Sask. singer-songwriter returns home with series of grain elevator performances

CTV News

6 days ago

Singer/songwriter Jeffery Straker performs in front of a grain elevator at the Sukanen Ship and Pioneer Village and Museum outside of Moose Jaw, Sask. on Aug. 10, 2025. (Sierra D'Souza Butts/CTV News)
Everyone appreciates when local artists come back home to perform – but it's even better when they're singing about their home. That's exactly what Jeffery Straker has been doing on his latest tour across Saskatchewan.
From as far away as Ottawa, fans came out to watch Straker perform.
'I'm here to see my dad who's still part of the community and just found this opportunity to come and have a vibe by a grain elevator,' Chris Hill told CTV News.
Sunday's event saw the singer/songwriter take the stage outside of a historic elevator at the Sukanen Ship and Pioneer Village and Museum, located south of Moose Jaw.
'He sings a lot about the small town and the Prairies and the farmers. Hats off to those people working,' Hill added.
Helen Whitfield, another audience member, was excited to see both Straker and the venue.
'It's great for rural Saskatchewan because we're losing our grain elevators, and it's sad fact,' she explained. 'I just had to come and see his tour.'
'It really takes you back to small town Saskatchewan where we grew up. Lots of good memories,' fan Leanne Moerike added.
Originally from Punnichy, Sask. Straker is sharing his passion of music and appreciation of farming through his latest endeavour, the Prairie Skyscraper Concert Series.
'There's such an attachment to these things in the rural communities because they still sort of symbolize that. They symbolize an agricultural community,' Straker told CTV News.
The series saw the musician perform at seven different sites across Saskatchewan. Straker says the 'prairie skyscrapers' bring him back to his childhood.
'There's a real interest in these [elevators] around the province and my heart is in these things in particular, because my first ever paying job was in the wheat pool elevator in Punnichy, cleaning out the boot of the elevator,' Straker recalled.
Although this year's tour has wrapped up, Straker says he will continue to carry his prairie pride abroad.
'I toot the Saskatchewan horn wherever I go,' he said. 'Everyone loves that I'm singing these songs about the Prairies, you know?'