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Sat, Apr 21st, 8-10pm, Concert – Jeffery Straker Singer-Songwriter-Pianist– Folk-Roots-Pop
Honest story songs combined with striking piano/vocal abilities. Echoes of Kris Kristofferson/Billy Joel/Harry Chapin.
Top 10 on iTunes Canada singer-songwriter chart.
Originally from small town Saskatchewan, the classically trained pianist was raised by a church organist mother and auctioneer father. He swears he was born under the piano on the family farm. All this might explain his incredible ability to share songs with audiences. Jeffery is a musical descendant of Beethoven through teacher-student lineage (see his website for the full story). 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 just 19. Jeffery has showcased at major events including Canadian Music Week, NXNE, the Western Canadian Music Awards, & JunoFest as well as countless festivals. He’s licensed songs for TV, film and theatrical use and has appeared on television several times.
“Straker’s CD has traces of some of the best piano-based singer-songwriters of the past 40 years, couched in his inimitable and effervescent style of folk-alt/pop influences” - Calgary Herald
“This great work belongs on the shelf beside the finer recordings of Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, & Elton John”
Mark Rheaume - CBC Radio
www.jeffstraker.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTv0QsvNhTw
Advance $15 (Showdate $20 / Kids $10) now @Rollin Art Centre,
charge by phone (778) 421-2427, online http://bpt.me/3382549
FMI http://alberni.ca/events/29216 https://www.facebook.com/events/1577486872366629/
Char’s Landing 19+ (accompanied kids welcome) 4815 Argyle @5th Port Alberni V9Y 1V9 Tel: 778-421-2427 www.charslanding.com
Jeffery Straker
Singer-Songwriter-Pianist
Singer-songwriter-pianist Jeffery Straker performs over 100 shows per year across Canada and abroad. He has recorded for CBC radio’s ‘Canada Live’, had a music video chart in the top 10 nationally and has toured internationally as far as Peru, Chile and Mexico. His tour stops range from intimate house concerts to club & theatre shows and include folk & jazz festivals. He’s also taken the stage in sold-out concerts of his music performing with multiple symphony orchestras. Canadian Musician Magazine has said, “Very much an artist to watch” while 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”. Listeners are indeed taking note. A significant recent career boost came from winning the prestigious Vina del Mar (Chile) song competition in 2014, representing Canada. Performing live to a festival 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 launched his latest collection of songs, “Dirt Road Confessional” in May 2017 (Acronym/ Universal). The 12-song album put a folk-roots stamp on his singer-songwriter-piano sound with dobro, banjo, & steel guitar entering the mix. Thematically the work is rooted around stories of a musician’s life on the road constantly taking the traveller away from ‘familiarity’, juxtaposed against the human desire for stability and lasting love. The work debuted at #5 on the iTunes Canada singer-songwriter charts and has been played on CBC Radio 1 and 2 (nightstream) as well as college/community radio across the country. CBCmusic has also added several songs to their “Canadian Songwriter” stream. Critically, comparisons have been drawn to Harry Chapin, Kris Kristofferson as well as a young Billy Joel but on Dirt Road Confessional his personal storytelling style stands out distinctly as his own. In addition to extensive cross-Canada touring the artist recently completed a European tour and continues to perform throughout Canada.
What the Critics Say:
“Straker’s CD has traces of some of the best piano-based singer-songwriters of the past 40 years, couched in his inimitable and effervescent style of folk-alt/pop influences” - Calgary Herald
“This great work belongs on the shelf beside the finer recordings of Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, & Elton John”
Mark Rheaume - CBC Radio
Previous releases include his 2015 album “North Star Falling” which reached #9 on the iTunes singer-songwriter charts and drew comparisons to classic songwriter albums of the likes of Harry Nilsson and a young Elton John. In 2012 Straker released his album “Vagabond” produced by Canadian multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter Danny Michel. The release was met with critical acclaim with the Toronto Star giving 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”.
Originally from small town Saskatchewan, the classically trained pianist was raised by a church organist mother and auctioneer father. He swears he was born under the piano on the family farm. All this might explain his incredible ability to share songs with audiences. Jeffery is a musical descendant of Beethoven through teacher-student lineage (see his website for the full story). 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 just 19.
Jeffery has showcased at major events including Canadian Music Week, NXNE, the Western Canadian Music Awards, & JunoFest as well as countless festivals. He’s licensed songs for TV, film and theatrical use and has appeared on television several times. www.jeffstraker.com
Agency: Paquin Artists Agency (Agent: Grant Paley) – Toronto
