Terra Spencer is one of Atlantic Canada’s best songwriters. She’s like Stuart McLean, if you traded in Dave and Morley for a melody and a few stories about some old mill or a bittersweet tale of a faltering relationship. She’s teamed up with Dave Gunning, another one of the East Coast’s great songwriters to perform “Boat Harbour.” The song, in true Spencer fashion, makes reference to old mills and an uncertain future.
Spencer and Gunning took the opportunity to address a very particular topic, namely the Northern Pulp mill which has been a subject of controversy in recent years. As Nova Scotia’s largest pulp mill it has become the center of a heated topic on economy vs environment and was even accused of “environmental racism” as the mill sent effluent into the nearby lagoon at Pictou Landing First Nation.
“I have long admired how Dave Gunning has used his voice over the years to raise awareness of the longstanding situation with Northern Pulp in Pictou County,” says Spencer.
“Like many people, I think, I get stuck on the little details of a story. Reading through personal accounts of how Boat Harbour has changed over the last fifty years resonated with my own ties to the shores of the Avon river, where I grew up and raised my own family, walking my dogs daily along the water where I learned to swim as a kid.
“It means so much to me to have recorded this song with Dave, right in his family’s home in Pictou County, and to have his voice and instrumental skills be heard in the telling of this story, which is still unfolding. The remediation project to clean up Boat Harbour and restore it to a tidal estuary is quite staggering, but not without hope.”
The song is being included as part of a collaborations with Friends of Northumberland Strait, with Maritimes Music releasing an album with tracks from Dave Gunning, David Francey, Catherine MacLellan, Matt Andersen, Emma Stevens and more. The album will be released in November, 2019.
Tour Dates:
10.22.19 – Halifax, NS @ Halifax Central Library
11.02.19 – Windsor, NS @ Mermaid Imperial Theatre*
11.09.19 – Truro, NS @ Maple/Aspen/Birch Ballroom, NSMW
11.23.19 – Halifax, NS @ Art Bar + Projects
11.30.19 – Halifax, NS @ House Concert – 6451 Vienna Street
*with The Bombadils