“Secret Subway Conversations” is part of Edmonton singer/songwriters’ first collaboration The Day Had To Come out May 31
There is something undeniably powerful about a great country music duet. Just think of George and Tammy, Dolly and Porter, Gram and Emmylou—two soaring voices expressing deep-rooted emotion in the most human way possible.
Edmonton, Alberta singer/songwriters Sammy Volkov and Dana Wylie realized from the first moment they sang together that they shared such a connection, and they are now allowing us into their world with their first collaborative album, The Day Had To Come. The pair is offering a preview today with the single “Secret Subway Conversations,” which fully displays their unquestionable chemistry.
The 10 original songs on The Day Had To Come, produced by Harry Gregg, present a classic country sound with modern flair, something that shouldn’t come as any surprise to fans of either Sammy or Dana. Since releasing her 2017 album The Earth That You’re Made Of—which earned her a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination for Contemporary Singer of the Year—Wylie has managed to balance her other work in live theatre with more recordings that led to her 2023 double album How Much Muscle.
Meanwhile, Sammy’s 2022 debut album Be Alright! firmly established him as an artist on the rise, hitting the #1 spot on the prestigious CKUA Top 30, and other outlets comparing his approach and style to legends such as Roy Orbison and Charlie Rich.
Recording The Day Had To Come turned out to be a revelatory experience for both of them, as each quickly became the other’s number one fan. When asked about the title track, Sammy says, “I think that song is what made me excited to get this album going with Dana. She was playing it for me in rehearsal one day and I thought, damn, this is brilliant. It feels classic but I know it is entirely rooted in Dana’s own experience.”
“Secret Subway Conversations” was an obvious choice for the first single. “That one’s an instant classic, in my view,” Dana says. “Sammy’s melody soars in a way that was perfectly conducive to harmonizing, and it’s resulted in something that is both lush and quirky, in the most beautiful way.”
Among the many other standouts on The Day Had To Come are Dana’s bouncy “Ain’t Found Heaven Yet,” and Sammy’s devastating ballad “Saw The End Before We Started.” In all, the pair brought out the best in each other, a flame they don’t want to extinguish anytime soon as they plan on taking their show on the road following the album’s release.
If you are someone who appreciates the pure artistry at the core of country music for the past century, The Day Had To Come is sure to be one of the best records you’ll hear this year.