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0:00/3:03
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0:00/3:48
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0:00/3:40
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0:00/3:44
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Twenty Years In 4:160:00/4:16
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Coyotes 5:200:00/5:20
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At Your Service 2:550:00/2:55
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The Circus 3:530:00/3:53
“Friggin' wicked. ” - Matt Andersen
BIOGRAPHY
Bad ideas, VCRs, crumbling factories, hairy dogs, questionable tattoos...all are fair game for funeral director-turned-songwriter (and 2026 Canadian Folk Music award winner for English Songwriter of the Year) Terra Spencer. The songs are good ones, judging from the accolades her four albums have received, and from the caliber of collaborators like Ben Caplan, Dave Gunning, and David Francey, who welcomed Terra as a co-writer and performer on his JUNO-winning album 'The Breath Between'. Cinematic storytelling is a hallmark of many great Canadian folk songwriters, but in Terra's case, it is charged with the wood-paneled '70s warmth of Elton John, Karen Carpenter, and Jackson Browne. As a fun-loving and fearless solo performer, Terra has played some of Canada's most renowned festival stages, including Mariposa, Stan Rogers Folk Festival, and Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, where her Maritime waltz "Lunenburg Moon" has become an unofficial anthem. Think Steve Poltz and Carole King's East Coast cousin.
Terra’s passion for songwriting came later in life, after being hired on as a backup singer while scooping ice cream at a festival by country performer Ryan Cook. Their travels set the stage for Terra's solo debut in 2018, blooming into a career that quickly overshadowed her funeral ambitions, taking her across Canada and to the US, UK, and Germany, often in the company of the cream of Canadian folk.
Featuring guests including Matt Andersen, Stephen Fearing, and Ian Sherwood, Terra's fourth album 'Sunset' was named the 2024 Penguin Eggs Roots Music Canada Critics' Choice Album of the Year (alongside Julian Taylor's 'Pathways') and 2025 Music Nova Scotia Folk/Roots Recording of the Year, and garnered her ECMA nods for Folk Release and Roots Release of the Year and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for Solo Artist of the Year.
Her next project, ‘Conviction’, is a provocative collection of vignettes of justice and faith (and the failures of both) in a small town, set for release in spring 2027.
Although her butterscotch voice, deft fingerstyle guitar, and gospel-charged piano make her a formidable musician, it's her onstage ease, spirited spontaneity, and crackling East Coast wit that make each show feel like a knee-to-knee conversation in a room of 5 or 500, on either side of the Atlantic. “The real deal.” - Ron Sexsmith
100 WORDS
Bad ideas, VCRs, crumbling factories, hairy dogs, questionable tattoos...all are fair game for Nova Scotian funeral director-turned-songwriter Terra Spencer. And the songs are good ones, judging from the accolades her four albums have received, and from the caliber of her collaborators, which include David Francey, Dave Gunning, and Matt Andersen. 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. “The real deal.” - Ron Sexsmith
50 WORDS
Raised on the mud banks of the Avon River, award-winning Nova Scotian funeral director-turned-songwriter Terra Spencer charms audiences with her deft guitar, gospel piano, butterscotch voice, crackling wit, and wood-paneled warmth. Her startlingly intimate songs have caught the eye of collaborators including David Francey, Stephen Fearing, and Matt Andersen. Every show is a knee-to-knee conversation with a natural storyteller. “The real deal.” Ron Sexsmith
SAMPLE MUSIC
“Years ago I played a show in Halifax and a young artist named Terra Spencer opened the show. Terra is a superb writer and a beautiful performer who harkens back (in my mind ) to the golden age of 70s folk-pop – with a unique, effortless voice… she just goes from strength to strength and her current release Sunset is worth repeated spins. ” - Stephen Fearing
“Terra Spencer is a sparklingly intelligent writer, open-hearted, insightful and eloquent. As natural a poet as ever put pen to paper and a soul as beautiful as her melodies would imply.” - David Francey
