Tenille Townes says a 'wild thought' and chance encounter led to Bryan Adams duet

Tenille Townes and Bryan Adams are seen in this image provided Feb. 24, 2023. Tenille Townes says her new single with Bryan Adams came together after a chance encounter in a stairwell at his Vancouver recording studio. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Sony Music Canada

TORONTO — A new duet between rocker Bryan Adams and country singer Tenille Townes was borne from an unexpected encounter in a stairwell.

The Grande Prairie, Alta.-raised Townes describes a combination of luck and good timing as what led to recording "The Thing That Wrecks You" with one of her musical inspirations.

In a statement, she says the collaboration came about after she ran into Adams while leaving his Warehouse Studio in Vancouver last summer. She was there to record a song for a Hallmark movie.

Passing him in a stairwell, they struck up a conversation. And later that night, as she reflected on the encounter, she was reminded of how the spirit of one of her unreleased songs seemed fit for his voice.

The singer-songwriter says she went "out on a limb" and sent the Kingston, Ont.-born "Summer of '69" hitmaker a demo alongside a proposal that he join her on the track. That "wild thought" led to "The Thing That Wrecks You," which captures the two exchanging reflections on the moment a relationship spirals into heartbreak.

Townes is nominated twice at the Juno Awards next month for songwriter and country album of the year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2023.