Tift Merritt at Bergen Arts Center

[Deleted]

hey all;

I had the honor of seeing the kind of artist the CMA SHOULD be honoring.. Tift Merritt... She had a nice acoustic set opening for Mary Chapin Carpenter, and had several songs from her new album (due out Oct. 2). There well also some nice throwbacks to her Bramble Rose days, especially 'Supposed to Make You Happy. Despite some self-deprecating remarks about only being an opening act, and seeing people don't know who she is, she had her fans, including one young lady who kept whooping and yelling 'I Love you!' Tift answered indulgently 'me too!' and added jokingly, "I love New Jersey! I also had the opportunity of chatting with Tift at the merchandise table (I have known her for 10 years now).. I wanted to just take a picture, but Tift being the sweetheart that she is, insisted I be in it.

Oh, Erik.. I also spoke with Tift about my Summer and Fall concert schedule and mentioned that I was looking forward to seeing Regina Spektor.. Tift was effusive about Ms. Spektor saying she was 'wonderful' and a 'beautiful singer'.. high praise indeed!

R

[Dianna]

Glad you got to meet Tift, Robert!!!! Nice she also likes Regina.. that's great!

[the Scribe]

Robert, I had no idea Tift was so tall.

[erik]

And to top things off, Tift has a new album (her sixth) coming out on October 2nd, entitled Traveling Alone.

It's just a shame that she is still, in commercial terms, a fringe artist; because if anyone deserves to be a star, a la Linda, it's Tift. But then again, it's better to be who you really are, and not forced into putting on an image that isn't you, which is unfortunately how major labels operate today as opposed to when Linda was at her zenith in the late 70s.

[cymru56]

Oh how I envy you Robert

Erik will recall that I was a strong advocate for Tift on the old Women Of Country site.

I may have recounted the story that soon after Bramble Rose was released I drove about 100 miles to see Tift at very small restaurant venue in the UK only to find the gig cancelled that very night as she had flown back to the US to appear on Letterman. I forgave her but
since then events have conspired that I'm still yet to see her live (though I do have her DVD of course)

When Bramble Rose was first released I purchased it on import from the US, but by pure luck found a copy in the UK before it was delivered and it remains unopened in its shrink wrap today (geeky or what?)

[cymru56]

Btw Robert- How was Chapin ?
I've seen her a few times in the past, on her own and with Shawn Colvin but she drifted off my radar for a few years.

[Deleted]

Aug 18, 2012 11:06:57 GMT -5 cymru56 said:

Btw Robert- How was Chapin ?
I've seen her a few times in the past, on her own and with Shawn Colvin but she drifted off my radar for a few years.

Regretfully, I didn't get to see much of Mary... I was too concerned about the parking situation, and didn't want to be stranded overnight due to it being towed..annoying!

[erik]

Quote by cymru56:

Erik will recall that I was a strong advocate for Tift on the old Women Of Country site.

Indeed, a very consistent one as well, as I recall. Tift had made a really big splash in terms of word-of-mouth with Bramble Rose, really combining her own original and contemporary style of Americana with the old-school country-rock of Linda and Emmy (with occasional splashes of Maria McKee thrown in for good measure).