Tift Merritt reviewed
Tift Merritt
Another Country
(Fantasy/Concord)
As a country artist, Tift Merritt is unremarkable. That’s not an insult; it’s her career. You can go end-to-end on her third album and not once roll your eyes.
Again, it reads like an indictment. Though truth be told, there are sections of Another Country where her Joni Mitchell and Carole King records turn the music into a ball of generica so large you don’t know whether to spit or beat yourself with a Nerf ball. But it’s a delicate niche she’s after and with the reward of being the only one who inhabits it.
There certainly isn’t enough edge on Country to make her “alt-country.” Back when she woodshopped some of these songs at Old Town School Of Folk Music, she remarked her boldest endeavor was “Mille Tendresses” because its lyrics are French. But there are no Fox Confessors or Calexico cameos, just as there’s no Simon Cowell or Mutt Lange, either. To point out Merritt writes her own songs is an affront. Ninety-percent of the time the song title is the refrain, true, but hers is a simplicity wrought from the tell-it-how-it-is worlds of Billy Joe Shaver, Kris Kristofferson, and Rodney Crowell. There are no advanced degrees or puppy-love tales inspiring the likes of the title track, “Keep You Happy,” or “Tender Branch.” Just honesty.
The album is country music without throwback temptations or crossover dreams. It can be ugly terrain, but slowly and surely Merritt is figuring it out.
— Steve Forstneger
