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August 1, 2009New York-based country singer Tift Merritt put out her first solo album, Bramble Rose, in 2002, following a stint with a band called The Carbines. Merritt's music is hard to pin down: She incorporates gospel, soul, '70s California rock 'n' roll and warm echoes of Joni Mitchell's brand of folk music into her piano-based country songs. Along the way, she shrewdly stretches those genres and her own voice toward each other to find a place where they meet.
Merritt's second record, Tambourine, was nominated for a Country Album of the Year Grammy in 2004. She wrote its follow-up, 2008's Another Country, in Paris during an extended break from touring. This year, Merritt released a live solo acoustic record called Buckingham Solo.
After the Newport Folk Festival, Merritt will continue touring through August, playing dates on the East Coast and in Canada. She has a monthly radio show, The Spark, on KRTS Marfa Public Radio in Texas, on which she converses with other artists about how they find inspiration.
New York City's WFUV features an adventurous mix of new and established rock, singer-songwriter, blues, world, and other music.
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