Tenney

Table of Contents

• Lost in the Music
• Hot Chicken & Bright Lights
• The Jamboree
• Lillian Street Senior Center
• Center Stage
• Ellie Cale
• Find Your Voice
• Sunday Supper
• In the Spotlight
• Breakthrough
• A Stronger Bridge
• Printers Alley
• A Second Chance
• Nothing Special
• Backflips & Butterflies
• The Bluebird Cafe
• Feeling the Heat
• A New Debut
• Just the Beginning

Lost in the Music

Tenney is so busy playing one of her favorite songs, “April Springs,” that she ends up completely forgetting where she is. Her hand drifts down the neck of her guitar while her right hand sails across the strings. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Dad waving at her. She looks up and realizes none of the other members of the Tri-Stars are playing. Startled, she claps a hand over the strings and apologizes, cheeks flushing. She’s in the middle of a rehearsal at her Dad’s music store, Grant’s Music and Collectibles.

Dad winks, admitting he hated to stop her since she was singing with so much heart. Tenney gets swept away whenever she plays a song she loves, and “April Springs” always warms her. Dad calls the band back to fix a shaky transition. Jesse, the Tri-Stars’ seventeen-year-old lead singer, groans that they’ve already run it five times. Mason, Tenney’s brother and the band’s drummer, rolls his eyes behind his kit. He’s never warmed to Jesse, who skips out on hauling gear and insists on French bottled water over the Nashville tap. Still, Tenney admires her voice, stage presence, and hunger for attention, and wonders whether she could pull off that role herself.

The Tri-Stars used to be just family, until Mom quit the band to open her food truck and Dad asked Jesse to step in as lead singer. These days they mostly play weekend gigs around the neighborhood rather than famous stages like the Ryman Auditorium or the Grand Ole Opry, with a fan base of just Tenney’s little sister and her best friend. Jesse agrees to run the chorus again, and the band dives back into “April Springs,” with Dad and Tenney harmonizing on the second verse. Jesse shoves her microphone away, snaps at Tenney by her full name, Tennyson, and tells her to blend in better.

Mason slings an arm around her shoulders and reminds her not to let Jesse get to her, since she’s never happy unless she’s complaining. Tenney explains that singing harmony smooths out the grainy edge Mom says makes her voice unique, though a backup singer is supposed to sound invisible, not unique. Between takes, Mason teases her with a made-up song about their golden retriever, Waylon, named for outlaw country singer Waylon Jennings who was fond of breaking the rules. Waylon lived up to the name when he was a puppy. He used to escape from the backyard and chew shoes.

Complaining the storeroom is too hot, Jesse steps outside to take a call, and Dad heads off to check the air conditioning, leaving Tenney alone onstage with Waylon dozing nearby. She seizes the moment to slip into one of her own songs, and playing it, even to an empty room, leaves her feeling steadier than singing backup does. When Jesse breezes back in and tells everyone to get the rehearsal over with, Tenney falls back into the background without complaint, but she can’t stop thinking about the song she just played. She wonders if she should ask Dad to let the Tri-Stars perform one of her own songs someday, but she knows he’d only agree if he thought it was truly ready, so she keeps it to herself.