Canadian-born and Nashville-based Tebey has barrelled headfirst back into music, gifting his growing audience with a new single, That’s Gonna Leave A Memory.
Countrytown spoke with the Who’s Gonna Love You hitmaker to discuss his new music, the viral moment that changed everything, and how he fosters community in Nashville and in his hometown of Toronto.
Returning to songwriting and touring after choosing to temporarily pause his music career when he noticed he was not spending as much time with family and his children as he could be, Tebey has gifted us a classic country hit in That’s Gonna Leave A Memory, although the path to getting there took a little effort.
He explains, “That's Gonna Leave A Memory was a song I was trying to write for probably almost two years. I was slowly making my way back to being ready to put together a record and write that first single. I knew I wanted a single, but I couldn't get it. When you want something badly, it just makes it even harder, right?”
He adds, “I decided to switch things up. I live in Nashville and do a lot of my writing here, but I flew back home to Canada, went to Toronto and worked with some old friends of mine. I remember sitting there in traffic in Toronto, and I just happened to think of this idea, and the line was ‘Girl, you sure left your mark on me, that's gonna leave a memory’, and it just hit me out of nowhere. I thought, ‘That sounds good, I think there is a really good song in there.’”
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Even with a great hook, Tebey said he worked for a full day to nail down the chorus, but was happy with the product, and the radio coverage in Australia is a testament to that well-honed craft.
With the single tinged with nostalgia, youthfulness, and big love, it’s a formula we have seen the singer-songwriter perfect. He stated he draws from lived experience, but oftentimes his music is storytelling, crafting characters to create a narrative he wants to sing about.
Tebey fans will be excited to know that new music is on the way, and the rest of the record is quite different from That’s Gonna Leave A Memory.
“My next single is a song called Chevrolet Laid Back, and I feel with this new project, I have taken a little bit of a left turn, sonically at least,” he teases. “With some of the stuff we have got in the can, people are going to be happy we took some chances. You have to grow as an artist; if you do the same thing, it becomes very mundane, so I try to keep it fresh.”
For many, one can’t think about Tebey without associating his masterful cover of The Weekend’s Blinding Lights, which broke the internet with 22 million streams (not to mention 75 million views on Instagram and TikTok) in 2024.
Speaking about his success in covering Blinding Lights, Tebey says the virality was a mere accident.
A social media manager suggested that one way to find new fans and audiences online would be to release some covers of popular songs, which he took on board and spent a day recording, more or less, a demo of The Weekend’s hit. After posting it online, Tebey woke to find it had been viewed one million times overnight, and it was just the beginning.
He recalls, “It was pretty cool. There was no sit-and-wait - it was a complete accident. I hired a new social media manager, and he said you should do some covers - let's find some popular songs, and that will bring in fans and people's interest.
“I spent a day with my producer cutting a demo of a country version of Blinding Lights, and I put it up online, and then I woke up the next morning, and it had a million views, and everything went crazy for a couple of months.”
Tebey is the epitome of a green flag in how he conducts his life and career, as he speaks about his family and his decision to take a break from music to support his young family. He also spends time pursuing mental health awareness. In addition to his music, he runs an annual charity golf tournament that benefits a collection of local mental health organisations—an area he has refused to stay quiet on.
“I have always been a big proponent [for mental health] and struggled my entire life, but I have been very open with it,” Tebey admits. “Talking about it is important. A lot of people are embarrassed; there used to be more of a stigma. But I have always been very open about it and will always speak up about it. I'm glad I'm able to do this charity event every year.”
Tebay is as welcoming as he is talented, with his keen interest in Australia evident throughout our chat; he noted that his wife is from Byron Bay and that they feel a connection to the country.
Joking that Canadians and Australians are often in the same basket, we get the sense that his musical inspiration for love and connection extends to other areas of his life, as he tells us he hosts an annual event for Canadian ex-pats in Nashville.
“We have a yearly easter brunch and egg hunt for the kids here in Nashville - only for Canadians,” he explains. “A couple of weeks ago, we had a house full of 70 Candanians here in town, and we just stuck together as much as possible. For the majority of my career, I’ve worked with a lot of Canadians.”
Tebey’s That’s Gonna Leave A Memory is out now.
