Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Mitchell Tenpenny, Sony Music 2018.
Mitchell Tenpenny is the latest American country singer/songwriter to be lauded as the next big thing.
He burst onto the scene in early 2018 when his single, Drunk Me, was certified RIAA Gold and hit high rotation on the country music radio stations and climbed country music charts across The nation.
Telling All My Secrets is his debut album and it contains his hit single.
It seems that Mitchell may have a problem, or at least had a series of encounters, with alcohol because the album contains an additional song about the behavior altering beverage, Alcohol You Later.
In addition to these two tracks the opening line to All On You includes the words “Every once in a while when you’re drunk…” so you could say that the topic is a preoccupation that shadows the album.
Apparently in preparation for the album Mitchell wrote 56 songs which was pared down to the 11 tracks that make up the finished product.
The publicity material claims that the album “tells his story.”
He has commented that he’s proud to share all his secrets so his fans know what he’s about.
Telling All My Secrets falls squarely into the Nashville country rock genre. The songs are well constructed and the backing band is skilful.
Mitchell Tenpenny does write a good catchy song and he’s joined the touring circuit supporting artists as broad as Maren Morris, Jake Owen and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
While country music is not necessarily my forte I can imagine that C&W fans will really enjoy this album and it certainly is a polished debut release.
