Canadian musician to perform Christmas show at Esplanade

By MO CRANKER on November 14, 2020.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker

Medicine Hatters will have the chance to view live music in just under a month.

Canadian musician Jeffery Straker will visit the Hat on Dec. 13 to play the Esplanade as part of his ‘A Very Prairie Christmas’ tour.

Straker is originally from Punnichy, Sask., and now lives in Regina. He has played a number of backyard and café shows in the Hat, but has never taken to the Esplanade stage.

“I know the city well, but the Esplanade will be new for me,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the show.”

Starker released an EP called ‘This Christmas’ on Friday, that includes original and covered work.

“It’s two original songs and a cover of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’,” he said. “Overall it has a roots-folk feeling to it. It’s got piano and vocals at the roots, but it’s surrounded by instruments like the fiddle, steel guitar, banjo, mandolin and the acoustic guitar.

“My sister actually joined in an did the harmonies on the songs – that was so fun to do and really made this extra special for me.”

Straker says his sound has evolved with time.

“It used to be really pop-folk,” he said. “It’s really evolved to this roots-folk sound on its own. I think over time, I’ve just been listening to more music like this and that has shaped my own sound.

“These Holiday songs really fit into that vibe.”

Straker says the concert will be a good time for anyone who enjoys Christmas music.

“There’s so many songs I love to play, it’s hard to fit them all in the time we have every night,” he said. “I tell stories between the songs and try to get the audience engaged into the show.

“My goal is to have people leaving the theatre feeling good, and I think we can all use a bit of that right now.”

Tickets for the concert can be found on http://www.tixx.ca

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