I appreciate you sharing this. Just know that there are many, many people who would enthusiastically write an article titled “What Tift Merritt Got Right.”
Once upon a time, maybe 20 years ago, when you’re 78 it seems like yesterday, Tift graced us and many local fans, with her ethereal voice and beauty, in our Raleigh living room house concert. An honor and a privilege we still treasure. We’ve pretty much followed her lo these many years. Proud as peacocks being up close and personal with this local true artist. Yes, she has certainly paid a price on her journey, but here she is, the best self she’s ever been. Journeys are usually anything but smooth but all usually continue with lessons learned and some rewards along the way.
We remember her putting down her guitar and walking over to our antique, slightly out of tune, spinet piano to play and sing one of her delightful piano accompanied songs. Talented in many respects! And we remember her very proud parents, especially her rosy checked dad smiling from ear to rosy ear. She hung the moon!
Thank you Tift for the CDs we treasured and are now incorporated into our Apple Playlists. We don’t travel as much as we did as part of the Folk Alliance group, but you’re with us in our Subaru and Mini when we do. And in our home with our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We’re fans and always will be!♥️
I subscribe to a lot of substacks, too many to keep up with but something told me to read this this morning, and I'm glad I did. This was great. Thank you for sharing! You should write a book and if/when you do I hope you'll include a little something about the days at Water Street Market!
Thank you for pouring your heart out Tift. I’ve always wondered the story behind your career and I’ve always been baffled as to how your songs that I love so much did not produce more hits. It’s an indictment of the music industry more than anything. Your songs are far better than the vast majority of the Billboard 100 now or then. I don’t care if they were hits or not your songs will always be deeply personal to me.
As honest a piece of writing as it is heartbreaking, to me, in this moment. I read this while coincidentally listening/viewing some of the earliest videos of Joni from the 60s to 1970. Whether or not a singer-songwriter can reach that level is beside the point, I think, as you also know. The point is that you were true to yourself and did your best for as long as it made sense in such a hard and sometimes brutal industry. You wrote a lot of good songs, Tift, and many people remember some of your performances as truly exciting, wonderful, and special. You were made to make art through music and perhaps to make and raise someone else special, and so that's what you did, as well as you could. That's all any of us can do, and it's OK if 99.99 percent of us never "make it" big in some way.
The meaning of a life well lived does not depend of becoming a star. Sometimes, what we remember most is a foggy lullaby sung by someone with a sweet voice and a sweet heart. As Joni said,
"And the only thing I can do now is love my tiny good life harder." Thank you for this, I so needed to hear it today as I'm wondering how my life ended up so .... tiny. Your music matters. "Eastern Light" breaks my heart every time, in the right way.
The music industry is a mess...and it reinforces and rewards the worst parts of humanity: shallowness, greed, judgement, instant gratification, mass appeal, extreme chauvinism, etc etc. No wonder you hated it and had a bad experience! The sad thing is this industry nearly silenced one of the most important artists I have ever had the pleasure to hear and see live. Your music and your personna have brought me great joy and comfort through some of the toughest times of my life. I have all your albums and have see you play live twice, and both times you were amazing. Fuck the record execs who think they know better than me and all the other fans out there who feel the same way about your music. Don't let them win and don't play their game. Your are amazing. Can't wait to hear what you do next.
Tambourine AND Another Country were masterpieces, and each album was getting better than the last. A quick search of the "Hit" parade of 2004 yields a tidal wave of mediocrity, and mostly performers of an entirely different genre. What did they expect you to do, turn into a hip-hop artist overnight? That would have been ridiculous. I'm sorry the people you were relying on to carry you and your fantastic songs over the finish line were fucking idiots. And looks should not matter, but critiquing your lovely appearance only further reinforces their cluelessness and lack of taste. I saw you perform twice during these years, with and without a band, and both shows were magnificent. This was their failure, not yours. I'm happy you have since found peace and another purpose in life. It is my understanding that there is much more room for independent artists these days to find their niche of strong crowds and financial independence now that record companies are no longer the end-all be-all; I hope you are able to take advantage of this with a new batch of songs, selfishly for my own ears if nothing else. I'd wager that things will turn out better by following your instincts instead of theirs this time; after all, you got nominated for a Grammy, not them.
I saw you once in Raleigh and have been a devoted follower ever since. Just know your story, well told, applies to all genders and industries where people have a set idea of who you should be. You have made the world a kinder and better place.
I play my part in the music industry as a listener/consumer and I am sorry for the times I wanted that next song, that next album. I can never know the hard work that you put in and I appreciate that you are sharing some of it. In my later years, though, I have tried to know a few artists as people, and listen to them with more care. And there are many of your songs that I still turn to. Thanks for showing up as yourself and not as some industry creation.
Tift, straight forward and wide open, you share your Heart and Soul with a certain kind of Grace that is a source of inspiration to others. I will always be grateful to you for the kindhearted person you are. I remember your first show at Greenfield Lake. what a performance you gave. After the show you were at the CD's and clothing attire table and I said to you Nashville is calling on you. I believe you had already been to "The Grand Ole Opry" for some reason you had tears showing. Is there a chance you remember that moment ?
There can never be another Tift. Your Amazing and Loved by many. May you have many more years and memorable performances on stage and off stage, to the joy of all who get to know you through your songs.
I was at that Birmingham show. I was at all your Birmingham shows and loved them all. I saw you at City Winery in Atlanta soon after your daughter was born, and that's the last time I've had a chance to see you. I'll always be a fan and I hope continued peace for you and the opportunity to hear a couple of more Tift shows in the future. You are definitely spreading joy! Thank you
I appreciate you sharing this. Just know that there are many, many people who would enthusiastically write an article titled “What Tift Merritt Got Right.”
Once upon a time, maybe 20 years ago, when you’re 78 it seems like yesterday, Tift graced us and many local fans, with her ethereal voice and beauty, in our Raleigh living room house concert. An honor and a privilege we still treasure. We’ve pretty much followed her lo these many years. Proud as peacocks being up close and personal with this local true artist. Yes, she has certainly paid a price on her journey, but here she is, the best self she’s ever been. Journeys are usually anything but smooth but all usually continue with lessons learned and some rewards along the way.
We remember her putting down her guitar and walking over to our antique, slightly out of tune, spinet piano to play and sing one of her delightful piano accompanied songs. Talented in many respects! And we remember her very proud parents, especially her rosy checked dad smiling from ear to rosy ear. She hung the moon!
Thank you Tift for the CDs we treasured and are now incorporated into our Apple Playlists. We don’t travel as much as we did as part of the Folk Alliance group, but you’re with us in our Subaru and Mini when we do. And in our home with our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We’re fans and always will be!♥️
I subscribe to a lot of substacks, too many to keep up with but something told me to read this this morning, and I'm glad I did. This was great. Thank you for sharing! You should write a book and if/when you do I hope you'll include a little something about the days at Water Street Market!
Thank you for pouring your heart out Tift. I’ve always wondered the story behind your career and I’ve always been baffled as to how your songs that I love so much did not produce more hits. It’s an indictment of the music industry more than anything. Your songs are far better than the vast majority of the Billboard 100 now or then. I don’t care if they were hits or not your songs will always be deeply personal to me.
As honest a piece of writing as it is heartbreaking, to me, in this moment. I read this while coincidentally listening/viewing some of the earliest videos of Joni from the 60s to 1970. Whether or not a singer-songwriter can reach that level is beside the point, I think, as you also know. The point is that you were true to yourself and did your best for as long as it made sense in such a hard and sometimes brutal industry. You wrote a lot of good songs, Tift, and many people remember some of your performances as truly exciting, wonderful, and special. You were made to make art through music and perhaps to make and raise someone else special, and so that's what you did, as well as you could. That's all any of us can do, and it's OK if 99.99 percent of us never "make it" big in some way.
The meaning of a life well lived does not depend of becoming a star. Sometimes, what we remember most is a foggy lullaby sung by someone with a sweet voice and a sweet heart. As Joni said,
Blue, songs are like tatoos
You know I've been to sea before
Crown and anchor me,
Or let me sail away
and she ended with,
Blue, here is a shell for you
Inside you'll hear a sigh
A foggy lullaby
There is your song from me
"And the only thing I can do now is love my tiny good life harder." Thank you for this, I so needed to hear it today as I'm wondering how my life ended up so .... tiny. Your music matters. "Eastern Light" breaks my heart every time, in the right way.
The music industry is a mess...and it reinforces and rewards the worst parts of humanity: shallowness, greed, judgement, instant gratification, mass appeal, extreme chauvinism, etc etc. No wonder you hated it and had a bad experience! The sad thing is this industry nearly silenced one of the most important artists I have ever had the pleasure to hear and see live. Your music and your personna have brought me great joy and comfort through some of the toughest times of my life. I have all your albums and have see you play live twice, and both times you were amazing. Fuck the record execs who think they know better than me and all the other fans out there who feel the same way about your music. Don't let them win and don't play their game. Your are amazing. Can't wait to hear what you do next.
Tambourine AND Another Country were masterpieces, and each album was getting better than the last. A quick search of the "Hit" parade of 2004 yields a tidal wave of mediocrity, and mostly performers of an entirely different genre. What did they expect you to do, turn into a hip-hop artist overnight? That would have been ridiculous. I'm sorry the people you were relying on to carry you and your fantastic songs over the finish line were fucking idiots. And looks should not matter, but critiquing your lovely appearance only further reinforces their cluelessness and lack of taste. I saw you perform twice during these years, with and without a band, and both shows were magnificent. This was their failure, not yours. I'm happy you have since found peace and another purpose in life. It is my understanding that there is much more room for independent artists these days to find their niche of strong crowds and financial independence now that record companies are no longer the end-all be-all; I hope you are able to take advantage of this with a new batch of songs, selfishly for my own ears if nothing else. I'd wager that things will turn out better by following your instincts instead of theirs this time; after all, you got nominated for a Grammy, not them.
I saw you once in Raleigh and have been a devoted follower ever since. Just know your story, well told, applies to all genders and industries where people have a set idea of who you should be. You have made the world a kinder and better place.
I play my part in the music industry as a listener/consumer and I am sorry for the times I wanted that next song, that next album. I can never know the hard work that you put in and I appreciate that you are sharing some of it. In my later years, though, I have tried to know a few artists as people, and listen to them with more care. And there are many of your songs that I still turn to. Thanks for showing up as yourself and not as some industry creation.
Tift, straight forward and wide open, you share your Heart and Soul with a certain kind of Grace that is a source of inspiration to others. I will always be grateful to you for the kindhearted person you are. I remember your first show at Greenfield Lake. what a performance you gave. After the show you were at the CD's and clothing attire table and I said to you Nashville is calling on you. I believe you had already been to "The Grand Ole Opry" for some reason you had tears showing. Is there a chance you remember that moment ?
There can never be another Tift. Your Amazing and Loved by many. May you have many more years and memorable performances on stage and off stage, to the joy of all who get to know you through your songs.
I was at that Birmingham show. I was at all your Birmingham shows and loved them all. I saw you at City Winery in Atlanta soon after your daughter was born, and that's the last time I've had a chance to see you. I'll always be a fan and I hope continued peace for you and the opportunity to hear a couple of more Tift shows in the future. You are definitely spreading joy! Thank you
You are not a fluke. You are a genius. And my favorite singer/songwriter. Much love, MacDaddy#13 🥃
Thank you for this. Just as good as your great songs.
Your songs and your career have given me inspiration and courage since I first heard you on that first album when it first came out.
Thank you for writing this, and thank you for going through it all so we could benefit from your music.