How to build a music career in Saskatoon
Country music award nominees know how to keep it homegrown
Saskatoon is a long way from Nashville, but two music industry professionals are proving if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
Bart McKay, musician and recording studio owner, and Louis O’Reilly, talent manager, are both nominated for Canadian Country Music Association Awards this year: McKay for keyboard player of the year and recording studio of the year, and O’Reilly for record label person of the year.
“It’s always gratifying. There’s a lot of people doing the same thing as me so it’s always nice when people recognize your work,” says McKay.
“Like they say, it’s nice to be nominated but it’s nicer to win,” O’Reilly laughs.
Both work with country star Brett Kissel, to whom they give a lot of credit.
“The last couple of years it’s been all about Brett Kissel. He’s a great artist. He’s a great guy. He works super-hard, along with his management team,” says McKay.
McKay records him and played in his band as recently as the SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, where Kissel broke ground as the first country performer on the mainstage.
“The crowd was just electric. It was a beautiful evening and they were having a good time. He’s a great entertainer. He gets the crowd going and he’s got a lot of energy,” says McKay.
Adds O’Reilly: “I’ll put Brett’s show up with anybody’s in any genre.
“I work with artists who possess two qualities: a great heart and great art,” says O’Reilly. “Brett possesses both. He’s a great human being and he’s a fantastic artist. And his work ethic is second to none.”
McKay and O’Reilly make Saskatoon work for them in different ways. When McKay has a recording project coming up, he brings musicians in for the session. The results trump the location.
“If you can put out a good product and you have success with it, people will recognize that and they’ll maybe want to work with you.”
O’Reilly, who moved his family to Nashville for five years before returning, spends a lot of time on the road. He calls it “the hierarchy of personal impression.”
“The best way to make an impression is to meet face to face. The second is a phone call and the third would be an email or a text.”
One recent week, he had four days in Toronto, two days in New York and a couple in Ottawa. Then it was home for the weekend before another trip, this time to Toronto and Nashville.
Not surprisingly, McKay and O’Reilly admire each other.
“He’s one of the top keyboard players in Canada, so he has the musicality,” O’Reilly says of McKay. “He has the technical skills. And he’s got a vision for the sound. And he’s a great guy. He has great ideas but he’s able to get them across in a way that’s not arrogant.”
McKay praises O’Reilly’s dedication.
“He immerses himself in all the projects he does. I think he must rarely sleep because he puts a lot of hours into everything he does.”
Having the CCMAs in their own backyard is something both look forward to.
“Saskatoon is a hotbed of Canadian country music and country music fans,” says O’Reilly.
“We’re still tied to the land, and country music is still tied to the land.
“It’s very satisfying as an artist or a manager or industry person to come to a place like Saskatoon and see the groundswell of support for the format and the artists.”
It’s very satisfying as an artist or a manager … to come to a place like Saskatoon and see the groundswell of support