Blake Berglund, a musician originally from Kennedy, SK will be performing Saturday, Aug. 24, alongside his wife, Belle Plaine on the Bow Valley Outdoor Stage in Oxbow as part of their “Denim Wedding Tour”. Tickets are available at Michael’s Coffee Shop in Carlyle, Oxbow Credit Union or by calling Riley Singleton at 306-577-5091.
Below are
BELLE PLAINE
Belle Plaine is a singer/songwriter who was raised on the Canadian prairies near the hamlet of Fosston, Saskatchewan – population: 45. Belle’s reverence for artists who defy categorization has led her to create a brand of roots music that combines vintage blues and swing tones of the 1940s with classic country styles made popular in the heyday of the Grand Ole Opry.
As an avid collaborator she has performed her music with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, was a guest vocalist on Colter Wall’s breakthrough debut album, Imaginary Appalachia, and saw her co-writing and harmony-singing chops featured on Blake Berglund’s latest record, Realms.
Belle’s 2018 album Malice, Mercy, Grief and Wrath highlights her tremendous voice and prodigious songwriting abilities, and showcases her varied musical influences from Link Wray and the Everly Brothers, to Cole Porter and Gillian Welch. The record was produced by Jason Plumb [The Dead South]. While the album contemplates the ephemeral nature of life, it also manages to address themes that are persistently unfolding in our lives: forgiveness, redemption and hope. Malice, Mercy, Grief & Wrath was named Album of the Year at the 2018 Saskatchewan Music Awards, and Belle is currently nominated for Roots Solo Artist of the Year in the 2019 Western Canadian Music Awards.
Press quotes:
• “Cheeky, cheesy and wildly charismatic” Rolling Stone
• “Belle crochets a wonderful mix of old country, classic western, alternative rock, and jazz swing to create a beautiful blanket of music that is an artistic keepsake.” No Depression
• “By the myriad of reference on the album it’s obvious Plaine is a student of folk and country traditions, though the album is anything but pastiche.” American Standard Time
• “If this album were a house, it would loom large, stand Gothic and you would find its heart in a foyer that holds a grand piano.” Exclaim
BLAKE BERGLUND
With his fifth full-length release, Realms, Blake Berglund exposed the common ground occupied by the Cowboy and the Mystic. However, despite its esoteric nature, a relatability shines through as voiced by average characters with not so average abilities to tell their stories.
Born and raised on the edge of Saskatchewan’s Moose Mountain Provincial Park, Berglund’s childhood responsibilities of tending to two-hundred head of horses with equal amount cattle gave the work ethic and risk management to approach a career from ‘outside of the box’. Whether it be selling over 11,000 albums literally door-to-door or turning his back on mainstream fashions dictated by the “country music” industry, he has forged a path unique to itself.
Berglund’s psychedelic country is delivered in a road-worn manner by his long time band The Vultures, a hot-shot group of twangsters whom have honoured country music traditionalisms while pushing their innovations for almost a decade. A tour schedule that regularly exceeds a hundred performances a year has seen Berglund alongside Marty Stuart, Dwight Yoakam, Tyler Childers, Belle Plaine, The Dead South and Colter Wall. The latter three as part of a movement coming from within the borders of their home province of Saskatchewan.
2018 saw the nuptials with previously mentioned, Belle Plaine – further tightening up the collaborations between the two that have resulted in countless tours, co-writes, music videos and limited-edition releases. Berglund, contributing to Plaine’s 2018 critically acclaimed release, Malice, Mercy, Grief and Wrath. Other collaborative appearances include Colter Wall’s 2018 Songs of the Plains in a three way vocal event with Wall and Canadian country icon, Corb Lund.
Berglund has nominations and awards from the Saskatchewan Country Music Association, The Western Canadian Music Association, The Canadian Country Music Association and the Independent Music Awards. 2019 expects his anticipated follow-up, The Architect, as well as continued contributions to his travel-blog “The Quest for Real Country Music” - described as Hunter S. Thompson meets Saving Country Music meets Lord of the Rings. Berglund currently resides in Regina, Saskatchewan.
