Blake Berglund released a collection of songs earlier this year that he hopes will challenge listeners’ individual views
REGINA – Blake Berglund had something to say about Saskatchewan politics so he said it — in songs.
What’s Left of the Right is a 20-song concept album released earlier this year as “an attempt to find my way through my own political conditioning,” said the musician from Kennedy, Sask.
Growing up on a Saskatchewan farm lent itself to certain ways of thinking.
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“My dad was a pretty hard-core right winger,” Berglund said.
“I would argue with him and really get into the muck with him. I wasn’t dedicated to either side.”
However, he said he has always been able to see both sides.
Through more than 20 years of touring, he formed his own thoughts while in new and different environments. He said he has voted on both sides of the political spectrum and believes a society is healthy when there is fluidity of opinion and willingness to change.
Both left- and right-wing parties approached him to run before the 2020 Saskatchewan election, but he didn’t feel connected to either.
“I think I would be a dissenting voice on both sides of the spectrum with the parameters that both sides place on themselves,” he said.
That said, he admits there could someday be a place for him in politics, but for now his lyrics are the most effective and authentic way to communicate.
“I’m more interested in policy and governance than I am in politics,” he said, adding there is too much emphasis on the latter.
“My way of breaking through that is by clarifying my message and being on stages in rural Saskatchewan and speaking from the heart.”
The record was written mostly in 2019 and fine-tuned during the pandemic, when he could devote a significant amount of time to it. When it was released this past spring, Berglund chose to spend time on his family’s farm, helping his siblings seed and later harvest, rather than tour.
“I’d like to say I’m as good a farmer as a musician, but that’s not true,” he said.
“I’m lucky to work with my brother and sister.”
He calls the album a rural memoir. It’s about farming and politics, family dynamics and more. He takes shots at corruption, greed, weak leaders and those with their own agendas. Issues that arise in one song are resolved in others.
In the context of the current election campaign, he thinks the lyrics could challenge some individual views.
“The album is dialectic, exploring opposing views to come to a unifying conclusion,” he said.
“My intent is to challenge the political conditioning in our province, full stop.”
Take the rural-urban divide, for example.
He said it’s a narrative pushed to sow more division. When he is on stage, he sees far more similarities among rural and urban audiences. They share a spirit he defines as populism.
Saskatchewan has always been a populist province, he said, and should own that.
He added artists have a role in prompting further conversation about the world’s complexities. He is gathering more of his ideas, many of which he publishes on The Straight & The Narrow on Substack, for a book.
