Brian Sklar was born and raised in Prince Albert and has built a reputation as a world-class entertainer in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Now, Sklar is one of three individuals who will be inducted into the Prince Albert Arts Hall of Fame. He welcomes being recognized by the arts community in his hometown.
“I don’t think there’s a greater honour than being recognized in your hometown,” Sklar said. “My dad always said you’re never a hero or a prophet in your own hometown, and this is kind of proving that wrong. I’m really looking forward to coming for the event.”
Sklar’s credits include 43 albums, numerous chart singles, and over 350 network and syndicated television shows. He got his start as a fiddle player in Prince Albert with the Halderson Family Orchestra, who lived near his home on 27th Street.
“It was an all-instrumental band—a horn band actually,” Sklar said. “I was the only string player in it and we played at the Army and Navy every Friday night. When the bar closed downstairs, they’d stumble upstairs, and that was the dance hall. We played until 4 in the morning.”
Playing with the band earned him $5 a night when he was 15 years old. After that, he started his own band that ran dances at Cloverdale Hall in the winter and the Candle Lake Dance Hall, which was owned by his bassist’s father, in the summer.
“His father bought the hall out there, and so it was a place for us to play,” Sklar said.
Then in 1969, Sklar hit the road with the legendary Freddie Pelletier and has not stopped performing since. He currently plays in three bands” the Western Senators, the Tex Pistols (formerly the Prairie Fire Band), and the Old Time All Stars.
“When I moved to Regina, I had to dismantle the old band because I was going into a day job and I still wanted to play weekends and main events and things,” he said.
“I had one particular member of the band who had a drinking problem and never had a problem with it because he knew that if he showed up drunk once he’d be out, but once I was gone, the boss was gone and it just all fell apart.”
When he moved to Regina he started the Tex Pistols, but the Prairie Fire Band had a great reputation from television appearances like on the Number One West Show, which was filmed in Prince Albert. The Tex Pistols started in November 1995. The name came from a steel guitar player. Sklar registered it and had his son Damon design the logo.
The Western Senators formed in 1973 and have become a famous polka band with appearances on shows like Polkarama.
His third band, the Old Time All Stars, are professional musicians who do not tour anymore and entertain at seniors’ homes.
The Old Time All-Stars include Don Young, Ronnie Pettigrew, Todd Hewitt and Sklar.
“When you think about it, when you hire the Western senators, you’re getting the Tex Pistols plus one or two accordion players. When you hire the Old Time All-Stars, you’re getting the guitar player from the Tex Pistols and me, and then two other veterans,” he said.
Sklar said his best memories of his time are starting his career making his first trip to America and touring with the Canadian Club Entertainers.
“That was the first road band that we had that Freddie and I put together. We played in Minot, North Dakota and never looked back,” he said.
After that, the Prairie Fire Band took off around 1977 to 1982 and played in Texas, Tennessee, Nevada, Nebraska and Florida every winter. He moved to Calgary after he got married in 1970 because he wanted a place with central flights and a larger market.
“Matter of fact, I have done 49 Calgary Stampedes,” he said. “If not for COVID I’d had my 50th a long time ago. We’re working on trying to do it next year.”
One negative memory he had was his inability to say no to playing anything. This led to playing a late shift on a telethon in Pittsburgh ending at 5 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon. They had someone from the hotel watch the bus because they were all tired.
“Came back the next day to set up and everything they could get through the back window of the bus had been stolen. We had to go and find all the new gear. Luckily enough, the one thing they couldn’t get through the window was the steel guitar that would have been pretty well impossible to replace, but I needed a new fiddle. Everybody needed new guitars and stuff,” he said.
“It was all covered by insurance, but it sure did throw a wrench into us.”
The story is one of several included in a book Sklar has been working on for 10 years. Unfortunately, other commitments have kept him from finishing it.
Sklar still works as the President Emeritus of the Regina Musician’s Local, where he does applications for music performance funds for people who are playing in senior homes, hospitals, schools and community events. The role eats of a lot of his time, but he won’t let it stop him from returning to Prince Albert for the induction ceremony.
“That’s always going to be home. I’ve been living in Regina for 31 years this year and when people ask, where are you from? I say, ‘Well, I live in Regina, but I’m from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan’ because I’m proud of my city,” he said.
“When I receive this award my message is going to be, ‘I have never been in a community with so much talent per capita anywhere.’”
Sklar said musicians like guitarist Rod Jansen from Dierks Bentley, Donny Parenteau, Freddie Pelletier and Randle Curry, the steel guitar player with Brad Paisley, show there is plenty of talent in the community.
He added that none of his success could have happened without his wife, who he credited for all of the backstage and behind-the-scenes work with the Number One West Show. This included Immigration work for bands and numerous other parts that people do not see.
Sklar’s television series, CTV’s Number One West, has won six national awards for excellence. The show features Sklar and his Band, with a headline guest each week from the Grand Ole Opry, as well as appearances by notable Canadian country recording artists.
“Anybody who gets an award like this had better remember that it takes a team. I had the hottest band on television on that show, and anybody that sees those videos will never argue that point,” he said.
“It’s important to note that it was all taped live. There was no editing no fixing, what you see on those videos and what you hear is exactly what’s coming off the stage,” Sklar added.
“The whole band was top drawer and that’s something to really be proud of.”
The 2024 Prince Albert Arts Hall of Fame Induction Gala will be held at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre on Friday. The event begins with cocktails at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 5:30, and celebrations and performances at 7:30. For ticket information, please call the E.A. Rawlinson Centre Box Office at 306-765-1270.
Sklar is being inducted along with poet Darcy Blahut, arts educator Lana Wilson, and the Prince Albert Concert Band.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
