Singer-songwriter Jeffery Straker releases hopeful new single “Carry on with Grace” from the album “Great Big Sky”

Sometimes a musician will have a moment of epiphany while on tour, in the studio, or simply sitting next to a piano or guitar. In the case of Saskatchewan singer-songwriter Jeffery Straker, it happened after he slipped and fell on a patch of ice while jogging in Regina. That fall was the starting point for “Carry on with Grace,” the latest single from Straker’s new album, Great Big Sky.

“I quickly got up, a little embarrassed, brushed the snow off and kept walking – sort of hoping that not too many people had seen me fall,” Straker says of the fall, which left him with no injuries other than a slight to his dignity in front of a few onlookers. “Some of the chorus immediately started writing in my head. I remember thinking, ‘Isn’t that the stuff of life – we all fall down and make mistakes in front of our friends and our community. But all we can do is pick ourselves up, carry on and try not to be too depressed.'”

“Carry on with Grace” is a polished, flawless, leisurely-paced gem that finds Straker delivering with equal gentleness and power. The arrangement was crafted by album producer Steve Dawson on banjo, acoustic guitar and dobro, and is underlined by Straker’s lyrics encouraging the listener to never give up.

Some miles will feel like you are trying to climb a mountain
But this is just your chance to show that you have what it takes
If you fall, you do not fail, that is just part of finding your way
Shake off the dust and show them that you can move on, move on with grace

Another aspect that energizes the song is Straker’s piano playing on “Moira Rose,” the name of his 1910 Heintzman piano that he used when recording “Carry On with Grace.” “We miked her in my house in Regina, and her lively, bright, tinkly tone was just right for the mood we were trying to achieve,” Straker says.

The single sounds like it fell into Straker’s lap (no pun intended), and as if it was created as quickly in the studio as it was in the musician’s head. Straker (who finished the song the same day he fell) is particularly proud of the lyric: “Life is a two-step on a tightrope.”

“It’s really figurative,” Straker says of the specific line in the first verse. “I can’t help but see it. I was trying to describe in just a few words how difficult it can be to get everything right in life and not screw anything up. I felt like this captured that feeling well.”

It’s one of the many feelings Straker captures well on Great Big Sky. The 10-track album is a beautiful roots-folk journey through growing up on the Canadian prairies, growing older and remembering the good (and not so good) times life can throw at you.

“Great Big Sky is about being lost and then found again. It’s a whisper painted on a giant canvas, and it’s gratitude for not knowing all the answers but being able to ask all the questions,” says Straker. “I sing about the prairie sky, which I find endlessly inspiring, the rolling hills of Touchwood where I grew up, grain elevators on the prairie, and how I used to make bets playing rock-paper-scissors as a kid. Memories of coming out as gay also play into the songwriting. All of these things have shaped me.”

Inspired by singer-songwriters such as Murray McLauchlan, Billy Joel and Joni Mitchell, and in a similar vein to Canadian songwriters such as Danny Michel and Royal Wood (both of whom produced Straker on earlier recordings), Straker’s lyrics sometimes paint pictures of days gone by. Whether it’s the demolition of farmhouses and community centers described in songs like the poignant “More Than Two By Fours and Timber,” or childhood memories in the piano-led, waltz-tinged “Take Me to the Touchwoods,” Straker’s vignettes tug at the heartstrings.

Great Big Sky is dedicated to Glen Straker, Jeffery’s father, who passed away in 2023. The good thing about this death is that the musician was able to play several of these songs at his father’s bedside in the last hours before his death. “The last thing we did together was make music with Dad,” says Straker. “We spent so many years making music together in our house. It was wonderful and of course sad to say goodbye with these songs. Whenever I play them now, I am back in that moment.”

Straker wrote eight of the 10 songs, while co-writing the other two: “Sing Your Song” with Lynn Miles and “The Time You’ve Got” with Beverley Mahood and Mac Shepherd. The singer also had some capable musicians on hand to record at Dawson’s The Henhouse studio in Nashville, including Dawson, drummer Jamie Dick (Allison Russell) and multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplin (Nanci Griffith). Looking for the perfect producer and studio to refine and execute his folk/roots approach on Great Big Sky, Straker focused on Dawson and “recorded the tracks live.”

The end result is an album that will appeal to fans old and new, and will seduce any folk/roots music lover who loves beautifully spun, soulful stories. It’s also an attempt to embody the fact that time should be valued. “The death of both my parents has made me so aware of time: how precious it is and how important it is to use it wisely,” says Straker. “I feel lucky to have been raised by a loving mother and father in a beautiful place. A place that reminds me, inspires me, uplifts me and grounds me.”

With his new studio album, a new single, and a slew of tour dates (including a Prairie Skyscraper Concert Series around and in various grain elevators in Saskatchewan), Jeffery Straker’s future looks secure and stable. Expect the Regina-based musician to handle it all with grace.

Great Big Sky – Tracklist
1. Some say it is only a heaven
2. Take me to the Touchwoods
3. Carry on with grace
4. More than two times four and wood
5. Better than what we found
6. Rock, Paper, Scissors
7. Brand new light
8. The time you have
9. Sing your song
10. Dandelion

Jeffery Straker tour dates
July 4, 2024 – Concert at Elevator – Riverhurst, SK (Prairie Skyscraper Concert Series)
July 5, 2024 – Horizon Elevator (with train ride) – Horizon, SK (Prairie Skyscraper Concert Series)
July 6, 2024 – Concert at Elevator – Gravelbourg, SK (Prairie Skyscraper Concert Series)
July 7, 2024 – Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village – Moose Jaw, SK (Prairie Skyscraper Concert Series)
July 11, 2024 – Sasktel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival – Main Stage – Saskatoon, SK
July 13, 2024 – Craven Country Thunder-Songwriter Stage – Craven, SK
August 16, 2024 – House Concert – Markham, ON
August 17, 2024 – Concert – Kagawong, ON
September 5, 2024 — Southminister Steinhauer United Church — Edmonton, AB
September 7, 2024 – Hood Fest – Calgary, AB
September 14, 2024 – Darke Hall – Regina, SK
15 September 2024 – Strasbourg, SK
September 21, 2024 – Little Red Wagon Winery – Shawville, QC
September 24, 2024 – Hugh’s Room – Toronto, ON