Singled Out: Sam Drysdale's Bonnie

Canadian singer-songwriter Sam Drysdale recently released his new single and video called "Bonnie", and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

First and foremost, Bonnie was really intended as my return to solo-songwriting. I grew up playing guitar alone in my room and most of the artists I've always looked up to were the kind who's individual writing style was always so prevalent in their sound. I had spent the first portion of my career in a lot of writing rooms with other talented writers but missed the feeling of having full control of the proverbial car. I really liked the idea of writing a story that was completely detached from me and sung entirely through someone else's perspective. After watching a movie about Bonnie and Clyde that really highlighted Bonnie as the true spine behind their story, I thought it would be cool to write something from Clyde's perspective. Specifically about what compelled him to stay by her side despite it likely leading to his end. That kind of love, no matter how dangerous, was incredibly inspiring to me. The song is really about love and its relationship to sacrifice. Mainly about the sacrifices Clyde makes to continue being able to fall asleep next to Bonnie. I wanted the song to paint a blissful picture of their lives together while lying on a bedrock of ominous truths about where their love would lead them.

I fiddled around with the first two verses and the chorus for almost a year and a half before I finally wrote the bridge, which is now my favorite part of the song. I had played the bones of the song a few times for friends on a camping trip and they always responded really positively to it. Frankly, I owe everything to them for giving me the courage to completely shift gears sonically and lean more into my folk/singer-songwriter roots.

Joey Verskotzi and I recorded and produced this song together at my Mom's cabin just south of Tobermory. That environment played a key role in accomplishing something that was really important to me; a timeless sound. After spending a lot of my career writing my pop music, I really wanted to get back to making records that would translate seamlessly to a bonfire with an acoustic guitar. That was always the goal throughout the process of recording the entire project. "Will it still be beautiful when it's completely naked?" I'm incredibly proud of where we landed with this one and I think it's a song I will always be excited to play live.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about Sam here

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