I think we should start by talking about what is 'The Heavy'?

Tenpenny: Lyrically, I dove a little bit deeper. Production-wise, I wanted to make it like the bands I grew up listening to, some of the bands I was in. Turning up the gain a little bit. Making the drums louder. Making it a little bit more rock, a little bit heavy - but still sticking to the country lyrics, the storytelling.

Tennessean: Being raised here, Nashville plays a backdrop in a lot of your music. You name-drop Franklin Pike in "More Than Whiskey Does" and wrote "Losers" in-part about the Midtown bar. What can you bring to writing about the Nashville that those who weren't raised here may not be able to capture?

Tenpenny: I want people to believe that this still is a small town. I know it doesn't feel like it anymore. I grew up in this town, and I knew everybody. It still felt like a small town. Everything I've done relates to that. ... I want to remind people [that] even if they didn't know that type of Nashville, it did exist. It's the Nashville I grew up with.

Tennessean: What're some of the other themes you relied on while co-writing the album?

Tenpenny: A lot in this record is relationships. Good and bad ones. That was been my 20s until I reached 30. Until I found the right one [Note: Tenpenny proposed to his fiancé Meghan Patrick last year]. There's a few about finding the right one. There's a couple about life. There's a couple about growing up. It's basically about learning your own lessons and experiences I wanted to write about that honestly so people could find their story in the record.

Tennessean: I think one song that stands out - and we mentioned it earlier - is "More Than Whiskey Does," with the chorus "you f*** me up more than whiskey does." Tell me a bit about writing that one.

Tenpenny: I love songs that say places I haven't heard of. We argued for a minute on if we should say these specifics things in Nashville. I was like, 'Yeah, dude.' I love songs that say places I haven't heard of. Like Yellowcard, when they talk about "Ocean Avenue." ... I felt like I knew exactly what they were talking about because they were being specific. I wanted to do that in that song. Then, obviously, saying the f-word. I didn't want to water it down. I wanted to say it exactly how we were saying if we were talking at the bar.

Tennessean: Why's there a UFO on the back of the album?

Tenpenny: [People] hate when I say this, but there's no reason [laughs]. I just like UFOs.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mitchell Tenpenny goes 'Heavy' on his new album: Interview