Saskatchewan’s Blake and Melanie Berglund giving local artists a leg up with new label

A Sask. couple have started their own record label to preserve artistic integrity and support music careers in the province. Damian Smith reports.

Blake Berglund has set the bar high for Western Seer Records Inc.

Berglund and his wife Melanie created the independent label and publishing company last year and his vision for the project is front and centre on the corporation’s website.

The project is described as “dedicated to empowering songwriters, preserving artistic integrity, and building sustainable music careers.”

Talk about setting some lofty goals for an organization starting from scratch.

“Did I write that? I know I didn’t write it,” Berglund said with a laugh during a recent interview at Malty National Brewing Corp. “Those are the goals, and they are what we work towards. One of the main reasons we started this venture is to try and offer something to the fabric of our province in an artistic sense, but also in infrastructure. There’s a plethora of talent in Saskatchewan, as everybody well knows, and Saskatchewan has always supported Saskatchewan.

“To be able to encourage and build a confidence in young artists to remain in the province and leverage some resources to assist with that is one of my most lofty skills.”

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

Western Seer Records has a lengthy list of services it offers, including:

• Strategic leadership across artistic development, publishing, marketing and business growth.
• Direct record production, release strategy, and limited-edition merchandise.
• Lead a creative team of artists, producers, musicians and designers.
• Develop publishing and sync strategies for film, television and advertising.
• Build industry partnerships and secure funding through grants and investors.
• Mentor artists in publishing, songwriting, and career strategy.

Both Blake and Melanie, who performs as Belle Plaine, have extensive experience in the music industry as independent artists.

Blake has released six full-length albums and has supported Marty Stuart, Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Dwight Yoakam and The Dead South at shows across Canada and the United States. A prolific writer, he also is active in the production side of album and film projects.

Melanie has four full-length studio albums to her credit and has performed extensively throughout North America. She also directed the documentary film “Belle Plaine & Blake Berglund: Living From Home.”

A particular set of skills

Travelling the independent road over the years made it necessary for them to learn the ropes on the fly, whether it be writing and recording, booking shows or managing the financial side of their careers.

It turns out that the skill sets they developed as artists are transferrable to running a label.

“Yeah, I think in terms of promotion, and wanting to offer something that engages people, and being able to take the temperature of when it hits you, you know it’s going to hit someone else. I think those are all kinds of transferrable things, but I think that waitressing transfers to stage, so it’s more of a philosophy,” explained Melanie.

Once the decision was made to go ahead with the label, Blake said there were no reservations that made them hesitate about leaping into uncharted territory.

“(There’s) always reservations. Sometimes you just have to honour your instinct. I’ve always loved the creation and the development of art. Whether it is an album, or whether it’s the album artwork, or whether it’s an artist themselves having the opportunity to collaborate with other artists and have them be open to the suggestions that we have in the experience that we have, I find it very fulfilling,” said Blake. “And not to mention everything that we gain from working with other artists with a different experience and a different mindset and a different approach to how they create.”

A creative and marital partnership

In addition to their respective experiences as artists, the pair also bring the dynamic of being married into the business model. They have been successful together as performing musicians, but many married couples would have issues with dealing with their spouses on a daily basis in a business environment.

Does the husband-and-wife dynamic work for the Berglunds at Western Seer?

“Yes, the answer is yes,” said Melanie. “I think in any partnership, like marital or business, it’s most compatible when you can accept that there’s going to be different points where one person leads and one person follows, and that’s going to shift. So, there’s a lot of business visionary things that life leads on, and I don’t think like that, and they open doors, and they get people interested. And then there are times when [Blake will] tell me something, and I will put in my opinion, [he’ll] listen, and that will change the direction of something. That’s where I feel like so it’s subtle. There’s a lot of nuances.”

Blake describes the business union as a “very collaborative spirit in all aspects.” He readily admits to the positive impact that his wife has made on his career and life.

“I have this person in my life with a transformative philosophy, and to be able to see the changes that it has made in me, as a father, as an artist, it’s made those changes in a business aspect, too. That’s something that Mel really brings to the table, a philosophy of business and a philosophy of process and the philosophy of just letting the creation happen and letting go of the outcome,” said Blake, who will perform with Melanie at Regina’s Darke Hall on Feb. 14, 2026. The Valentine’s Day show is part of the Darke Hall Presents Series.

Discovering new talents and what’s next

While their focus is on the label’s growth and development, they are also continuing to write, record and perform. Blake is about to embark on The Trouble With The Truth tour which begins on Nov. 29 with 12 dates stretching to Dec. 13 at various locations throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta.

He will be joined on the tour by Lachlan Neville, a young artist who recently released his self-titled debut album on the Western Seer label.

Produced by Blake, the album allows Neville to demonstrate his unique songwriting ability, a talent that caught Blake’s attention rather quickly.

“When I first heard Lachlan’s writings, it felt like we just stumbled across a once in a lifetime individual. And it’s very easy to scream his praises. I’ll pick up the phone and I will confidently say you have your Townes Van Zandts, and you have your Willie Nelsons, and there’s a Lachlan Neville. However that’s received, they listen to the music, and it’s taken seriously,” said Blake.

While the label is still in its infancy, Blake did take the opportunity during the interview to look into his crystal ball and share how he thinks the company will look in five or 10 years.

“In an unromantic sense, as far as the business model goes, I really want to move more into publishing and into artist development. I love producing records, so that’s always been the thing that drives me on an artistic level, hearing an artist in their most raw state with an acoustic guitar and a voice or a piano or even just a voice. And you can tell when that thing is there, and being able to act on that ‘X’ factor just excites the heck out of me,” said Blake.

“So that’s always going to remain a constant, and in a romantic sense, just being able to continue to contribute to, as I said before, the fabric of this province. There’s so much talent that is coming up and undiscovered, and to be able to build trust with artists that want to take what they bring into the world out into the world, we are very confident that we can build trust with them.”