Song Premiere: Tift Merritt: “Lingering On”

Already heard Tift Merritt‘s new album, Traveling Alone? You haven’t heard it this way. Merritt will release a deluxe edition of the record in September, beefing up the original tracklist with an illustrated hardback book and a bonus disc of unreleased acoustic tracks. Eric Heywood — Merritt’s touring guitarist, with an impressive alt.country resume that also includes stints with Ray Lamontagne and the Jahyawks — strums with her on the second disc, which is cheekily titled Traveling Companion.

“Putting together the Deluxe Edition has just been such a pleasure,” Merritt told us. “The illustrations for the lyric book are just so beautiful, and recording the duo acoustic album was a pleasure, too. We just sat around a couple of microphones and played acoustic guitars like [we were at] a campfire.”

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The acoustic disc includes a few unplugged versions of songs from the original album, as well as covers by Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits. We’re happy to premiere one of the other highlights, a Merritt original called “Lingering On,” below. Look for the rest of the two-volume package on September 17.