Terra Spencer

Why we picked it

Bad ideas, VCRs, crumbling factories, terrible therapists, hairy dogs, wrinkled shirts, French fries, questionable tattoos...all are fair game for Nova Scotian funeral director-turned-songwriter Terra Spencer. And the songs are good ones, judging from the stack of awards her three albums have received and from the caliber of her cohorts. They include Dave Gunning, Matt Andersen, and tourmate David Francey, who welcomed Terra as a co-writer and performer on his JUNO-winning album The Breath Between. In September 2024, Terra will follow up Old News, her acclaimed collaboration with Ben Caplan, with a new 12-song solo album called Sunset. Although her butterscotch voice, deft fingerstyle guitar, and gospel-charged piano make her a formidable musician, it's her onstage ease and crackling wit that make each show feel like a knee-to-knee conversation in a room of 5 or 500, where you’ll snort, you’ll blush, you’ll weep. Equal parts “songwriter’s so