About

Sam Drysdale writes songs about the places people go when they need to be alone. Purgatory Cove, his new album, arrives October 23.

Toronto-based singer-songwriter Sam Drysdale pairs a commanding, weathered tenor with emotionally exact storytelling that moves between contemporary folk, Americana, alternative pop and soul. His 2024 breakout “Only The Strong Survive,” written with his mother in mind, generated more than 65 million social views, surpassed 10 million global streams and earned a 2025 Folk Music Ontario Song of the Year nomination. Follow-up single “Cold Water” became his first Canadian radio breakthrough, landing iHeartRadio Future Star and Rogers One to Watch selections while charting across Top 40, Hot AC and AC formats. In April 2026, Drysdale signed with ONErpm Nashville; by September 2026, he had grown to more than 425,000 monthly Spotify listeners.

Born in Kitchener and raised in Guelph, Ontario, Drysdale moved to Los Angeles at 17 to attend Musicians Institute and later lived in Nashville. After “Dear Jane” won Slaight Music’s It’s Your Shot competition, he began releasing music the pop-forward Vicelove (Slaight Music / Warner Music Canada) and Testarossa (Fully Loaded) (Slaight Music) through the return-to-form, guitar-led intimacy of 2024’s Bonnie’s Sad Songs. His new album, Purgatory Cove, arrives October 23, 2026. Led by “A Place” and “The Window,” the record explores heartbreak as a liminal state and the friendships, memories and hard-won perspective that eventually guide us through it.