Terra Spencer's bold choice leads to new album with Ben Caplan

Terra Spencer is a perfect example of, 'if you don't try, you'll never know.' The Maritime musician has just released a new album with one of her dream collaborators.

“Old News” is a co-album by Spencer with acclaimed Halifax musician Ben Caplan.

“It’s a bold-faced move on my part,” Spencer told CTV Atlantic’s Katie Kelly during a recent interview.

“I had this tune I’d written and I picked my dream person to sing it -- and it was Ben. I reached out to him even though I didn’t know him at all.”

Spencer says Caplan was “so gracious” during their first meeting.

“It was in between lockdowns here in Nova Scotia. He had me over for tea. I played him a song and a couple of others and that was it! And then sent him a thank you note a while later and he came back with, ‘Hey, do you want to make a whole record?’”

From there, “Old News” was born. The album, which came out in October, is a collection of 11 new songs with a nostalgic feel.

“It’s called ‘Old News’ because some of the songs, most of the songs, sound like old songs maybe from the 50s. The theme of it really was about figuring out how to say goodbye and how to let go,” says Spencer, who adds that she wasn’t quite sure how audiences would react to the music.

“Because they’re used to ‘Ben the lion’ on stage and I’m very different from that, but I was surprised at how gracious and welcoming his listeners were.”

Caplan is currently on tour performing his other musical project, “Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story.”

But what he is like off stage?

“Really smart, really well-spoken. Busy brain,” says Spencer. “From the music he listens to -- it’s all over the world, all over the map -- from the things he talks about -- all over the world, all over the map. Really fun.”

Spencer also has words of advice for other musicians looking to collaborate with Caplan.

“I will say that being able to accept a ‘no’ leads to a lot of yeses. Be brave, be bold. Fire Ben Caplan an email and see what happens!”

Spencer is performing an “Old News” album release show on Saturday at the Dawn Oman Art Gallery in Bridgetown, N.S. She’s also performing with the Good Friends Band and Freya Milliken in Wolfville, N.S., on Dec. 16.