Sometimes only fate can be credited with making certain reunions happen.

That is arguably the case with the reunion of rock 'n' roll legends Randy Bachman and Fred Turner -- the powerhouse duo behind Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Bachman was working on a rock album with Neil Young and other greats when he realized one track he wrote, "Rock and Roll is the Only Way Out," would work well with Turner's voice.

"You could hear Fred's voice on the song" before it was even recorded, Bachman said. "I wrote it and thought this was an anthem and was perfect for Fred. I sent to him and when I called him back he said, 'Do you have any more songs?' "

Fast-forward to the duo's first new single in 20 years, "Rolling Along," and a new Bachman album to follow in September. The new album's name might not yet be available, but Bachman and Turner are, at least in concert, as they cross the United States playing new tunes and BTO classics.

If you go Bachman and Turner Where: Wolf Trap Filene Center, 1645 Trap Road, Vienna When: 8 p.m. Wednesday Info: $25 to $42; wolftrap.org

"We've sung together for a long time," Bachman said. "We fit together. It's all just a lot of fun." Bachman was at the end of his tenure as a member of the 1960s supergroup The Guess Who when he formed the band Brave Belt with his brother Robbie Bachman on drums. Turner soon joined the band on bass and, the group veered away from its early soft rock sound.

The group became Bachman-Turner Overdrive -- simply BTO to fans -- in the 1970s and went on to record many hits including "Taking Care of Business" and "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet." BTO's 1974 release "Not Fragile" hit No. 1 on the album charts.

One reason the sound of the new Bachman-Turner song is so reminiscent of BTO's earlier work is because of the equipment used.

"This is the lost [album] of BTO's great hits," Bachman said of the new sound. "I saved all of my gear from the '70s and have 600 guitars and 40 amps all from the '40s, '50s and '60s," he said. "They are all vintage instruments and they sound vintage."

Not that Bachman and Turner didn't use a stereo drum track and other more modern technology. But using the vintage instruments as the backbone of the recording was a way to keep the duo's pulsing signature sound as vibrant as possible.

After all, Bachman well recalls how teenagers on Dick Clark's television show "American Bandstand" would rate songs.

"They always liked one when they said, "It has a great beat and we can dance to it,' " Bachman said. "The [song] that won was simple. ... Those [type of songs] were the best of us."