Tift Merritt
Catherine Tift Merritt (born January 8, 1975, in Houston, Texas, but moved to Raleigh, North Carolina soon after) is a critically acclaimed American singer-songwriter, musician. She is currently based in New York.
Merritt's father taught her guitar chords and Percy Sledge songs. She began her professional career in 1998 with her band The Carbines playing small clubs. In her early twenties, though Tift had gigged by herself, she decided she was not very good at music and better suited for writing short stories. Read Full BioCatherine Tift Merritt (born January 8, 1975, in Houston, Texas, but moved to Raleigh, North Carolina soon after) is a critically acclaimed American singer-songwriter, musician. She is currently based in New York.
Merritt's father taught her guitar chords and Percy Sledge songs. She began her professional career in 1998 with her band The Carbines playing small clubs. In her early twenties, though Tift had gigged by herself, she decided she was not very good at music and better suited for writing short stories. She and her dog Lucy started school at UNC to study creative writing. There, she met Zeke Hutchins, whose band had just taken a hiatus and who had decided to become a school teacher. With his encouragement and a big box of LPs from the 70's that they both liked, they started a band. Zeke set drums up in the kitchen of Tift's farmhouse on the outskirts of town, and they practiced songs at her red piano. The Carbines played Chapel Hill haunts like the Cave, the Cat's Cradle, and the front porch of the General Store in Bynum, NC. Tift also made a guest appearance on the Two Dollar Pistols with Tift Merritt EP.
In 2000, Tift won Merlefest's Chris Austin Songwriting contest, and with the help of Ryan Adams, found herself with a manager and a recording contract with Lost Highway records. The band headed to LA to record her first release, Bramble Rose, in 2002, produced by Ethan Johns. The record landed on Time Magazine's and New Yorker's top ten lists and was called the best debut of the year in any genre by the Associated Press. Tambourine followed in 2004. Produced by George Drakoulias, featuring Mike Campbell of the Hearbreakers on guitar, Tambourine was a soul-rock throw down, Grammy-nominated for Country Album of the Year, even though it was really not a country album. It was also nominated for three Americana Music Awards. The tour opened for Elvis Costello, recorded Austin City Limits, releasing the performance as a live DVD, and made Home Is Loud, a document of the tour's homecoming concert in Raleigh, NC. As the tour was winding down, Tift ran away to Paris looking for her mojo and, without intending to, started writing songs that would become Another Country. Another Country was released on Fantasy Records in 2008, again with George Drakoulias and her longtime band at the helm. Buckingham Solo, recorded in England, is an intimate concert behind Another Country, released on Fantasy in April 2009. Also in 2009, Tift had her first art exhibit, Other Countries, bringing the journals and pictures behind Another Country to light.
Tift also produces The Spark for KRTS Marfa, Texas Public Radio. The Spark explores the real lives and processes of the people behind great works of art. Guests have included writer Nick Hornby, artist Kiki Smith, songstress and Merge co-founder Mac MCCaughan. Emmylou Harris, when asked about Tift, said, “I first heard Tift Merritt some years ago during a writer's night at a small club in Nashville. She stood out like a diamond in a coal patch, and everyone there knew she carried a promise of great things to come.”
In 2009, Tift married longtime collaborator Zeke Hutchins. They lived in a small Greenwich Village apartment in NYC, and later divorced.
Traveling Alone, her fifth studio album, was recorded in Brooklyn and featuring guest spots from Marc Ribot, Andrew Bird, and others, was released in the fall of 2012.
Her sixth studio Stitch of the World was released in 2017. According to the review in Pop Matters, "The stories surrounding Stitch of the World, Tift Merritt's most recent album, make up their narrative, with divorce, relocation, and childbirth at the center of the tale... But Merritt's gift for the record has been to write a series of songs that sound personal without relying on anything autobiographical... the songs are individual, a capturing of Merritt's vision that's unguarded and inviting without being limited."
http://www.tiftmerritt.com/
Merritt's father taught her guitar chords and Percy Sledge songs. She began her professional career in 1998 with her band The Carbines playing small clubs. In her early twenties, though Tift had gigged by herself, she decided she was not very good at music and better suited for writing short stories. Read Full BioCatherine Tift Merritt (born January 8, 1975, in Houston, Texas, but moved to Raleigh, North Carolina soon after) is a critically acclaimed American singer-songwriter, musician. She is currently based in New York.
Merritt's father taught her guitar chords and Percy Sledge songs. She began her professional career in 1998 with her band The Carbines playing small clubs. In her early twenties, though Tift had gigged by herself, she decided she was not very good at music and better suited for writing short stories. She and her dog Lucy started school at UNC to study creative writing. There, she met Zeke Hutchins, whose band had just taken a hiatus and who had decided to become a school teacher. With his encouragement and a big box of LPs from the 70's that they both liked, they started a band. Zeke set drums up in the kitchen of Tift's farmhouse on the outskirts of town, and they practiced songs at her red piano. The Carbines played Chapel Hill haunts like the Cave, the Cat's Cradle, and the front porch of the General Store in Bynum, NC. Tift also made a guest appearance on the Two Dollar Pistols with Tift Merritt EP.
In 2000, Tift won Merlefest's Chris Austin Songwriting contest, and with the help of Ryan Adams, found herself with a manager and a recording contract with Lost Highway records. The band headed to LA to record her first release, Bramble Rose, in 2002, produced by Ethan Johns. The record landed on Time Magazine's and New Yorker's top ten lists and was called the best debut of the year in any genre by the Associated Press. Tambourine followed in 2004. Produced by George Drakoulias, featuring Mike Campbell of the Hearbreakers on guitar, Tambourine was a soul-rock throw down, Grammy-nominated for Country Album of the Year, even though it was really not a country album. It was also nominated for three Americana Music Awards. The tour opened for Elvis Costello, recorded Austin City Limits, releasing the performance as a live DVD, and made Home Is Loud, a document of the tour's homecoming concert in Raleigh, NC. As the tour was winding down, Tift ran away to Paris looking for her mojo and, without intending to, started writing songs that would become Another Country. Another Country was released on Fantasy Records in 2008, again with George Drakoulias and her longtime band at the helm. Buckingham Solo, recorded in England, is an intimate concert behind Another Country, released on Fantasy in April 2009. Also in 2009, Tift had her first art exhibit, Other Countries, bringing the journals and pictures behind Another Country to light.
Tift also produces The Spark for KRTS Marfa, Texas Public Radio. The Spark explores the real lives and processes of the people behind great works of art. Guests have included writer Nick Hornby, artist Kiki Smith, songstress and Merge co-founder Mac MCCaughan. Emmylou Harris, when asked about Tift, said, “I first heard Tift Merritt some years ago during a writer's night at a small club in Nashville. She stood out like a diamond in a coal patch, and everyone there knew she carried a promise of great things to come.”
In 2009, Tift married longtime collaborator Zeke Hutchins. They lived in a small Greenwich Village apartment in NYC, and later divorced.
Traveling Alone, her fifth studio album, was recorded in Brooklyn and featuring guest spots from Marc Ribot, Andrew Bird, and others, was released in the fall of 2012.
Her sixth studio Stitch of the World was released in 2017. According to the review in Pop Matters, "The stories surrounding Stitch of the World, Tift Merritt's most recent album, make up their narrative, with divorce, relocation, and childbirth at the center of the tale... But Merritt's gift for the record has been to write a series of songs that sound personal without relying on anything autobiographical... the songs are individual, a capturing of Merritt's vision that's unguarded and inviting without being limited."
http://www.tiftmerritt.com/
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Traveling Alone
Tift Merritt Lyrics
This morning, if it all was gone, funny thing, it wouldn’t phase me none.
Might feel like I just got home. See, I always had a taste for traveling alone.
Only get this one time round, better speak up straight, better speak up proud.
Good Lord, if he’s not at home, well, I always had a taste for traveling alone.
Oh If I had a son, I would make him laugh, I would teach him something.
I’d say, Son, you gotta hold your own, and it’s good to have a taste for traveling alone.
Oh If I had a love, I would say, Man, got to keep up.
Got to lay down, baby, feed my soul, ’cause you know I got a taste for traveling alone.
Oh If I had a song, I would sing it now, wouldn’t take too long.
I’d sing, Goodness is a real bare bone, and it’s what you do when you’re traveling alone.
Down south, baby, in the heat, I was raised up right, I was raised so sweet.
Sweetness ain’t gonna get you home. You’re bound to get a taste of traveling alone.
I know that the world is mean, I know it don’t care, I been around, I seen it.
It’s like a pretty girl who don’t even know. I guess everybody here is traveling alone.
Cigarettes and a pick up truck, I’m gonna leave this town now, I got to press my luck.
Ocean gonna break so slow. You know, I always had a taste for traveling alone.
Writer(s): Tift Merritt Copyright: Train Penny Publishing, Bike Music O.B.O. Train Penny Pub
Contributed by Nathaniel E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
Brittany S
This song reminds me of a dirt road, and muddy boots. I can't get enough of her voice!!
Vincent Kelly
One of the great songwriters of our time, what a bunch of truly awesome songs she has written. A return visit to Ireland is long overdue.
Larry Blisard
Takes me back to a coffee house somewhere in the '70s to some of the best music ever.
Kathy Hurst
Bought the cd yesterday--the whole album is great. Love it!
X Tho
It doesn't get much better than this. Tift Merritt, I have no idea who you are. And i don't know any of your other work but this song gets me going. Unreal piece of art. This is amazing. Thank you Tift!!
Colton Slattery
“Well I hope he’s had a taste of travelin alone..”
Inspirational. Thank you kindly.
Glen Harris
the voice of an angel can't wait to see her in nz next month
ilona van Ginkel
beautiful song
Rad MillerJr.
Great pipes, great song. the Radman
AliceInPantera
Ahhh I love this song