When social distancing sounds this good, being #AloneTogether doesn’t seem all that bad.
Tenille Townes recently virtually connected with fellow country singers Abby Anderson, Kassi Ashton, Keelan Donovan, Alex Hall, Adam Hambrick and Caylee Hammack to sing a classic R&B song of hope for the days, weeks, months and possibly even years to come.
And the song they chose to cover — Bill Withers’ 1972 ballad “Lean on Me” — makes just as much sense now as it did back when Withers penned the tune about the strength you can find when you’re supporting each other. In an interview with Songfacts, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said he wrote the song about missing his hometown in West Virginia. “Coming from a place where people were a little more attentive to each other, less afraid, that would cue me to have those considerations than somebody from a different place,” he’d said.
It sounds like Townes’ intentions with this moving collaboration were very similar. “These crazy times right now make me so grateful for my friends, for music, and the way we are still all connected. It brought me so much joy hearing everybody’s voices come together on this song, and it’s my hope that it brings people a little joy and comfort out there when they hear it. We really all do need somebody to lean on, especially right now,” Townes said. “It was really fun to sing this song together across the distance!