Jeffery Straker brought his charm, his homespun stories, and his musical brilliance to Humboldt with his “A Very Prairie Christmas” Tour. The tour criss-crosses the province having just wrapped up a show in Wynyard the day before.
Brian Grest of Arts Humboldt introduced Straker with warm reminisces of Straker as a grade 9 kid banging on the piano in the music room of the school in Punnichy where Grest taught. Years later, it came as no surprise, Grest mused, that Straker had parlayed his talent into a musical career.
Straker, accompanied by three gifted musicians, including his sister who celebrated her birthday with the crowd, cut a wide swath through all types of seasonal songs. Audiences delighted in some of his “off the beaten path” choices. One was a Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton offering, familiar to those of a certain vintage, “I’ll Be Home With Bells On.” He followed it up with the familiar “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” before pulling out an old Roger Miller gem, “Little Toy Trains.”
Straker’s ease with a crowd had the audience laughing and spontaneously clapping along. He stitched the songs together in a tapestry of prairie experience, so familiar to audience members. Whether it was blowing the breakers in the Hazlet Hall amid the aroma of cooking cabbage, or pining after an Easy-Bake Oven a Christmas with a zeal that would match Ralphy’s desire for a Red Rider BB gun, Straker’s tales struck all the right chords.
There was room for some of Straker’s original compositions, including the haunting “One Foot on Main Street,” that speaks to anyone who grew up in a prairie town.
Straker continues his seasonal songfest in other Saskatchewan communities throughout the month.