Skip to main content

Maverick Ad

Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Cover Stories
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Legacy Awards
  • Past Covers
  • Weekly Archive
Folk Artist Jeffery Straker Releases Two Vulnerable Singles – “More Than Two by Fours and Timber” and “Sing Your Song” From New Album Great Big Sky

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • Folk Artist Jeffery Straker Releases Two Vulnerable Singles – “More Than Two by Fours and Timber” and “Sing Your Song” From New Album Great Big Sky
Jeffery Straker
Fri May 17, 2024
Cashbox Canada

With modernization and urbanization comes big changes – and inevitable sadness and nostalgia. Regina, SK-based folk artist Jeffery Straker captures a loss of rural identity in his new single “More Than Two by Fours and Timber,” in which he describes a grain elevator being bulldozed in a small farming town. Check it out on YouTube here:

 It was so much more than two by fours and timber
That last grain elevator was comin’ down today

Under their breath people said good-bye
They tried their best to take it all in stride
They just got used to doin’ it that way

Tinged with sunny sadness and harmonica-laced introspection, the song tells the story of how the town near the grain elevator has also been in decline, and how some of the old buildings are boarded up and the church is no longer in use. The townspeople gather to watch the grain elevator coming down and, in witnessing its fall, a part of ‘them’ and their collective rural identity inevitably crumbles away, too.

The song comes from a very personal place in Straker’s history. “I’m a child of the Canadian prairies, having grown up on a grain farm in Saskatchewan doing all the ‘farm things’ like cleaning the barn and helping with harvest,” he said.

Though not everyone shares Straker’s upbringing, the song’s wistfulness for simpler times and for what’s increasingly becoming a bygone era struck a chord with fans. “The first time I sang this song at a show, I had so many people ask me afterwards if they could get it on an album or find it online – but I was just trying it out,” Straker recalls. “It’s great when a song gets a reaction like that.”

When bringing “More Than Two by Fours and Timber” to life in the studio in Nashville with producer Steve Dawson, Fats Kaplin came in and added a brilliant harmonica part. “It adds a melancholy character to the tune that really suits the song,” Straker said.

Straker becomes even more emotionally vulnerable on his mellow, piano-studded second single “Sing Your Song,” which is about finding strength in letting down one’s guard. Co-written with Canadian folk icon Lynn Miles, the song is about when Straker took a leap several years ago and came out as gay. It’s also, equally, about when he quit his job to pursue a music career.

Check it out on YouTube here:

“It’s hard to say which one was tougher,” Straker reflects. “I thought that music would be a hobby and that I should really pursue a more ‘typical’ career. I didn’t think I had the chops to make a go of it in the classical world, and the idea of being a touring singer-songwriter seemed pretty outrageous at the time, like traveling with the circus. And everyone around me was saying things like, ‘Stick with the security of the real job.’”

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/album/5PV4FxPy6zgcbLHAvFSMYc

I learned it’s ok to not quite belong
That letting down your guard is how to be strong

I was so afraid of getting it wrong
Even if you think your voice ain’t the best
That’s OK it’s yours go right ahead and
Sing your song

Singer-songwriter pianist Jeffery Straker grew up taking piano lessons in small-town Saskatchewan and has gone on to perform more than 100 shows per year across Canada, Europe, and Latin America. The roots-y 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 approach to the piano, his songwriting has drawn critical comparisons to the likes of Harry Chapin, Kris Kristofferson, and Murray McLauchlan while maintaining a style distinctly his own. He’s recorded his roots/folk music for CBC radio’s Canada Live and has seen his songs used in film, TV, and theatrical productions. In 2019, he won a Western Canadian Music Award. Recently he was awarded “Roots/Folk Artist of the Year” at both the 2020 and 2021 Saskatchewan Music Awards and has seen the Saskatchewan Country Music Awards name him “Keyboard Player of the Year” three years running.

Jeffery has emerged from the studio with his latest recording Great Big Sky, which will release in June 2024. Working with Roots/Americana producer Steve Dawson (Nashville), the album delivers a folk-roots singer/songwriter flavour.

His two singles “More Than Two by Fours and Timber” and “Sing Your Song” are available now.

jeffstraker.com

Reviews
Album
Jeffery Straker
Month: Jul 2022
Autopilot Canadian Rockers Autopilot Unleash Their Take on The Cure’s “In…
Brass Camel Mash Genres with Whirling Maelstrom of Sound Across Debut Single, “Easy” Brass Camel Mash Genres with Whirling Maelstrom of Sound Across Debut…
Catia Dignard Toronto Jazz-Folk Songstress Catia Dignard Shares a Personal and…
Craymo Craymo Delivers Reggaeton Remix Of Hit Single, “One Love One…
DADBOD Award-Winning Canadian Artist, Writer, Producer & Director…
Grant Boyer Alt-Rocker Grant Boyer Releases a Fun, Grungy New Single “Alarm Bells…
Jae Ordon New York Jazz-Folk Artist Jae Ordon Muses on Love, Loss and Time’s…
Mike Bern Award-Winning Indigenous Artist Mike Bern Taps Heartwarming Joy…
Tayler Lynn Tayler Lynn Captures the Breathtaking Beauty of Freefalling Into Love on “…
The Scary Loud Power-Pop Rockers The Scary Loud Go Anti-Establishment with…
Whiskey Blind Country Rockers Whiskey Blind Spin a Tale of Love with New “She Means The Most…
Sonny Hendrixx Hip Hop Artist Sonny Hendrixx Collaborates With Daxflow On Direct New…
Zach Oliver Alt-Pop Artist Zach Oliver Releases Summer Single “Coat Check” In…
Lozen - Up Close and Personal Alvia Isabella Nadeau Photography Singer/Songwriter Lozen Debuts Sugary Summer Love Anthem In Her…
Fox Fagan Alt-Indie Darling Fox Fagan Says “Let’s Get Lost” with Release of New Single

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹ Previous
  • …
  • Page 73
  • Page 74
  • Page 75
  • Page 76
  • Current page 77
  • Page 78
  • Page 79
  • Page 80
  • Page 81
  • …
  • Next page Next ›
  • Last page Last »

CEO/PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF
SANDY GRAHAM

email:sandygrahamemg@gmail.com 

Canadian Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Don Graham
email: dongrahamwriter@gmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Lisa Hartt
email: lisahartt87@hotmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada 
Michael Williams
email: greydread@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

International Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Malin Osth
email: malin@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Jonas Tancred
email: jonas@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - USA
Rob Durkee 
email: rockster2746@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web Developer/Technical Support
Chris Wardman

email: info@chriswardman.com
website: chriswardman.com

Cashbox Cover Design and Graphic Artist
Jain McMillan

email: jainmcmillan@gmail.com

Contributing Photographer 
Tracey Savein - South Paw Productions
southpawproductions@rogers.com

 

 

 

Footer menu

  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Archive
  • Issue Archive
  • Past Covers