By Will McGuirk
Jerry Leger is such a student of music history he will know exactly what it means when I say the Big Time is just around the corner. For those unlike Jerry who don’t, it was a favourite saying of the late Ronnie Hawkins when chatting with his Hawks, the gang of lads destined to be The Band among them.
Jerry Leger also knows the big time is around the corner, he has been championed by the great Ron Sexsmith, who called him one of his favourite songwriters, but while Jerry is waiting to turn that corner, he will continue to write and sing and release records, winning fans one show, one song at a time. He has, if you include his band projects, 16 albums so far. Thats a long corner.
His latest album is Nothing Pressing, witty title given the state of the record industry during the pandemic. He has just issued too, two Christmas songs; his own composition, Christmas Without You, and a cover of the Kinks ‘Father Christmas’
Jerry will be performing these along with others from his catalogue when he performs at Kops Records in Oshawa Saturday Dec 17, kicking off the store’s Jolly Shwally Holidays.
Christmas brings back joyful memories he says, but some bittersweet.
“Fondest memories, Christmas mornings with my older brothers and parents, then we'd go to my Grandparents, and that would be a packed house of a lot of my Mom's family. Another fond memory is waking up before my brothers and having a hot chocolate with my Dad. He would let me open one present while we waited for the others.
Also, when I was 11 or 12, I got all The Beatles albums on CD in that breadbox-style set. That was pretty exciting! I had all the vinyl but they were the Canadian versions and the CDs were my introduction to the UK albums, the way The Beatles intended them. At the time it was the happiest day of my life!”
Jerry has been happy too to get back on the road after the pandemic restrictions. He toured Germany, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, England, Scotland and Spain, and has been gearing up for more Canadian dates but like many artists the cost of touring adds up.
“We had a great and successful 5-week Spring tour overseas, while taking precautions. Maybe we got lucky, I'm sure there was some luck involved. Back here in Canada, it's been hard to get out on the road again, mainly due to touring costs like vehicle rentals and hotels being so inflated. I'm hoping that'll change for all of us, especially those that don't have a lot of money.,” he says.
The Kops Records show starts at 5:30 pm. It is open to the public, PWYC with a suggested donation of $20.