Tift Merritt

Guestpost! Ken on Tift Merritt.

French Wishes DO come true!! Texas native Tift Merritt has been one of my favorite singers for years – she has that perfect combination of talents (songwriting, arranging, performing) that allow her to produce music that can literally take your breath away. She has an incredibly ability to express the emotion of a song’s lyrics in such a way that you, the listener, experience it with her, be it fragility or strength, defiance or meekness, joy or heartbreak.

And then there’s her voice…wondrously, achingly beautiful.

She’s produced five albums to date – the first one was recorded in 1999 with North Carolina’s Two-Dollar Pistols, two solo studio albums in 2002 and 2004, a limited edition live record in 2005, and her newest - Another Country – released last week. Each record has been outstanding, and each successive recording has seen her mature as a songwriter and performer. I’ve been anticipating this new record for several months, but I must admit that I did little (make that “No”) research or investigation regarding the style or content of the new album – I knew it would be good, I didn’t care about the details. This morning, I queued up Another Country for the first time ever and turned my attention to today’s list of tasks. As the songs unfolded one by one, I realized that this was, possibly, her strongest, most diverse effort to date – an early contender for my favorite album of the year. As the album neared its completion, I thought to myself “If only she sang in French – it would be perfection!”
…and then the last song began to play…and she was singing in French!!

A quick visit to her website revealed that she had traveled to Paris to gain some distance and perspective regarding some pretty serious personal problems and then returned home with the seeds of her new album. I can’t recommend this album strongly enough!!

Tift Merritt - Mille Tendresses
CLIP for new single Broken