'I picked up a guitar and I started writing': Sacha on finding herself in country music

Sacha's latest single, "Hey Mom I Made It," tells the story of how the country singer-songwriter from Warkworth, Ont., overcame personal and professional setbacks to find joy in her life. 

The hopeful song is her first major-label release since signing with Sony Music Canada, but she had been integrating herself into the country scene before then: she released several EPs, performed at the Canadian Country Music Awards, and collaborated with Jade Eagleson and the Reklaws prior to landing the record deal. 

In a new interview, she tells The Block's host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe that she's been interested in music and songwriting since she was a child, and opens up about growing up in a small town and finding a space in country music.

You can hear the full interview above and read an excerpt below.

So then how did the beginnings of music look for you? Was it singing your favourite songs ... into a hairbrush?

Oh, yeah, the hairbrush [and] in the mirror. Sitting there, at a little vanity, singing and pretending you're the person. 

What was the song?

Well, there were many. But, if we're talking country music...

Not necessarily.

Something that I found myself in and that really made an impression were Patsy Cline records, and [I remember] her voice and pressing my ear up against the speaker and being mesmerized by her voice and and the soul in her voice. And that was pretty unique, especially for country music in her time. 

Patsy Cline. So then you wrote your first song when you were 12. Is that true?

Who knows. I don't know, I was doing poetry. So you can say that was, you know, a thing. I love poetry writing. My first song, I don't even have an age [for writing] it, but [I was] very young. And just singing little ditties and making poems and putting melodies to it. 

So you had mentioned before we started this interview that it was you, your twin sister and two brothers. Were you all making music together?

It wasn't the Jackson 5 or anything like that. My sister and I definitely took a liking to music. There's two older brothers [and] the youngest of the older brothers, I think he ended up playing drums in the band as a kid at least a couple times, maybe even just [in] rehearsals. But, he [is] into music, too. He's got a little studio at his home. And to this day, my eldest brother [is] not so much ... but [has an] appreciation for music.

But then in the end, it was you that really wanted to pursue it as a career.

Yeah.

Like you were passionate about it.

Yeah.

So, you've described country music as a way of living. So you can talk about that. I grew up in Alberta myself [and] that's a big country province. And I remember one of my girlfriends being like, "You'll fall in love with country if you just listen to country for one week, all country. At the end of that week, you're going to come out of it and you're going to love country." But I had this mental block because I didn't feel like country was inviting to me as a Black person. So what was it about country that's a way of living? 

So for me, growing up in a small town, [I had] a lot of agriculture around as well, sleepovers at the farms [and] we grew our food out back, too. There was a rodeo across the river at the arena. And just living that lifestyle made it country living, you know? It's not too far off the back road for us [and there's] lots of land. It's just what they say, "Oh, you're from the country." You know what I mean? [I'm] legitimately from the country.

As you grow and expand and visit different places, do you still find that you gravitate toward that way of life, country living? And country life?

Yeah. It came back for me, in a way. When we had to move from the small town to Oshawa, we had to learn to read street lights and [we were] introduced to a whole new diverse world and classmates that look different and like [us]. 

Yeah, that's wild because it's almost like you don't see yourself outside of yourself. 

No you don't. Or outside of a small town, really. It was so new and scary, actually, for us, because we were like, "You're taking us to the city!" And if you know what Oshawa is...

I used to have to do these club nights and I'd drive from Toronto to Oshawa and there's like one street and one club. 

Well, it's not New York City, right? And we're like, we're gonna get killed. We were worried, but we got educated. You know, we got to learn about life and more things outside of small town. So I forget where I was heading with that.

Country music and your place within it, really. I think that's where we are going with this conversation.

Living country. Yeah, and going through the peer element where it's like, okay, this is what's popular or this is what I'm supposed to be like or what I'm supposed to like.

Yeah. And you didn't find that there was a lot of country music lovers in Oshawa?

No. Not then. I'm sure they're around, but yeah.

You didn't run into like-minded people, but once again, you are a Black individual doing country music. Country music itself [has] roots in the African diaspora. How did you stay true to your love of country music as a Black person in a world that might not necessarily [see you]?

Everyone goes through time in their adolescence where they're just figuring out who they are, period. And I love music, so I had every genre of music influence in my bloodstream, so I could have went any which way. But it was just me being true to myself, to be honest. I picked up a guitar and I started writing, and what came out fit very much into the category of country music, sharing my story, the writing style and [the sound].

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.