Tiera Kennedy has a new single out, from her new album. The singer-songwriter just released “Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist,” an autobiographical, slightly tongue-in-cheek song Kennedy wrote with Emily Falvey, Joe Fox, Trannie Anderson and Emily Landis.
“Emily Landis came in with the title ‘Therapist,’ and we just wanted it to be fun,” Kennedy recalls to Everything Nash. “And so, we just started singing that chorus — it just kind of came out. We wrote this song from the perspective of being in a small town, and you can’t really trust anybody with your business. They’re gonna run it around town.
“But I feel like the three people I can depend on are Jesus, my mama, and my therapist,” she adds with a laugh. “So that’s kind of what the whole song is about.”
While Kennedy has yet to play “Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist” for her actual therapist, she did play it for her mother, who instantly fell in love with the song.
“She loves that she has a song with her title in it,” Kenney says. “She’s all here for it. She knows all the words and she’s singing along at every show.”
“Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist” is reminiscent of the ’90s country era. It was an intentional throwback for Kennedy, who grew up inspired by some of that decades biggest artists.
“I love listening to the ’90s country era,” Kenney shares. “I think of ‘Suds in the Bucket,’ by Sara Evans … I cover that song in all of my shows. and it’s always a moment I look forward to, because I feel like that music is just so nostalgic. Even if you weren’t alive in the ’90s, you still love that music.
“I love that music, and it was really fun to incorporate that into my sound because I had never made a song that sounded like that before,” she continues. “It’s just so fun, and it’s influenced the music that I’ve been writing now. It’s more country than ever.”
Kennedy is “pretty much done” with her new album, which she anticipates will be out in early 2024.
“It is very country, very rootsy, and it just feels good,” the Alabama native hints. “it’s the music that I grew up listening to. And I don’t think we were trying to be super intentional about the way the music sounded. It just kind of happened.”
For her first introduction to country music fans, Kennedy is a writer on all of the songs. Although that isn’t a standard she will hold herself to for subsequent projects, for her debut record, the rising star felt it was a necessary milestone for her to achieve.
“It was important for this first album to be a writer on all of the songs, because the whole album is centered around introducing myself,” Kennedy explains. “I’ve been in Nashville for seven years, but I’m still a new artist and I’m still introducing to myself to people. And I felt like in order to do that, in order to truly tell my story, I needed to be a writer on all of the songs. I’m excited to be a part of them all. I’m definitely not opposed in the future to cutting songs, but for this first album that was really important.”
Find “Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist,” and all of Kennedy’s music and upcoming shows, at Tiera.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of BMLG / Alexa Campbell
