Growing up in a one-stoplight town, Sacha’s love of country music – and rural life – was natural.
“That tends to rub off on you,” she says of her upbringing in Warkworth, Ontario, a quaint village in the rolling hills of Northumberland, 90 minutes East of Toronto.
Click on the image to play the Reklaws / Sacha video “What the Truck”
We catch up with the rising Canadian country star via Zoom, on a Monday afternoon. She’s on a high following an industry showcase at Toronto’s El Mocambo (where her parents’ band The Arguments once gigged) the night before. A framed Gold record for the single “What the Truck,” a million-plays-plus viral hit she co-wrote with The Reklaws (more on that later), hangs on a wall nearby. Albums by some of her influences – Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose and Stevie Nicks’s Bella Donna – hang on another.
Besides these legendary artists, Patsy Cline was one of Sacha’s earliest influences. “My mother played her records all the time,” she says. “Her voice was the first one that left an impression on me… just her soul, and the way she makes you feel when you hear her on the other end of the speaker.”
Since Sacha’s parents played in a band, during her childhood every instrument imaginable was available to pick up and try. Musicians constantly stopped by to rehearse. And often, impromptu backyard gigs happened around the bonfire. This was all part of her informal musical education.
“We had this old, beat-up upright piano with missing keys,” Sacha recalls. “That was my first instrument. I just learned how to play on my own, reading notes and singing songs.”
Later, the songs, stories, and especially Taylor Swift’s journey to pop stardom, inspired the musician. If Swift could find success in Nashville by approaching potential leads until one listened, maybe that same approach might work for her.
“I read Taylor’s diaries [that] she shared, and learned how, early in her career, she went to Nashville and hustled, by knocking on doors up and down Music Row,” Sacha says. “I said, ‘I’m going to do the same thing!’”
During Sacha’s first visit to Music City, the artist visited many of the same places Swift had, decades ago. “I gave my card and my demo EP to everyone: record labels, PR firms, and songwriter associations,” she says. “Not a lot of doors opened that first time, but I started co-writing.”
“I just chased my dream really hard”
Sacha kept returning. Each time, another door opened. She set up songwriter’s showcases, and played throughout the city at locales like Opry Mills, The Hotel Indigo, and The Bluebird Cafe. This hard work and perseverance eventually paid dividends.
Fast forward to 2021, when Sacha joined the Reklaws for their viral TikTok hit, “What the Truck.” The song had more than 450,000 streams in its first week alone, eventually becoming the Canadian country song in history that was the fastest to reach a million domestic streams.
“That was hilarious!” recalls Sacha of this happy accident. “I was just sitting at home scrolling through TikTok and saw the Reklaws had posted a sample of ‘What the Truck.’ I watched others jump on and do a duet. I was writing something at the time that I felt might fit. I almost didn’t do it, but I jumped on and did my part. I turned around to wash the dishes and before I knew it I got a DM from Jenna [Walker, of The Reklaws] asking me to be a part of the song.”
In 2022, Sacha kept the momentum going. She released a four-song EP (We Did) – her second after The Best Thing in 2020 – that showcased her growing maturation as a songwriter and country-pop singer. A few more of 2022’s highlights include meeting Carrie Underwood backstage at the CMT Music Awards; winning her first CCMA Award and SiriusXM’s Top of the Country Competition; and touring with Maddie and Tae on the CMT Next Women of Country Tour. Of all these experiences, the biggest thrill was standing in Times Square, looking skyward, and seeing her video premiere for “Pretty Please.”
“I remember going to New York City on New Year’s Eve in 2012,” Sacha recalls. “I was out of a job and thinking, ‘How am I going to get from A to Z?’ That’s when I really picked up a guitar and started writing seriously. I figured I had a runway to go after my dreams. Those first songs written in my bedroom became my debut EP.”
That EP (Stix N Stones) led to an international fan base, thanks to the title track – an anti-bullying anthem that became a viral hit.
“I just chased my dream really hard,” Sacha adds. “It was all sparked from that New Year’s 10 years ago, looking up at the lights, and thinking, how on earth would I ever get on one of those billboards? Fast forward to May 2022 and there I was… it’s a testament to never giving up on your dreams.”
In the Fall of 2022, Sacha achieved another dream by teaming up with Jade Eagleson – the 2022 CCMA Award winner for Top Selling Canadian Album – on “Call it Country,” a song written by Allison Veltz, Seth Mosley, and Brooke Eden.
These days, Sacha divides her time between Ontario and Nashville. With a pair of country EPs to her credit, there’s much more to come. She writes constantly, and is ready to share more new songs and what she teases as some “fun collabs” in 2023.
“I’m working to get a collection of songs together that best share my story,” she says, “and every facet of what I’m capable of as an artist.”