Tift Merritt

Biography

Catherine Tift Merritt (born January 8, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has released seven studio albums and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Album for Tambourine×Tambourine24 August 2004 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Stray Paper3:552Wait It Out3:403Good Hearted Man3:394Ain't Looking Closely4:245Still Pretending3:436Write My Ticket3:447Your Love Made a U-Turn2:358Plainest Thing3:339Late Night Pilgrim4:2610I Am Your Tambourine3:4411Laid a Highway3:5412Shadow in the Way4:47. Merritt is a board member of the Artist Rights Alliance and is a Practitioner-in-Residence at the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University.

Early life and education

Merritt was born in Houston and grew up in Raleigh. She credits her father's eclectic taste in music as a major influence. At the age of 20, Merritt enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study creative writing, where she studied under Doris Betts.

Career

Merritt joined a band called the Carbines and played small clubs in the cities of Chapel Hill and Raleigh. In 1998, the band released a 7-inch single, "Jukejoint Girl," and in 1999 the album The Two Dollar Pistols with Tift Merritt×The Two Dollar Pistols With Tift Merritt26 October 1999 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracks1If Only You Were Mine3:472Just Someone I Used to Know2:563We Had It All3:214Suppose Tonight Would Be Our Last2:425Counting the Hours3:436(I'm So) Afraid of Losing You Again3:427One Paper Kid4:49 on Yep Roc Records.
In 2000, Merritt won the MerleFest's Chris Austin Songwriting Contest and in 2002 released her debut album, Bramble Rose×Bramble Rose4 June 2002 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Trouble Over Me5:092Virginia, No One Can Warn You4:253Neighborhood3:204Bird of Freedom4:085Bramble Rose4:306I Know Him Too3:537Sunday6:118Supposed to Make You Happy4:209Diamond Shoes4:4810Are You Still in Love With Me?5:2211When I Cross Over6:32. The record landed on the top ten lists for both Time and The New Yorker, and was called the best debut of the year by the Associated Press. While touring to promote Bramble Rose, Merritt opened for fellow North Carolinian Ryan Adams, who had helped her secure her first management and record contracts.
Her follow-up release, 2004's Tambourine, was produced by George Drakoulias and featured backing by Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell, Neal Casal and Don Heffington. The album was nominated for the Best Country Album Grammy Award in 2004. She was nominated for Americana Music Association: Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Song of the Year in 2005 Merritt's performance on Austin City Limits was released as a DVD on New West Records. A sold-out concert at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina, was released under the title Home Is Loud that same year.
Her next album, Another Country×Another Country26 February 2008 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Something to Me4:112Broken3:463Another Country4:454Hopes Too High3:345Morning Is My Destination3:206Keep You Happy5:087I Know What I'm Looking for Now3:598Tell Me Something True3:029My Heart Is Free3:3310Tender Branch3:3411Mille Tendresses3:10Disc 21Harder Feeling4:322Who Loves the Sun2:493Broken (Solo acoustic)3:33 was released on Fantasy Records in 2008. The record was produced by George Drakoulias and featured guitarists Charlie Sexton and Doug Pettibone. Despite her Grammy nomination, Lost Highway Records dropped Merritt after Tambourine and Merritt felt "clueless by the decision and tapped of her energy." Merritt wrote the new album in a Paris apartment, "a city where she knew all of two people and didn't speak the language at all." Paste magazine gave the album a four-star review. The song "Broken" was nominated for an Americana Music Award for Song of the Year.
Her EP, Please Break the Silence of the Middle of the Night×Please Break the Silence of the Middle of the Night16 September 2008 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1Morning Is My Destination3:082Tell Me Something True3:073I Live for You2:324Wayward and Weary4:005Last to Know4:21, was released on January 1, 2008, by the Concord Music Group as an iTunes exclusive.
While touring England, Merritt played a piano at the University of Buckingham's Radcliffe Centre for music and lectures, a building that had formerly been a church. "She thought the amazing acoustics and inspiring ambiance would make an ideal setting for a live acoustic-solo record." The record Buckingham Solo was recorded live on November 29, 2008 and released on Fantasy Records on April 18, 2009.

Merritt's album, See You on the Moon×See You on the Moon31 May 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Mixtape3:19A2Engine to Turn2:52A3The Things That Everybody Does3:06A4Six More Days of Rain2:47A5The Feel of the World4:45A6We Never Talk About It4:49B1All the Reasons We Don't Have to Fight4:39B2Live Till You Die2:44B3Papercut2:52B4See You on the Moon4:34B5Danny's Song2:11B6After Today4:32, was released in June 2010 on Fantasy Records. Her next album, Traveling Alone×Traveling Alone2 October 2012 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Traveling Alone4:452Sweet Spot2:513Drifted Apart3:354Still Not Home3:495Feeling of Beauty4:026Too Soon to Go4:357Small Talk Relations3:238Spring4:229To Myself3:3410In the Way3:3611Marks5:45, was released on Yep Roc Records in October 2012. The album was produced by Tucker Martine and featured Marc Ribot on guitar and Calexico's John Convertino on percussion. Merritt announced that Traveling Alone would be re-released in a 10th Anniversary Edition on November 4, 2022.
In 2013, Merritt collaborated with Simone Dinnerstein on an album that bridged both of their musical interests called Night×Night15 March 2013 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Only in Songs3:412Night and Dreams3:533Don't Explain4:114Dido's Lament3:025I Shall Weep at Night4:496Wayfaring Stranger3:387Prelude in B Minor1:338Still Not Home3:149I Will Give My Love an Apple1:4610Colors3:3111The Cohen Variations6:4212Night3:0213Feel of the World4:3314I Can See Clearly Now3:23. The track listing includes traditional American songs like The Wayfaring Stranger, a cover of Johnny Nash, as well as classical music like "Dido's Lament" from Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas.
The Grammy Museum hosted Merritt as part of their Spotlight series in 2013. Tift participated in a Q&A with the audience as well as performing for the audience.
In 2013, Merritt released Traveling Companion on Yep Roc. Her album Stitch of the World×Stitch of the World27 January 2017 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Dusty Old Man3:472Heartache Is an Uphill Climb3:143My Boat4:134Love Soldiers On2:595Stitch of the World3:556Icarus3:517Proclamation Bones3:168Something Came over Me3:259Eastern Light4:3410Wait for Me4:3311Day He Died3:2212Something Came Over Me (Acoustic)3:2713Stitch of the World (Acoustic)3:26 came out in 2017.
Meritt created a new site in 2023 where she has shared interviews with other musicians on The Spark—originally an interview program she hosted for Marfa Public Radio—including Rosanne Cash and Rhiannon Giddens. In her Nightcap series, she has posted some "project threads" including covers of Black Boys on Mopeds by Sinead O'Connor and 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton: "Long before a project turns forward facing, beta tests, questions, failed drafts, surprise pleasures, writing, music and laughter line the walls."
In 2025, Merritt marked the 20th anniversary of her Grammy-nominated album Tambourine×Tambourine24 August 2004 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Stray Paper3:552Wait It Out3:403Good Hearted Man3:394Ain't Looking Closely4:245Still Pretending3:436Write My Ticket3:447Your Love Made a U-Turn2:358Plainest Thing3:339Late Night Pilgrim4:2610I Am Your Tambourine3:4411Laid a Highway3:5412Shadow in the Way4:47 with the reissue of the original record as well as a companion collection of home demos and unreleased material, Time and Patience: Tambourine Kitchen Recordings on One Riot Records.
Merritt describes the "kitchen recordings" this way: "These songs weren’t hits. I was a good writer, not a great one. My band wasn’t good enough. At least that’s what I was told.... But I believed in these demos back then—and it is a tender moment to bring them to you now, proudly, so much time and patience later." The reissue is dedicated to Neal Casal and Don Heffington, "cherished members of Merritt's original studio band."
Although Merritt has indicated that "I rarely tour these days and certainly not for long stretches of time", she appeared at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival and is on the schedule for the 2025 AmericanaFest.
Merritt has been the opening act for Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson, and sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" for then-Senator Barack Obama at his last campaign rally.

Reception

Merritt's sound has been described as "sonic short stories and poignant performances." She has been compared to artists like Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris.
A review in The New Yorker praised her and The Wall Street Journal included her in a weekend feature on singer-songwriters, describing her as "in the tradition of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Leonard Cohen".

Personal life

In 2009, Merritt married Zeke Hutchins. They separated in late 2013. In 2016, she and Eric Heywood had a daughter named Jean.

Appears on

2003: Chatham County Line – Chatham County Line (Bonfire)
2003: John Eddie – Who The Hell Is John Eddie? (Lost Highway
2003: Portastatic – Autumn Was a Lark (Merge)
2004: Chris Stamey – Travels in the South (Yep Roc)
2006: Sally Spring – Mockingbird (Sniffinpup)
2007: Charlie Louvin – Charlie Louvin (Tompkins Square)
2007: Teddy Thompson – Upfront & Down Low (Verve Forecast)
2010: Reto Burrell – Go (Echopark)
2014: Andrew Bird – Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of… (Wegawam Music)
2016: Andrew Bird – Are You Serious (Loma Vista)
2016: Hiss Golden Messenger – Heart Like A Levee (Merge)