A gutsy roots-rocker with a big molasses-drenched spill of a voice, Terra Lightfoot doesn’t ask for your musical attention; she bloody well rides over and takes it. It was not always thus, although music has been her constant companion since childhood, with an organ-playing grandmother and rocker aunt. Lightfoot made a tentative foray into solo performance in 2011 with a debut album that was, in retrospect, quiet and polite. Not yet comfortable with fully loosing her octave-spanning, note-bending powerhouse of a voice, showing off her bluesy guitar chops, it took some time as a member of the alt-country Dinner Belles to settle into her musical power. With sophomore album she slipped the leash of "quiet and polite" entirely. A recent tour with an all-female band and crew cemented her commitment celebrating women in music. A trip to Nashville to record her 2020 album Consider the Speed broke the dam wide open. There she quickly poured out over a dozen songs reflecting on life as a touring musician, past relationships, and the death of her grandmother – her most soulful, soul-baring, soul-searching record to date. Wielding her red Gibson SG with consummate swagger, and a voice that is more than a match for it, the power of Lightfoot’s voice and poetry is transporting.
Biography by Shereen Samuels