TERRA LIGHTFOOT CUTS TO THE CORE WITH STRIPPED-DOWN NEW FULL-LENGTH HOME FRONT
Seasoned rocker Terra Lightfoot has a well-earned reputation as a tireless live performer, with a tour history mapped across the globe and awards testifying to every mile logged along the way. To date, Lightfoot's marathon tours have touched down in eight countries across four continents (including support slots for Bruce Cockburn, Blue Rodeo, The Posies, Matt Andersen, The Sheepdogs, and Willie Nelson). She also conceived, created, curated, produced and co-headlined The Longest Road Show, an all-female touring revue.
Most fans would reasonably assume that the singer-songwriter’s natural element is in the spotlight. But even accomplished touring artists like Lightfoot feel the insistent tug of home. That place, which for Lightfoot is a scenic hideaway in Ontario’s Haliburton Highlands, is captured in warm detail on the artist’s intimate new album, Home Front. In stark contrast to the anthemic alt-pop riffs of 2017’s New Mistakes and 2023’s Healing Power (each of which earned the artist JUNO Award nominations and Polaris Music Prize long list nods), this is an unplugged session in more ways than one.
“Home Front was recorded in the living room, on the back porch, in the relaxing moments after dinner or the late evening, when the crickets and peepers were singing their loudest,” says Lightfoot. “This house is a special place. It sits all by itself between woods and streams that go on for acres and acres and a beautiful wetland teeming with wildlife. I find myself living more comfortably in my own bones than ever before when I’m here. There is a deep quiet here, in the house that backs onto the beaver marsh. Blue herons fly, and moose and bears walk the forest path out back. It is a place where I can’t help but be more connected to the natural world. Being so engrossed in the world of loud rock n roll guitar doesn’t leave a lot of space for field recording or softly strummed nylon strings. Home Front is the place I can share all those softer and sweeter moments.”
An early taste of the album’s lived-in material comes in the form of a countrified cover of Treble Charger’s enduring indie rock staple “Red”, the album’s lead single. “I’ve loved this song since I was a kid,” Lightfoot says of the ‘90s radio staple. “I became friends with [Treble Charger’s co-lead vocalist-guitarist, and “Red” lyricist] Bill Priddle when we were both playing in the band Don Vail. We’ve stayed in touch. Bill came out to our show in Sault St Marie last summer. I had the idea to cover this song with him then, and after we sang it together at the festival we were playing, it made so much sense to cut this one for this record.”
“Red” drops August 19, 2025. Home Front arrives October 17, 2025 via Sonic Unyon Records.
Photo by Lyle Bell