Post by erik on Jan 8, 2012 13:23:19 GMT -5
As many members here will know by now, but also for those who are new to the forum, there has been a female singer over the last decade that many of us have championed on this and previous Linda Ronstadt message forums because she is a genuinely gifted singer/songwriter of the Americana kind, but also with an “old school” approach to things as well. It is this young lady below, who celebrates her 37th birthday today:
Born in Houston, Texas on January 8, 1975, and a veteran of the roots music scene in North Carolina, Tift Merritt made an incredible splash in 2002 on Lost Highway Records with her album Bramble Rose, an exquisite recording that mixed folk, country, rock, and a very individualistic songwriting perspective that would certainly have been welcome back in the 1970s. Since that stunning debut, she has released four more fine albums: 2004’s Tambourine (a throwback to the 70s Muscle Shoals/Memphis sound); 2008’s Another Country; 2009’s Buckingham Solo (a live, all-acoustic effort done before a live audience in Buckingham, England in November 2008), and her most recent one, 2010’s See You On The Moon, which included a cover of Anne Murray’s 1973 hit “Danny’s Song.”. She is frequently compared to artists of recent vintage like Lucinda Williams, Maria McKee, and Sheryl Crow; but like those women, Linda and Emmylou always figure in to Tift’s approaches to singing, songwriting, and music style, which are traditional and progressive at the same time. With a clear, breezy voice like she has, Tift can master a lot of different things, from social statements (“Laid A Highway”; “Bird Of Freedom”) to personal sentiments (“Another Country”; “Stray Paper”), feisty rockers (“Neighborhood”; “I Am Your Tambourine”), classic C&W/rock ballads (“Are You Still In Love With Me?”), and much, much more.
You won’t hear her on corporate radio, whether or not the format is Adult Alternative, Rock, or Country; she seems to just be “too good” for those “focus group” types, and her heartfelt and intelligent style of songwriting doesn’t quite fit in with a mainstream country radio format fawning over Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. But for my money (and I think Robert and a few others here will tell you this), Tift is the best female singer of any genre to come down the pike in this century; and all of us who have enjoyed listening to her music really hope she sticks around a long time.
Born in Houston, Texas on January 8, 1975, and a veteran of the roots music scene in North Carolina, Tift Merritt made an incredible splash in 2002 on Lost Highway Records with her album Bramble Rose, an exquisite recording that mixed folk, country, rock, and a very individualistic songwriting perspective that would certainly have been welcome back in the 1970s. Since that stunning debut, she has released four more fine albums: 2004’s Tambourine (a throwback to the 70s Muscle Shoals/Memphis sound); 2008’s Another Country; 2009’s Buckingham Solo (a live, all-acoustic effort done before a live audience in Buckingham, England in November 2008), and her most recent one, 2010’s See You On The Moon, which included a cover of Anne Murray’s 1973 hit “Danny’s Song.”. She is frequently compared to artists of recent vintage like Lucinda Williams, Maria McKee, and Sheryl Crow; but like those women, Linda and Emmylou always figure in to Tift’s approaches to singing, songwriting, and music style, which are traditional and progressive at the same time. With a clear, breezy voice like she has, Tift can master a lot of different things, from social statements (“Laid A Highway”; “Bird Of Freedom”) to personal sentiments (“Another Country”; “Stray Paper”), feisty rockers (“Neighborhood”; “I Am Your Tambourine”), classic C&W/rock ballads (“Are You Still In Love With Me?”), and much, much more.
You won’t hear her on corporate radio, whether or not the format is Adult Alternative, Rock, or Country; she seems to just be “too good” for those “focus group” types, and her heartfelt and intelligent style of songwriting doesn’t quite fit in with a mainstream country radio format fawning over Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. But for my money (and I think Robert and a few others here will tell you this), Tift is the best female singer of any genre to come down the pike in this century; and all of us who have enjoyed listening to her music really hope she sticks around a long time.
