Tift Merritt

Event information

This will be the first time Tift has played for us since she recorded her live album, ‘Buckingham Solo’ at the Radcliffe Centre in November 2008 – and it is great to have her back. She really likes the space, and the Steinway concert grand. She is undertaking a small number of gigs before supporting Mary Chapin Carpenter on her tour.

She returns with a new album, ‘See You On the Moon’, which is her most visceral work to date. A deeply centered departure, these focused and creative musical short stories find Tift at the height of her powers. "I wanted to make a really direct record. I wanted to take everything to a place that was less labored, of more depth. Open space, real strength. There was a certain feeling of inevitability about it. Like I found these songs whole."

To bring her musical short stories to life, Merritt recruited Tucker Martine, best known for his work with Bill Frisell, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Laura Veirs, Spoon, and as one of Paste magazine's top ten producers of the decade. With longtime band mates Zeke Hutchins on drums, Jay Brown on bass and vocals, and guitar player Scott McCall, the Martine-Merritt partnership sounds firmly anchored in the deep water of home while deliberately and wholeheartedly venturing from the docks. "Tucker has such a gentle way of bringing the best out of people, of taking the time to see what you are really made of and getting at, and coaxing you further from there. We wanted to come at things from different directions, not go straight for a band combo, really build around the songs rather than some idea of how things were supposed to happen. I played more instruments on this record than any other I've made." At heart, ‘See You On the Moon’ is a profoundly focused Tift doing what she does best better than she ever has - poignant writing and performing welded to the steady pursuit of new places. Joining the ‘Moon’ sessions were, among others, celebrated pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James who adds hauntingly beautiful harmony to album centerpiece Feel of the World.

In her nascent career, Tift Merritt has already produced an impressive body of work and earned a passionate, dedicated audience. Her live performances, both with her band and on her own, are similarly riveting. Tift's preceding albums are 2002’s debut Bramble Rose, 2005’s Grammy nominated Tambourine, and 2008’s widely acclaimed Another Country. 2010’s stellar See You On The Moon is a most important step forward in a remarkable artistic journey that continues to search, penetrate, and surprise.

Bramble Rose – Lost Highway Records – released June 2002 Tambourine - Lost Highway Records – released March 2006 Another Country – Fantasy Records – released February 2008 Buckingham Solo – Vella/Fantasy Records – released April 2009 See You On The Moon – Fantasy Records – released May 2010
www.tiftmerritt.com
www.myspace.com/tiftmerritt

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