Spot in Willie Nelson’s fest thrills Lightfoot
Rootsy rocker’s live show wins fans — but she’s ready for a break from the touring grind
Terra Lightfoot is about to rub shoulders with Willie Nelson, and she couldn’t be more thrilled.
Indeed, when the mega-talented Hamilton singer, songwriter and guitar goddess first learned she’d been invited to join the bill at the Red-Headed Stranger’s roving Outlaw Music Festival at the Budweiser Stage Sunday, Sept. 9, all ladylike decorum went out the window.
“I will admit to you that my managers called me into their office and said, ‘We have something to tell you and we would like you to sit down.’ And I sat down and they told me who I was opening for and, honestly, I ended up on the floor of the office rolling around with excitement,” laughs Lightfoot. “It was so unexpected, like the last thing I ever would have expected to happen to me. So it definitely feels cool.”
Lightfoot has reason to be excited. For one thing, this weekend’s Outlaw Fest bill is amply stacked with rootsy talent above and beyond Willie Nelson and the Family Band.
Also featured this Saturday are Tedeschi Trucks Band, Sturgill Simpson, Particle Kid and Willie’s son Lukas Nelson’s band, Promise of the Real.
Lightfoot’s a big fan of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, too, and has never seen any of the other performers, including Willie, play live, so you can fully expect her to be squealing with delight the entire day. But merely being mentioned on the same marquee as Willie Nelson is enough.
“I can’t believe the songs he’s written. Of course he’s a performer, but he’s a songwriter, man,” she says. “The greatest thing I love about him is how many people identify with him and his songs, and how many people can have their hearts opened by his music. He’s so incredible to me. He’s such a talent. Usually the greatest songwriters don’t get to walk on the stage. He’s one of them who does.
“I honestly never expected this to happen. I don’t know how else to say it. It feels like a dream to me as much as it does for everyone who’s been sending me messages and calling me and telling me how excited they are.”
This Outlaw Fest booking will likely pay dividends for Lightfoot professionally, too.
To see her perform is to become a fan. That’s how it’s been working for the past few years, anyway. Since turning heads nationally with her ace sophomore record, 2015’s Every Time My Mind Runs Wild, Lightfoot and the rest of her power trio (Eli Abrams on bass and Joel Haynes on drums) have landed one highprofile tour after another on the strength of her live show, picking up high-profile opening slots for the likes of Bruce Cockburn, Blue Rodeo and Whitehorse. It’s almost a guarantee that she’ll wind up impressing some of the Americans on Saturday’s bill and opening even more doors for herself. Yes, Lightfoot is that good. Also a bit of a charmer. She’ll work the room, as it were.
Not a bad way to wind down the merciless touring schedule she has observed since releasing the alternately tough and tender New Mistakes last year, then. She has roughly one more month of dates in the States with New Brunswick bluesman Matt Andersen, Halifax rocker Matt Mays and resurrected ’90s combo Toad the Wet Sprocket ahead of her and then it’s time to start thinking about the next record — which, unlike the vivid travelogue that was New Mistakes, will not be written in hotel rooms and the back of vans if Lightfoot has anything to say about it.
“We were so busy this last run,” she says. “At one point, I left April 7 and didn’t return until July 10 or something. It was my first three months away from home with no breaks and that was so busy I couldn’t find time to just kinda let inspiration wash over me. It was just ‘get in the van.’ No time for yoga.
“Part of me wants to be like Hunter S. Thompson, where I just go and experience everything and just throw it all down on paper. But I think, knowing what I know now and having a couple of records under my belt, I feel more like giving this next one some time and some attention and actually trying to connect some ideas instead of just going ‘Hey, here it is! It’s done!’ ” Ben Rayner is the Star's music critic and based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ihateBenRayner