Just Us Folk

When my wife, Kate, was an elementary teacher, her students ordered books each month through the Scholastic Book Club. It was an affordable way for those in her class to get literature geared to their age group. Many of the books had covers which used a similar template so they fit together as a collection. Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Terra Spencer has followed the same concept for her albums, including her latest, Sunset. Each album has a plain-coloured background with a circle in the middle containing a photograph.

“When I made my first album, Other People’s Lives, I didn’t know if I would be making more albums. But in case there were others, I had the feeling they would all belong together. The records would be a continuation of a story, rather than starting from scratch every time.”

This new edition of Terra’s story was put together with Dave Gunning.

“Dave feels like the brother I always wanted,” she said.

The tracks were recorded at Sonic Temple Studio in Halifax, a space Terra used for her album Chasing Rabbits.

“It’s a love letter, in a way, to the studio,” she said. “I loved the piano there. When I heard the studio was going to be closing its doors, I busted in with a band, and in a few days we recorded as many songs as we could.”

Sunset was then finished at Dave’s Wee House of Music studio in Pictou.

Terra said the spirit of the new album is collaboration, which is reflected in the songwriting and the singing. She co-wrote ‘Seventeen’ with Erin Costello and Carleton Stone while ‘Other Side Of Goodbye’ was written with Matt Andersen. Added to that are duets with Ian Sherwood, Ryan Cook, Stephen Fearing, Stewart Legere, Pillow Fite and Matt Andersen (but not on the song they co-wrote).

In many ways, Sunset is a step further along from Terra’s last album, Old Ways, which she recorded with Ben Caplan.

“I think working with Ben convinced me of the joy of collaboration,” she said.

In putting the album together with Terra, Dave Gunning faced somewhat of a different dynamic than he might have been used to.

“In a sense, the fun of working with Dave was that I gave him a lot of limitations,” Terra said. “He has some of the best ears in the business for music. What you usually hear from him is flawless. What I wanted to do was give him the exact opposite.”

The songs from the Sonic Temple sessions were recorded live off the floor without the use of a click track and so were kind of rough sounding.

“I arrived at his house with these recordings where there wasn’t a lot you could do to manipulate them after the fact,” she said. “It was a very old-school recording process in that way.”

The release of Sunset is her fourth album in a career that started in 2018 with Other People’s Lives. In that time a lot has been learned and accomplished. She toured Europe and Canada as a part of country/folk artist Ryan Cook’s band, her albums have been nominated for both Canadian Folk and East Coast Music awards. She’s up for three ECMAs this year.

As a songwriter Terra won the Commonwealth Song Contest for ‘Brick And Mortar’ and the Blues and Roots International Song Contest for ‘Feels Like Home’ and was a finalist for the John Lennon Songwriting Contest with ‘At Your Service’. She was also a contributor to David Francey’s album The Breath Between, winning a Juno Award in the process. Sunset was named the Penguin Eggs/Roots Music Canada “Critics’ Album of the Year” in a tie with Julian Taylor.

“I still feel like a new kid on the block in a way,” said Terra. “But the confidence I feel comes from the songs themselves. It’s not really from my handling of them.”

Terra credits what she calls “the family of folk,” fellow songwriters and performers plus audiences, for embracing her music. She also credits them for improving her musicianship.

“There is something different about what you do in the house, what you do in front of a microphone or what you do in front of an audience,” she said. “For me it has a new electricity. You breathe differently, you carry yourself differently.”

Working with people like Dave Gunning and Matt Andersen has motivated Terra to write songs that force her to play at a greater degree of difficulty.

Still feeling like a newcomer on the music scene means Terra’s still in what she calls the “honeymoon phase” when it comes to touring.

“I’m happy to play as much as I can,” she said. “But if it didn’t work for my family back home none of this would work, period.”

Sometimes her husband, Andrew, is able to come along on tour to make it sort of a mini-holiday. Last fall Terra was able to be home for Thanksgiving Day to cook the turkey before heading back on the road the next day.

“Those moments have a new weight now,” she said. “You lean into that family time a little bit more deliberately than I used to.”

Having just finished touring the U.S. with David Francey, Terra is set to go on the road with Kim Dunn for selected dates from March to June along her own solo gigs.

For more on Terra Spencer and Sunset, go to https://terraspencer.ca/