TIFT MERRITT

Father Knows Best
My dad had a really good record collection-Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton. He taught me how to play guitar and piano by ear. So, at that point, I listened to things that I could figure out how to play. That took me toward all those ‘70s songwriters-Joni Mitchell, Neil Young Carole King, Emmylou Harris. I guess I was a little more than a teenager when I finally found Emmylou Harris, and it was like, “Oh my gosh, this is the Holy Grail!”Father Knows Best
My dad had a really good record collection-Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton. He taught me how to play guitar and piano by ear. So, at that point, I listened to things that I could figure out how to play. That took me toward all those ‘70s songwriters-Joni Mitchell, Neil Young Carole King, Emmylou Harris. I guess I was a little more than a teenager when I finally found Emmylou Harris, and it was like, “Oh my gosh, this is the Holy Grail!”

Time in the Tar Heel State
The North Carolina scene wasn’t just one person. It was a whole group of people that inspired me. Superchunk, Polvo and Eric Bachman’s band [Archers of Loaf] were all working on their band, making flyers and [them] coming to your gig and you’d go to their gig. It was a really genuinely amazing scene of musicians just rockin’ out. There’s a great club in the Cat’s Cradle and a great radio station in WXYC at Chapel Hill. They’re breathing life into it in their own way.

Perfect Practice
I used to sit around and play “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” on my guitar a lot. I would play Joni Mitchell’s “California.” I guarantee you I was playing all the songs on Emmylou’s Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town over and over and over. I also loved that Michelle Shocked record, Short Sharp Shocked. I was sometimes stuck in the past in my record collection, but I remember actually being somewhat current with that one. All the Townes Van Zandt records are incredible.

QT with the Heroine of Heartache
I did a landmine benefit show with Emmylou in my hometown, and my parents were sitting in the audience. Emmylou just leaned in and started singing harmonies with me. The audience saw this whole train of thought go over my face. First, it’s: “Oh my gosh, Emmylou Harris is singing with me.” Then, it’s: “Oh my gosh, Emmylou Harris knows the words to [my] song!” My mother said to me after, “You don’t get anything for Christmas because you just got everything you ever wanted.” Emmylou was such a role model because she was a pioneer. She championed a sort of storytelling, and her singing is so clear and true. She blazed her own trail. She’s also just an amazing person. I mean, I would never presume to say that I know her, but she has a warmth and kindness. It’s always an amazing thing when you can look up to an artist’s work and look up to him/her as a human being.

The Passion of the Costello
Elvis Costello is so fun and so smart and compassionate. Here’s what’s amazing about Elvis: Every night, the show’s a blazing, no-holds-barred thing. No one knows what they’re gonna sing, and all the songs are completely different from the night before. Then he gets off the stage and works on an opera or watches music documentaries. He’s just so passionate about music.

Creative Culture
Writing the songs for Another Country in Paris threw me up in the air. I was completely outside of my life and the things I knew. It’s just a really intimate and detail-oriented culture. The man in the butcher shop can tell you where your pieces of meat came from, and there’s the woman making dresses in the store window. I felt like everybody was making something, and that’s a validating thing. I’m working on this one line for four hours, and they’re sewing that long piece of dress for four hours. Paris is a culture that’s not mass-marketed and mass-produced like we are. People live very openly there. They live in the streets and keep their windows open. That’s a city culture, but also a European thing. It allowed me to write in a very open way.

Recognition
Being nominated for a Grammy [for Tambourine]-that was fun! It’s a wonderful thing to share with your family. It’s surreal to call your parents and say, “I know you were scared because I’m a musician, but I got nominated for a Grammy!” Any time the world is nice to you, it’s a really nice thing. At the end of the day, though, what I’m trying to do is really personal. It’s about telling the truth in a very small way.

Tift Merritt’s Another Country is out now on Fantasy/Concord Records.