Description

A terrific double bill with two great artists.


effery Straker grew up taking piano lessons in small-town Saskatchewan and has gone on to perform over 100 shows per year across Canada, Europe and Latin America. The rootsy-storytelling of his songs has the power to transport a listener ? out onto a lake in Canada?s North or to the main street of a prairie town. A clever lyricist with an energetic piano style, his song writing has drawn critical comparisons to the likes of Harry Chapin, Kris Kristofferson & Billy Joel, while maintaining a style distinctly his own. He?s recorded his music for CBC radio?s ?Canada Live?, has seen his songs used in film, TV and theatrical productions and in 2020 was awarded ?Roots/Folk Artist of the Year? at the Saskatchewan Music Awards. In 2019 he received his first Western Canadian Music Award.

?Very much an artist to watch? ? Canadian Musician Magazine

A musical vagabond, he?s toured internationally as far as The Netherlands, Mexico and Nunavut with tour stops ranging from intimate house concerts to theatre shows as well as festivals. Never one to let ?genre? constrain him he?s also taken the stage in sold-out concerts performing his songs with symphony orchestras. In 2014, an international career boost came from winning the prestigious Vina del Mar (Chile) International Song Festival, representing Canada. Performing to a live crowd of 20,000 people and to a TV audience of 100,000,000 viewers across the Spanish-speaking world, he gained a fan following in Latin America.

Jeffery?s 2017 full-length recording, ?Dirt Road Confessional? revealed a sonic evolution in a more roots-folk direction, accompanying his personal storytelling style. The 12-song album debuted at #5 on the iTunes Canada singer-songwriter charts and played on CBC Radio and college/community radio across the country. Listeners and critics took note. The Chicago Free Press has written, ?Rufus Wainwright, as well as k.d. lang are among the Canadians making essential and beautiful music. Add the name Jeffery Straker to that list?. The Calgary Herald has added praise saying, ?traces of some of the best piano-based singer-songwriters of the past 40 years, couched in his inimitable and effervescent style?.

Straker grew up listening to country music on his parents Saskatchewan grain farm at the same time he was studying classical music and performing full sonatas and concertos by composers such as Beethoven and Grieg. Eventually, the work of fellow Saskatchewan native Joni Mitchell prompted him to begin writing his own material, and Straker?s focus shifted to poetry and hooks. His recent recordings sound, wonderfully, like his influences.

His most recent musical offering is his May 2021 10-song recording, ?Just Before Sunrise?.

Just Before Sunrise is a soundtrack of reflection, evolution and optimism. ?If we can manage to slow ourselves down to take a close look at our past and the changes we?ve been through, there are lessons to be learned. Sometimes I think we don?t allow ourselves to slow down, to maybe ?avoid? glancing back?. The victories and the losses we?ve experienced, inevitably shape our viewpoint and our path. Memories can lift & propel, though they can also weigh us down.?

?My mom passed away in February 2019 and that sudden and unexpected loss had a profound effect on me. In the months after she died I wrote like a madman as there was so much I was feeling & so much to say, that needed to be expressed musically. Part of my remembering the beautiful person she was ? all those great memories ? were almost accompanied by music. As memories surfaced, sounds were there with them. Those sounds helped prescribe the folk-roots flavour of the album actually.? The result of the grieving, questioning, revelation and resolution I experienced has been the ability to look forward, and through that lens the album maintains an overall tone of optimism. It kind of asks the listener, ?Where are you headed? (and)? Where would you like to be headed?? Production was by the talented Russell Broom (Calgary AB). The recording features 2 co-writes with Royal Wood (who also produced on 2 songs).

The album that helped Straker hit the radar of many in Canada was his 2012 critically acclaimed recording, ?Vagabond?, produced by Canadian multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter Danny Michel. It was a thrill to record it on Glenn Gould?s grand piano at the CBC studios in Toronto. The Toronto Star awarded it 4 (out of 4) stars calling it ?one of the most faultlessly conceived and meticulously executed albums in any genre to come out of Canada in a long time?. ?Vagabond? debuted in the top 20 on the iTunes singer-songwriter charts and hit the top 10 on several college radio stations across Canada. Xtra! (Toronto) said of the album: ?like the unexpected yet surprisingly down-to-earth lovechild of Neil Young and Elton John?.

Jeffery is a classically trained pianist raised by a church-organist mother and auctioneer father. He swears he was born under the piano on the family grain farm in rural Saskatchewan. All this might explain his incredible ability to share songs with audiences. He was a student of the Royal Conservatory of Music and received his licentiate diploma in piano performance from Trinity College, London when he was only 19. Straker has showcased at major events including Canadian Music Week, NXNE, the Western Canadian Music Awards, & JunoFest.

Malcolm Macwatt has been getting heaps of praise for his new album ' Settler ".
It included collaborations with people and diverse as Kris Drever and Eliza Carthy.

Description

Scarborough Railway Station,

Scarborough,

North Yorkshire,

England,

YO11 1TN.