Welcome to another episode of Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living.

I'm Sid Evans, editor-in-chief of Southern Living magazine.

Today's guest has worked hard to go from being a fan of stars like Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert to being one of their peers.

I feel honored to be a part of a community that I just look up to and respect so much.

And in a lot of ways, I think about a big table.

And everybody's kind of gathering around, and they're like pulling up a new chair.

And it's a really surreal and cool feeling to get to sit at the table.

Teneal Towns grew up in the spacious farmland of Grand Prairie, Alberta, up in Canada.

At just 19 years old, she loaded up a pickup truck with her dad and made the 45-hour journey

to Nashville, trying to make her dreams of being a singer-songwriter a reality.

Fast forward to 2020, and she's hit it big with a new album called The Lemonade Stand,

along with a CMA nomination and two ACM award wins.

But aside from the empathetic storytelling in her songs, Tenil has also stood out as an artist

who consistently gives back to her community. On today's show, you'll hear how she recently

partnered with the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee to fight homelessness, and the millions of dollars

she helped raise to help at-risk youth back home in Alberta.

It's been life-changing for me, witnessing that, and thinking about the thousands of kids who have

come into that place and received the guidance and love that they need to keep putting one foot

in front of the other and carrying on to a brighter part of their story, and a lot of that is possible because of the generosity of a lot of really great people who

believe in them.

Plus Canadian comfort food, how a nine-year-old Teneal shared the stage with Shania Twain

and much more this week on Biscuits and Jam.

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