Terra Lightfoot is a Hamilton-based musician performing at this year’s CityFolk Festival. She played the festival in 2015, in its inaugural year as CityFolk. Since that last show, Lightfoot has been hard at work with her song-writing, putting her soulful voice and bluesy guitar style together to craft her newest album.
The Charlatan spoke to Lightfoot about her journey as a musician and what she is looking forward to at this year’s festival.
During her last CityFolk appearance, Lightfoot recalls buzzing with excitement. She was opening for a long-time favourite band of hers—American indie rockers, Built to Spill.
“I remember after the show wanting to get out of their way so badly so that they could play, that I put my guitars down outside without a case,” she said with a laugh.
Now, many artists who were once influences have become friends. Lightfoot describes this as “surreal.”
“Sometimes I forget that I’m friends with people because I respect them so much,” she said. “I’ll introduce myself and they’ll say ‘Terra, give me a hug!’”
At her 2015 CityFolk show, Ottawa fans gave Lightfoot and her band a warm welcome, singing along to tunes from her album Every Time My Mind Runs Wild, released that same year, and her self-titled 2011 release. “We felt very loved,” she said.
Some things have changed between Lightfoot’s last CityFolk show and her upcoming performance. She released New Mistakes, her third album, in 2017, giving her a whole new catalogue of songs to choose from for her stage show.
Her usual approach is to bring new material to the forefront.
“I’m a minimalist and a purger,” Lightfoot said. “I’m actually always in it to play the new song. I have to fight off my band sometimes because I’ll ask to play a song that I wrote two days before and they’ll say it’s not ready.”
But, she said she appreciates fan requests for older material. “I’m always pleased when someone does that,” she said.
Lightfoot has also increased her touring schedule. She recently visited Whistler, B.C. for the first time, and draws inspiration from the unknown that comes with travelling.
“Imagine being somebody who just feels gifted to be everywhere,” she said. “I was in my glory in every single place we visited, and so it was easy to be inspired and to write songs in each place.”
Although receiving attention from excited fans is a change from her past work as a music teacher, Lightfoot says audience connection is something she cherishes about live performance.
“It’s beautiful. I think it’s an energy exchange. I’m trying to give people everything that I have, all my positive energy when I play,” she said. “It’s heavy to go out there and share your emotions, your innermost feelings. And the people that appreciate it really take the time to tell me.”
After CityFolk, Lightfoot is set to join artists like Matt Mays, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Matt Andersen for upcoming tour dates.
Provided photo
