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DavidK
Posts:71
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| 02/25/2008 3:06 AM |
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Anyone interested in tracking the reviews for Another Country? Here's a couple of nice ones:
From the PopMatters review: "If you’re expecting an album anything like Tambourine, you will be disappointed. Get that album, as spectacular as it is, out of your head before seriously listening to Another Country." Detect a common theme among the positive reviews?  |
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Phillip Reid
Posts:2103
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| 02/25/2008 5:53 AM |
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| Thanks David! |
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icbm
Posts:107
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| 02/25/2008 6:40 AM |
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Well, she's reviewed in this week's Entertainment Weekly, and gets a B+ |
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MD#4 |
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Shug
Posts:261
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| 02/25/2008 8:26 AM |
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Good stuff, thanks for posting these, David. Along with the David Menconi piece in North Carolina, I'm really getting the picture of what went on after the Tambourine tour ended. It saddens me more than a little bit to realize Tift almost quit music altogether, what a tragic loss that would have been, and it makes me grateful to all the great musicians who have to work really hard usually for very little reward so that I get to enjoy their music, which is like air to me, I can't do without it. That's why, as corny and cliched as it may sound, I always thank the musicians I go to hear for playing music and I do so with utmost sincerity. I thank them because I want the musicians to understand that there are people out there who truly and deeply appreciate what they do and what they give to us with their music.
I have an idea that the part of touring that most musicians love is getting to have that direct connection with the people who most appreciate their art. Touring and all the business side of music must be very tiring and even discouraging at times for artists working to build a career, but I would hope that the pluses of getting to play your music for true fans would make up for all the hard parts of it. I was bummed out to read in Menconi's piece that touring for Tambourine left Tift exhausted and spent rather than charged and energetic. I don't know how bands like The Black Crowes and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers do it, they seem to love touring (although they get to do it in considerably more comfort in their buses than Tift does in her van) because I get exhausted from trying to follow them for even two or three tour stops! The Tambourine shows certainly left me charged up, but of course its not work at all, really, to attend a show (unless you are travelling from another city). I had a wish that Tift and her band would get as much out of playing live as she does from the experiences of writing songs by herself and recording them in the studio with just other musicians and engineers/producers. I can only try to imagine what it must have felt like at the end of the Tambourine tour, with all the business troubles and career blockers that occured. Maybe it was more those things, and not so much the playing live, that left Tift exhausted. I hope the business side of things gets easier so that Tift will want to continue to play live and write and record for many years.
I'm glad Tift is still playing music, I didn't realize how close a call it was with her even doing a third album and more touring. And she can genre hop all she wants (viva la diversity, I say), I'll listen to any music she decides to make because I know she will express what is true and heartfelt to her, and do it for the right reasons. |
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Mack Daddy #7
"Some like their water shallow, I like mine deep"
-Chris Robinson |
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ghman
Posts:546
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DavidK
Posts:71
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| 02/25/2008 5:18 PM |
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Here's one from one of my favorite critics over at Slant Magazine. Jonathan Keefe is well-versed in his female singer-songwriters, and I think his review of Another Country is thoughtful and fair. He gives it 3.5 out of 5 stars, but he doesn't just give away stars either. He makes some incisive points, though I imagine he'd like it more on subsequent listens. |
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Phillip Reid
Posts:2103
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| 02/25/2008 5:23 PM |
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| Both of you--damn. Speak it. |
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DavidK
Posts:71
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| 02/26/2008 4:19 AM |
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Josh Hurst's Stuck Between Stations. An unqualified rave. Discolsure: Josh is a frequent contributor to Paste and Christianity Today, and he and I frequently correspond. He has been raving about Another Country in my ear for several weeks. I believe Tift and Kathleen Edwards (whose new album will be out next week) are battling it out for his favorite of the year so far. |
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billdill
Posts:12
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| 02/27/2008 6:41 PM |
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Here is a short review from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=722059
Tift Merritt
Another Country
Fantasy
In the short story "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut presented a society in which beautiful, talented people are forced to make themselves look and sound mediocre - and even think at that level, too. As a superlatively capable singer, songwriter and guitarist, Tift Merritt would be a big target in Vonnegut's dystopia.
And so would her third album, "Another Country," a collection that spills over with beauty. Merritt began writing its 11 songs during an extended stay in Paris - a period reflected in the French-language "Mille Tendresses" and hinted at in the subtly lush strings of "Keep You Happy."
However, the heart of "Another Country" is as American as Bob Dylan; Merritt continues to mine rich veins of country, folk and rock. She even finds a lode of Motown in the brassy "Tell Me Something True" and a hint of Neil Young with "My Heart Is Free."
Merritt's heart and creative mind are evidently quite unfettered.
- Jon M. Gilbertson,
Special to the Journal Sentinel |
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robertaxel
Posts:263
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| 02/27/2008 7:28 PM |
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Music Review: Tift Merritt - Another Country
Written by Donald Gibson
Published February 27, 2008
The question of whether or not the best art comes from suffering has sustained for time immemorial. Of course, having the talent to facilitate such distinction factors into the issue as well, but countless artists in all fields and genres have indeed produced sublime and lasting works in the throes of distress. With her third album, Another Country, singer/songwriter Tift Merritt joins this ubiquitous array of artists by not only summoning poignant and beautiful music out of anguish, but also in delivering her finest album to date.
The young woman who lit out like a Southern spitfire on her two previous albums, Bramble Rose and Tambourine, now is disillusioned and highly introspective. She says so in some rather touching liner notes, but you can just as easily hear it on the album. She's insecure yet disarmingly unguarded with fresh hurt in her voice, an indication that – in the writing and singing of these songs – she's working something through.
A warm reflection of its contemplative tone, much of the album's music harvests lilting, modest melodies. "Tender Branch" bends and sways like its title suggests while "Keep You Happy" aches with unmistakable longing. "Hopes Too High" and "Broken" are both underscored by some particularly agile guitar work. Throughout, piano and subtle string progressions cradle Merritt's inherently sensual vocals, which fluctuate from delicate to determined in their timbre and strength.
Merritt's honey-soaked voice, above all, is what distinguishes this album as exceptional. Even at her most discouraged, she imparts such an unassuming amount of sultriness that her often-melancholy perspective winds up personalizing each song's impact to a penetrating extent. Her wistful, come-hither inflections on "Morning Is My Destination" are enough to make you put on "Breakfast In Bed" from Dusty In Memphis for an analogous comparison. And her sad yearning for love on "Another Country" feels more and more passionate upon each listen, making it one of the most absorbing songs on the album.
In her liner notes, Tift Merritt writes about how, in a time of personal turmoil, she emigrated to France (hence the album title and its thematic symbolism). Though she doesn't come clean on what exactly she left behind, it was enough to encourage a new environment in which to reassess her life. And while reading her passage isn't necessary to appreciate the album, it does offer a stirring impression that invariably puts this music into sharper context. Another Country, quite simply, is Tift Merritt's gorgeous and compelling response to her own crushed spirit. |
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robertaxel
Posts:263
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| 02/27/2008 7:33 PM |
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and here's one with an interview:
Tift Merritt
Written by Jesse Kornbluth
"Another Country” sounded familiar, but I just couldn't place where I'd heard it before. A clear-voiced singer, sensitive lyrics, music that alternately chugged and soared. Joni Mitchell? Emmylou Harris? Damned if I could place her.
A few listenings in, Tift Merritt's lineage no longer mattered. Only the music did. I didn't immediately get the words --- they're about love and loss and distance, and because they're charming and poetic, they go down easy --- but the tunes were fatally catchy. I found myself humming along and calling out the refrains. Not like me.
My reaction to Tift Merritt was also unsettling. She's got a Grammy nomination and praise from the likes of Emmylou Harris on her bio, but she seems more like a kid just starting out than a seasoned artist. In her 30s? With her own show on NPR? For that matter, a year in Paris? No way.
I had a bunch of questions. Ms. Merritt had the answers. And then some.
What were you doing five minutes before you decided to go to Paris and write the songs that became this CD?
I'd been on tour for a year, traveling in a van --- five guys and me --- and sometimes playing empty clubs, where you have to pretend everything's okay and cry in private. And you get ready in a rock 'n roll dressing room, with graffiti on the walls and scary corners you can't look in. And you see the irony. How could you not, when you put your makeup on looking into a mirror that says MILLER LITE.
Who do you blame?
It always ends with me.
And the moment of decision?
I was going to England to tour. I thought, 'I'm a grown woman. I can go to Paris and get an apartment and a piano.'
Parlez-vous français?
I studied French in school. And I'd always had a connection to France; my first crush was on my third grade French teacher. I'd say I understood French as I understand music --- instinctively.
No sane person could like French rock. What did you listen to in Paris?
I was cut off from most music. I had some music on my computer, but no iPod.
Did you have any connections to French musicians and writers?
No. And that didn't change much --- I was mostly anonymous. I didn't dress up and go out. I just wrote what I experienced day-to-day, which was the first time in a long time that I'd done that. And to do that in the most beautiful city in the world! In Paris, they spend four hours on a dress the way I spend four hours on a line. The windows are open, people live in the street, you get little glimpses of their lives. And it's very comfortable to be a woman alone there --- you feel safe.
What was your day like?
I didn't think what I was doing. I took pictures, wrote, sang. It was all a nice surprise.
You've written about a day when you filled page after page. Should I be jealous?
I was tired. I'd finished a lot of writing, and I felt like I'd overshot it --- you come back to real life and find yourself crossing against the lights and staring blankly at vegetables in the market because all your perspective is used up.
I'd start feeling paranoid about what's on my computer: What if...
I saved everything to disks --- even though my writing was a mess --- and mailed them home.
Ah, yes: home. What was it like to return to America?
In Paris, I'd been happy just doing my job. I was nervous I'd lose that feeling.
And?
It's hard. I came home and the record company dropped me. It was really lucky that I had these songs to take care of. But the way it happened, the songs took care of me.
How?
I believed in them, and it's sometimes easier to believe in your work than to believe in yourself. I'd started to think: This is stupid. I don't need an audience to be happy. I'm traipsing around the country. Not doing much to save the world. Maybe I should do something else. But I kept coming back to the songs. I needed to follow through --- and I knew I wouldn't get off so easily. And then I teamed up with Fantasy, and here we are.
“Another Country” is hard to categorize.
Thank you.
Yes, but you make it hard for yourself.
I don't sit around and choose to make this music. I do this because it's real. Do critics do this to filmmakers --- put the funny ones in the comedy box? I think it's crazy for me to edit myself so I can make it easy for others.
What are you like on stage?
Performing is a safe place for me to throw my intensity, as hard as I want.
I'm having trouble imagining that. You seem like such a...oh...little sister...a nice kid. Can you rip it up?
Hey, I don't do this job because I'm shitty at it.
Noted. What will this tour be like?
The guys. And budget motels.
But not the same as before?
This feels like a plan. I know: The beginning of any record is sunny. But I feel... smarter.
What's this new-fangled NPR podcast about?
It's a great way to keep reading and learning and seeing how others struggle with the issues I do. I record it on my laptop, edit it on ProTools. And you can find it on Marfa Public Radio.
I hate to ask, but in an election year, people really seem to care about belief. Do you have a religious practice?
I'm a musician. Of course I have an inner life.
--- by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com |
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admin
Posts:591
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| 02/28/2008 9:37 AM |
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| I've been trying to add some of these to the Articles - Tift in the Press section of the website, but I'm not sure which ones to select. I don't want to add them all, and probably need to create a new section called Articles - Album Reviews. Any ideas on which ones to include? |
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Chris McCandless
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robertaxel
Posts:263
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| 02/28/2008 9:52 AM |
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Any ones with an interview are notable, IMO
Robert |
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Mitch Kokai
Posts:1322
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| 02/29/2008 5:27 AM |
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Here's a short (but sweet) review from Dave DiMartino's Yahoo blog:
Tift Merritt: Another Country (Fantasy/Concord) An excellent third album from the young, Grammy-nominated Ms. Merritt, this package shows her spreading her stylistic wings--as opposed to the ones oddly attached to her back--and moving at least partly into rock and r&b-ish climes. With producer George Drakoulias making the scene, and guitarist Charlie Sexton riffing around, it's a mature effort that you'd probably like a lot if it was the only CD you had, the radio didn't work, and you had to drive a couple of hundred miles to find a job or something. She's quite good! |
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gopster
Posts:6
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| 03/03/2008 8:41 PM |
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http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/tift-merritt/another-country/17388/
Tift Merritt
Another Country
Release Date: February 26, 2008
Label: Concord
Rating: 7.0 out of 10
By:
Mike
Burr
Your rating: No Rating out of 10
Clear Rating
Average rating: 7.0
Another Country, the third album from Tift Merritt, was recorded with alt-country guru George Drakoulias, who also produced the singer’s 2004 record, Tambourine. Rather than standing pat on the singer’s past successes, the duo took a group of songs Merritt wrote during her time as an American in Paris and turned them into a set of roots-rock beamed in from the good part of '70s radio.
Another Country should be listened to from beginning to end, preferably on vinyl. Merritt explores new areas in her songwriting and finds a quiet groove in the confessional end of the pop spectrum. The lyrics have an easy sweetness that comes with the assurance of an artist who knows her strength and how to employ them. On “Morning Is My Destination,” the album’s most immediately arresting cut, Merritt’s voice emerges from a single piano note and then fades into a guitar solo with a purity that brings to mind Stevie Nicks. “My Heart Is Free” furthers the comparison, as Merritt hits a “Rihannon” high note over the album’s most straightforward rock riff.
The rest of Another Country finds Merritt in more familiar territory, offering obliquely confessional lyrics about the trials of love in the land of pickups and flannel. Though Merritt offers a good selection of hard-luck break-up music, she's in a pretty crowded field at the moment. Merritt’s voice shines on “Broken,” “Hopes Too High,” and “Tell Me Something True,” but only “Tender Branch” and “Something to Me” distinguish themselves. Those two tracks showcase the quality of Merritt’s vocals through the lens of country music with the same effect of the rock-oriented material. And Another Country, whether in rock or country mode, is an album built on the voice of its artist. |
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Phillip Reid
Posts:2103
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| 03/04/2008 8:12 AM |
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| Boss: I say, put in the ones you find honest, well-spoken, thoughtful, generally worth reading. Especially if they have anything original to say (which doesn't also happen to be bullshit, of course.) |
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robertaxel
Posts:263
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| 03/04/2008 5:36 PM |
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From a French blog, no less:
http://fillessourires.blogspot.com/2008/03/tift-merritt.html
Tift Merritt
Guestpost! Ken on Tift Merritt.
French Wishes DO come true!! Texas native Tift Merritt has been one of my favorite singers for years – she has that perfect combination of talents (songwriting, arranging, performing) that allow her to produce music that can literally take your breath away. She has an incredibly ability to express the emotion of a song’s lyrics in such a way that you, the listener, experience it with her, be it fragility or strength, defiance or meekness, joy or heartbreak.
And then there’s her voice…wondrously, achingly beautiful.
She’s produced five albums to date – the first one was recorded in 1999 with North Carolina’s Two-Dollar Pistols, two solo studio albums in 2002 and 2004, a limited edition live record in 2005, and her newest - Another Country – released last week. Each record has been outstanding, and each successive recording has seen her mature as a songwriter and performer. I’ve been anticipating this new record for several months, but I must admit that I did little (make that “No”) research or investigation regarding the style or content of the new album – I knew it would be good, I didn’t care about the details. This morning, I queued up Another Country for the first time ever and turned my attention to today’s list of tasks. As the songs unfolded one by one, I realized that this was, possibly, her strongest, most diverse effort to date – an early contender for my favorite album of the year. As the album neared its completion, I thought to myself “If only she sang in French – it would be perfection!”
…and then the last song began to play…and she was singing in French!!
A quick visit to her website revealed that she had traveled to Paris to gain some distance and perspective regarding some pretty serious personal problems and then returned home with the seeds of her new album. I can’t recommend this album strongly enough!!
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robertaxel
Posts:263
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| 03/12/2008 12:10 PM |
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From The Sentinel (Kennesaw State University Paper)
Texas-born, North Carolina raised Tift Merritt can sing. Not with Neko Case’s soul or Faith Hill’s range, but with her own soft, reserved, at times intense, beauty. Her new album “Another Country” showcases her vocal gifts, along with her strength as a song writer and musician. Anybody who listened to Tift before shouldn’t be surprised; 2002’s “Bramble Rose” won critical acclaim and charted the pitch-perfect single “Virginia, No One Can Warn You.”
Her follow-up, “Tambourine,” took the alt-country formula and added some soul, with horn arrangements and bigger, bolder vocals. The critics took notice too, nominating “Tambourine” for a Country Album of the Year Grammy in 2004.
“Another Country,” her third album, doesn’t pick up where “Tambourine” left off. Instead it sees Tift heading back in the direction of her first album, with a softer, more reserved sound. That’s not to say “Another Country” doesn’t rock, though, because at times it does.
Songs like “Broken,” the first single, the funky, Motown-esque “Tell Me Something True,” and “My Heart is Free” are all hard, driving songs. Tift is at her best when she’s strumming hard and singing loud, but the slower tracks are gorgeous as well. The title-track “Another Country” is a standout, with Tift singing sweetly “Love is another country and I want to go too. I want to go with you.” Her voice hypnotizes at times, too, as on “Hopes Too High” where she culls us into her album with a combination of guitar, harmonica, and vocals. Whether rocking or hypnotizing, though, her voice is the main attraction.
What sets Tift Merritt apart from other country, alt-country, roots-rock, or Americana artists is that she can’t be pigeonholed. At times she sounds comfortable singing Memphis-inspired soul, at times Dolly Parton-like country, at times Kathleen Edwards-ish rocking.
Calling her the female version of Ryan Adams is tempting, but that wouldn’t be accurate. Where Adams dabbles in many genres separately (and very successfully) from album to album and song to song, Merritt somehow blends all her influences into one, cohesive package that pervades each minute of her music.
At all times one thing and at all times another, as an Eastern philosopher probably once said |
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Mitch Kokai
Posts:1322
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| 03/28/2008 10:40 AM |
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"Can you hear me at the Capitol?"
TM asked that question New Year's Eve of the fans near the North Carolina Capitol.
If she now asked that question of people working at the U.S. Capitol (or at least in the U.S. capital), the answer might be yes.
Mr. Himes offers an unnecessarily harsh assessment of TM's earlier work, but at least Another Country has converted him into a believer:
When Merritt sings "I Know What I'm Looking for Now," there's no doubting her.
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Mitch Kokai
Posts:1322
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| 03/28/2008 11:06 AM |
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Like the Washington Post review linked above, the recent review in AOL Music Canada suggests that Another Country fits TM better than her previous work.
Unlike the Post, the AOL review does not knock Bramble Rose or Tambourine. In fact, the reviewer admits he would have been "perfectly happy with another record in the vein of her first two." But AC offered a pleasant surprise:
[W]hile it'd be far too much of an overstatement to say that Another Country showcases the real Tift Merritt, there's something very direct and guileless in the new record that wasn't necessarily there in the first two records.
The country and soul of her earlier works still informs much of what she does, but you'd be hard pressed to pigeonhole Another Country as either of those with a clean conscience. With the exception of a couple more uptempo numbers, the overall tenor is quiet, contemplative and searching and in this context, Merritt's voice - always a thing of beauty - sounds better than it ever has.
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