Top Secrets: The Reklaws on co-writing “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?”

SOCAN has presented The Reklaws with a No. 1 Song Award for co-writing “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?,” performed by Dean Brody,  which reached the peak of the BDS Country Chart on Sept. 26, 2022.

“Where’d You Learn How to Do That?” was written by The Reklaws’ Jenna and Stuart Walker, along with Thomas “Tawgs” Salter and Blake Redferrin (BMI), and is published by Sony ATV Music Publishing and Canadiana Music.

SOCAN Director, Creative, Cameron Kennedy presented the award plaques to Jenna and Stuart Walker on  Jan. 27, 2023, backstage at the History club in downtown Toronto, before their sold-out performance there. Salter will receive his award at a later date.

Click on the image to play the lyric video for “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?”

The Reklaws have only started to give songs to other artists, like Brody, in the past two years. “But you have to be careful, because of the possibility of writer’s block,” says Stuart Walker. “We usually try to keep four or five songs in our back pocket, for ourselves.”

For “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?” it was Brody’s voice that made him the choice. “Jenna had the title in her cellphone,” says Stuart. “It was our first time writing with [Blake] Redferrin, and he sang it at first, with a real Southern drawl, and I tried singing it. But Dean [Brody] has a more country voice – he really had the voice for it – and our manager knew he was looking for songs. We grew up listening to Dean, practically memorized his first few albums, so it’s strange when he now actually texts us.”

“We co-write with Tawgs a lot,” says Jenna Walker. “When you leave a ‘write’ with him, the song is usually ready for radio.”

“He does this thing,” adds Stuart, “where in the middle of a writing session, he’ll stop and ask, ‘Is this good?’” If not, sometimes the session will end, and the songwriters might regroup for another try at a later date. “It can be devastating to stop after working for two or three hours” says Jenna. “But full-time songwriters are in sessions every day, and they might get only one song on the radio after who knows how long. So, sometimes we might be setting the bar too high.”

It definitely worked out for “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?” “I like that it’s the guy [singing the song] not knowing all this stuff that the girl [he’s singing to] does,” says Stuart. Jenna agrees: “I loved how the song is talking about the girl being better at things than him. You can learn a lot about a person by asking that question.”