Tift Merritt is about as approachable as they come. An email inquiry to her press rep prompts an almost immediate response from the artist herself. “I’m happy to catch you up on what we’ve been up to lately and the like … just let me know if phone or email is better for you.” Merritt’s only stipulation: that any interview happen after 11 a.m., so she can get in her daily practice session on a piano she’s been using at a club not far from her Manhattan apartment. You could argue that, with a voice like hers, Merritt should be able to afford her dream piano by now. But while she may not be a household name (yet), she’s on a trajectory not unlike a few of her singer/songwriter luminaries (Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams), stockpiling critical plaudits and fan adoration for the four studio albums she’s released since 2002. Her most recent, See You On The Moon (Fantasy), is the scaled-back, introverted antithesis of what may be her only bid for a wider audience, 2004’s polished roots-rock zinger Tambourine. That’s the one that earned her a Grammy nod for best country album. (Guess no one bothered to tell the academy it wasn’t country.) Merritt will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with her.
Merritt: This woman is fantastic. This woman is a pioneer. Just try to tell her no. She was out working on airplanes when women did not venture onto the tarmac. She made leather jackets, wind-blown hair and high-waisted pants look like the essence of elegance while working in a cockpit. She had modern ideas about marriage and women’s rights, and her husband asked her to marry him six times before she finally agreed. And then, she decided to fly around the world. I’ve been reading a lot of women biographies lately. In her writings, Earhart talks so much about laughter and having fun. All while she’s trying circumnavigate the globe.
Video after the jump.
