Tift Merritt is about as approachable as they come. An email inquiry to her press rep prompts an almost immediate response from the artist herself. “I’m happy to catch you up on what we’ve been up to lately and the like … just let me know if phone or email is better for you.” Merritt’s only stipulation: that any interview happen after 11 a.m., so she can get in her daily practice session on a piano she’s been using at a club not far from her Manhattan apartment. You could argue that, with a voice like hers, Merritt should be able to afford her dream piano by now. But while she may not be a household name (yet), she’s on a trajectory not unlike a few of her singer/songwriter luminaries (Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams), stockpiling critical plaudits and fan adoration for the four studio albums she’s released since 2002. Her most recent, See You On The Moon (Fantasy), is the scaled-back, introverted antithesis of what may be her only bid for a wider audience, 2004’s polished roots-rock zinger Tambourine. That’s the one that earned her a Grammy nod for best country album. (Guess no one bothered to tell the academy it wasn’t country.) Merritt will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with her.
Merritt: Cy Twombly is one of my very favorite artists. His work is intensely emotional and powerfully distilled. I love the way he incorporates words with his loose, messy handwriting, like someone writing something fast while consumed with something wild. He ran his own race, living the way he wanted to live with his wife and son in Italy. He didn’t follow anyone. He rarely gave interviews, though I did once read that after making a painting, he usually had to go to bed for a few days. The first time I saw one of his piantings, it made me cry. Maybe it doesn’t make any sense, but I found some kind of comfort in mind from this man who was trying to capture life in a few craggy lines on a paper. I can’t help but think I’m at work on the same thing. Twombly passed away this summer.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_WgCo-Mqg4
