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Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Sam Sample and the folk rock comfort and longing questions of "It Takes Two" (feat. Benny Hagerty)

 

"Watch middle American farmlands / ten thousand feet in the sky
 / and the windmills turn so silently and I know you’re just passing by..."



The folk rock comfort and longing questions of "It Takes Two", by Georgia bred / New York based singer-songwriter Sam Sample and featuring Benny Hagerty, wraps around you like the warmth of a firepit against the bewilderment of romantic entanglements. I am loving the earnest sound here and I admit I am kind of a sucker for duets when done right and this is done up perfectly right. Sam brought on Benny Hagerty to sing with and his down home sound against Sam's vocal countenance with it's endearing quality and vulnerable patina fits together in, well, filmic ways. The acoustic rhythm and the bass line that sort of two steps around it moves so well as does the vocal melodies, country-esque electric guitar bends and those beautiful harmonies on the chorus, love when Sam floats into those lovely high registered filled with pathos. 

Sam shares this:

"I wrote this after seeing Bebe Stockwell and Hans Williams live singing, "Speak Too Soon." It inspired me to write a Moldy Peaches "Anyone Else But You" style duet about a romantic relationship I was involved in where I was wondering if he felt the same way, and I wanted to explore both the male and female perspective. I wrote some of it on my plane ride home, hence the lyric. I tried to capture the wistful hopeful vibe. I met Benny online and was happy he was willing to sing on this song with me! It's produced by Taylor James Carroll (known for Something in the Orange with Zach Bryan)."

LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):

[Sam Sample creates music the way she’s built her life—one honest verse, one hard-earned step at a time. Her self-coined genre, AmeriRock, blends Americana storytelling with the grit of alternative and classic rock. Entirely self-made, she’s funded her career through her corporate job, pouring every spare dollar and hour into her craft. Her debut album—recorded between her NYC apartment and Bear Creek Studio with Grammy-nominated producer Ryan Hadlock—has led to sold-out New York shows and a growing reputation for lyrics that land like truth, rooted in her Georgia past and sharpened by her Manhattan determination.]

-Robb Donker Curtius

LYRICS


[VERSE]
[MALE]
Fly away my darlin
You’re a workaholic with an artist’s soul

And you can’t turn off, and you can’t give up control
And I’m doing my best to let you in, like you said

But it goes against my nature, as hard as I push against it

[FEM]

Watch middle American farmlands, ten thousand feet in the sky

and the windmills turn so silently and I know you’re just passing by

And I’ll be fearless for both of us, tell you what I think

And your tight lips will kill me, asphyxiate my brain

[CHORUS — BOTH]

Can I get more time with you?

Can we make one from two?

Could all this hope come true?

Anyways, any day now you’ll
Come to meet me, or we’ll disappear in the blue

Just like we came
It could go away

It takes two

[VERSE – MAN]

You worry you overwhelm me, and I try to settle you

But it’s not my nature, and I like your free bird

And I don’t think like you, but I like that you do

If I could ease all of your worry, you know I’d do

[CHORUS — BOTH]

Can I get more time with you?

Can we make one from two?

Could all this hope come true?

Anyways, any day now you’ll
Come to meet me, or we’ll disappear in the blue

Just like we came
It could go away

[BRIDGE]


[MAN]
(It takes two)

[FEM]
and I don’t know what you think of me

Try to keep my heart at bay

Try to keep my head always holding the reins

[MAN]

(And how’s that working out for you?)

[WOMAN]

And I’m too old for the games

Too tied up to rearrange

But I want you

You know I do

[CHORUS]

[WOMAN]

Can I get more time with you?

Can we make one from two?

Could all this hope come true?

Anyways, any day now you’ll

[BOTH]
Come to meet me, or we’ll disappear in the blue

Just like we came
It could go away

It takes two





The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!




THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 



https://open.spotify.com/artist/678OpPsTeym6J1219VsCSI

https://www.instagram.com/samsamplemusic

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569271647642

https://www.youtube.com/@SamSampleMusic



Sam Sample creates music the way she’s built her life—one honest verse, one hard-earned step at a time. Her self-coined genre, AmeriRock, blends Americana storytelling with the grit of alternative and classic rock. Entirely self-made, she’s funded her career through her corporate job, pouring every spare dollar and hour into her craft. Her debut album—recorded between her NYC apartment and Bear Creek Studio with Grammy-nominated producer Ryan Hadlock—has led to sold-out New York shows and a growing reputation for lyrics that land like truth, rooted in her Georgia past and sharpened by her Manhattan determination.








Sam Sample, folk, indie folk, country, Amerirock, folk rock, alt country, alt pop, singer-songwriter, Georgia, New York, debut album, "It Takes Two" (feat. Benny Hagerty), Bear Creek Studio, producer Ryan Hadlock, romantic, dreamy,

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