Country musician Jerry Sereda’s album free for a day

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This article was published 21/06/2023 (1189 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jerry Sereda is going the extra mile for National Indigenous Peoples Day.

The Manitoba Métis country singer is letting anyone who wants to listen to his new album, My Favorite Sin, download it free from his website, jerrysereda.com, for today only, rather than the usual route of paying for the record online or subscribing to a streaming service.

“I’ve never done this before. I’ve never given the album away for free and said, ‘Here you go,’ Sereda says. “It’s our gift to people.

“Since I’ve been in music, I’ve never made it rich off of album sales, but if that becomes a barrier to people accessing my music, I would prefer they would just have it, share it, enjoy it and hopefully that brings people out to our shows, hopefully that brings some awareness to our music.”

It’s the second time in three years that Sereda, who taught photography and web design at Sturgeon Heights Collegiate before devoting his career to music, has released an album on National Indigenous Peoples Day.

He dropped Classic Country Couple, which earned him two Manitoba Country Music Award nominations, on June 21, 2021, and planned all along to bring a new one to the public on the same day in 2023.

“That was by design,” says Sereda, who is part of the lineup for Selkirk’s National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration, which is presented by the Manitoba Métis Federation. “It’s a day of importance to Indigenous people and it’s a day that’s very important to me as well.”

The album’s title track, which Sereda co-wrote with Calgary-based producer Troy Kokol and another Albertan songwriter, Duane Steele, has a clever turn of phrase in its chorus. “Who woulda thought in the arms of an angel, I’d find my favorite sin,” Sereda sings.

“We tried to work in the seven cardinal sins and I think they’re all in there. Gluttony: I get a little greedy when you’re with me. Pride: I’m damn proud to call you mine,” Sereda says. “It’s a playful way of saying that you’re a good addition to my life but look at all these things I’m doing now that could be considered sinful.”

Also today, Sereda is releasing the video of his current single, Lighthouse, which was filmed on Black Bear Island, where an automated lighthouse warns boaters of the island shore and Lake Winnipeg narrows, and in Selkirk, where the old lighthouse, which his grandparents helped operate, now resides as part of the Marine Museum of Manitoba.

The song sounds like a standard country ballad, but Lighthouse holds deeper meaning to him, especially since he spends his spare time in the summer on Matheson Island, Black Bear Island’s larger Lake Winnipeg neighbour.

“I always remembered my grandparents would take me there and tell me stories about the lighthouse and tell me stories about the lake. The lake was an important part of their lives,” Sereda says. “They loved each other so much… That love is symbolic of what I hope everyone gets to have in life.

“There’s been times in my life where I wasn’t sure of myself, or I was lost or defeated or something in life just put me in a bad place. My partner was always the one that was able to turn that around to look for an optimistic result. I told my story through that lens, being able to guide me home.”

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall