James Mitchell Tenpenny III (born August 17, 1989) is an American

country pop Country pop (also known as urban cowboy or even urban country) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends g ...

singer and songwriter from

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. He has released three studio albums and five

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

s through Riser House Records, with the first being '' Telling All My Secrets'' released in December 2018. He charted in 2018 with the single " Drunk Me", released on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

Nashville. He also co wrote " If the Boot Fits" with

Granger Smith Granger Kelly Smith (born September 4, 1979), also known by his stage name, Earl Dibbles Jr., is an American Southern Baptist minister, radio show host and former country music singer and songwriter. He has released eleven studio albums, two liv ...

and the song made it to the top 10 on

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

Early life

Tenpenny was born and raised in

. His grandmother was music publishing executive Donna Hilley. According to Tenpenny, when he was 11, his grandmother introduced to him songwriters

Bobby Braddock Robert Valentine Braddock (born August 5, 1940) is an American country music, country songwriter and record producer. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Braddock has contributed numerous hit s ...

and

Curly Putman Claude "Curly" Putman Jr. (November 20, 1930 – October 30, 2016) was an American songwriter. Born in Princeton, Alabama, his greatest success was "Green, Green Grass of Home" (1964, sung by Porter Wagoner), which was covered by Roger Miller, E ...

and he became interested in songwriting. He grew up listening to country, rock, and R&B, and cited

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

, and

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

among his musical influences. He attended

Lipscomb Academy Lipscomb Academy is a private, college preparatory, Christian school serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. History The Nashville Bible School was founded in 1891 by Dav ...

in Nashville where he played football. He then enrolled at

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

where he originally intended to play college football, but became more interested being in a band. He graduated with a music business degree.

Music career

Tenpenny released his debut album, titled ''Black Crow'', in 2015. A track, "Canes Creek", featured the bluegrass band

The SteelDrivers The SteelDrivers are a bluegrass band from Nashville, Tennessee. Members include fiddler Tammy Rogers, bassist Mike Fleming, guitarist/vocalist Matt Dame, mandolinist Brent Truitt, and banjoist Richard Bailey. Past members include Kelvin Damrel ...

. His debut single was the title track of the album, "Black Crow". In his early songwriting career, he wrote a number of songs with artists such as Nick Fradiani; an early success is the Top 10 song he co-wrote " If the Boot Fits", recorded by

. He signed a publishing deal with Sony ATV Music Publishing Nashville, and was involved in the documentary film ''The Voyage'' in 2014. He was signed to a newly formed Riser Records in 2016. In July 2017, Tenpenny released an EP, ''Linden Ave'', named after the street where his grandmother Donna Hilley used to live. The EP charted at No. 10 on Billboard's

Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' mag ...

chart, No. 6 in

Heatseekers Albums The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

, and No. 12 in Country Album Sales, with 2,100 copies sold in its first week. In January 2018, Tenpenny entered into a joint venture with Riser House/Columbia Nashville and released a self-titled EP on February 23, featuring a new single " Drunk Me". He released his second album and full-length major label debut album titled '' Telling All My Secrets'' on December 14, 2018. It debuted at No. 5 on ''Billboard''s Top Country Albums chart, and No. 53 on ''Billboard'' 200, after accruing 20,000 album equivalent units in its first week.

Personal life

Tenpenny has been in a long-term relationship with fellow country singer

Meghan Patrick Meghan Patrick (born March 25, 1987) is a Canadian-American country singer-songwriter from Bowmanville, Ontario. She was previously signed to Warner Music Canada, and is currently signed to Riser House Entertainment. She released her debut al ...

. On November 24, 2021, the two got engaged in the bar where they first met. Tenpenny and Patrick married on October 23, 2022.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Other certified songs

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenpenny, Mitchell Living people American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Tennessee Columbia Records artists 1989 births Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Middle Tennessee State University alumni