Her Facebook page says simply “Handmade songs.” The New Yorker has called her “the bearer of a proud tradition of distaff country soul that reaches back to artists like Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry,” and Uncut Magazine says she’s “Emmylou Harris’ spiritual heir – she’s got the silken roots ballad down cold”.
Tift Merritt’s career launched in earnest with Bramble Rose, the 2002 solo debut that put her on the Americana map forever. As her sophomore album, Tambourine, was followed by Another Country and See You on the Moon, she found acclaim coming not just from critics and awards orgs—Tambourine was a 2004 Grammy nominee for Country Album of the Year— but her own heroes, like Emmylou Harris, who marvelled that Merritt “stood out like a diamond in a coal patch.”
Her fifth studio album, Traveling Alone, was recorded in Brooklyn with Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, My Morning Jacket) and features a guest appearance by Andrew Bird as well as performances by Marc Ribot, Rob Burger (Lucinda Williams, Iron & Wine, ), John Convertino (Calexico), Eric Heywood (The Jayhawks, Son Volt) and Merritt’s longtime collaborator Jay Brown. “I really wanted to make a record that was real and raw,” notes Merritt. “I wanted to put together my dream cast and see if I could hold my own with them. To me, Traveling Alone is about the roads on the inside—those places that are hard to see and not easy to send postcards from.”
“The touch of sweet sadness in Tift Merritt’s voice has rarely served her better than it does on Traveling Alone.” – New York Times
“Restless, haunting songs... you’ll hear a lot of Emmylou Harris in this voice.” – NPR
“Merritt’s achingly beautiful country-tinged tunes hark back to the musical work of Joni Mitchell, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Leonard Cohen.”– Time Magazine
tiftmerritt.com/welcome/tuningfork.co.nz/tift/
country/folk
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