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From Dec 6-14 award-winning singer-songwriter-pianist Jeffery Straker will be hitting the wintery roads across Saskatchewan taking his “A Very Prairie Christmas” show on its first multi-city tour. The show has been performed for the past two years at the Casino Regina Show Lounge and has been a hot ticket with both years selling out the 700+ seat theatre. With fans in other Saskatchewan cities and other provinces asking for the concert to travel closer to them,
Straker decided to take that step this year adding dates in Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, North Battleford and Prince Albert.
“Growing up on the farm near Punnichy, a big part of Christmas was time spent together with friends and family making music and sharing stories. Whether it was neighbours bringing instruments over to our farmhouse to play together into the wee hours of the night, singing around the piano, or hearing the sacred Christmas songs in church – there was always a musical backdrop to the holiday season. Great story-telling strung it all together. Those songs and stories have stuck with me and I want to bring some of that to the stage with this concert.”
Featuring classic and contemporary holiday songs, Straker will be accompanied by full band including his sister Jill Straker singing backing vocals. Bringing the Christmas spirit, the concert promises a sing-along or two and attendees are encouraged to wear an ugly Christmas sweater.
Response to the tour has already seen a second night added in Saskatoon.
Often drawing comparisons to a young Billy Joel, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Chapin or Elton John, Straker released his last album “Dirt Road Confessional” in the spring of 2017. He has since toured over 200 shows across Canada as well as Europe and Latin America supporting the work. Recently he performed a tour of 18 rural communities across Saskatchewan, helping to celebrate 50 years of the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils. At home, the singer-pianist has performed his songs multiple times with both the Regina and Saskatoon symphony orchestras and is known as a host and performer on the annual Telemiracle broadcast.
He’s just released the first single, “One Foot on Main Street,” from his upcoming full-length release.
Straker, no stranger to North Battleford, will perform Dec 14 at the Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts.
