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 I'm going to start where I usually end my reviews, with a recommendation: Buy "Another Country" by Tift Meritt, you won't regret it.
It is an astonishing ground-breaking album, a work which moves traditional Country music firmly into 2008 without losing any of the genre's true qualities.
Like all the best traditional Country, the tunes are accessible and easily remembered; like their forerunners, the songs here have lyrics full of meaning and emotion; and like good old-fashioned Country, the music is clean and crisp and MUSICAL.
This is so far from the factory fodder Nashville foists on Country fans it's untrue, and yet Miss Merritt has the skill to take all those traditional values and turn them into a true album of 2008.
I can't tell you specifically how she does it: it could be her vocals, reminiscent of Mary Chapin Carpenter at her best, sometimes more Texas, like Nanci Griffith yet totally unlike either of those two great singers.
It could be the songs: Tift Merritt writes in the style of Carpenter, but with strong links to New York's Laura Cantrell.
Actually, I don't think it's any single thing: I think it's the whole.
The album's highlight is the title track. "Another Country" is "just" a love song, but it's one of those tracks where it's hugely powerful without being loud. Merritt's vocals are so full of emotion you can feel what she feels. That is an amazing talent!
The hook is memorable and this could make the charts with no difficulty even though you can hear someone's foot tapping the beat at the start of the song. (I LOVE that!!)
For music trivia fans, see if you can hear the foot tapping at the start of the track.
Favorites include "I Know What I'm Looking For Now". This is BIG music; the intro suggests a pop song. Then Merritt starts to sing, the rhythm kicks in and the lyrics transport you into this girl's life.
Her vocal phrasing is masterful, and it is here that you begin to suspect she grew up listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter's early stuff. Carpenter would be proud of this one! It is astonishing!!
"Broken", the lead-off single from the album is wonderful. must surely be a single from the album. Doug Pettibone's guitar is exceptional, and Merritt shows a hard edge to her voice here. But the song really comes alive on the choruses where she sings in harmony with Brown. WONDERFUL!
"Something To Me" rolls along with Jay Brown's bass strolling beneath it and Zeke Hutchins' drums thumping through it. Merritt's close mic'd vocals are tender and heartfelt, yet she's able to break into happy choruses without pause.
Merritt shows what a truly great vocalist she is on "Tender Branch". The lyrics are the best on the album and this is one of the album's highlights!
If you want to check out whether this girl is Country or not, get to hear "Hopes Too High" and you'll be sure! Wonderful gentle Country music of the "old school" - you know: you can hear the words, the tune is comfortable and the harmonies are wonderful sweet voiced music.
As if all of that wasn't enough, this girl has one amazing trick up her sleeve. The last track, "Mille Tendresses" is in FOREIGN!
Take my word for it, the song transports you to the bars on the back streets of Paris, France, or Geneva, Switzerland, or Brussels, Belgium. It is undoubtedly one of the highlights on the album.
On the potential down side, "Tell Me Something True" sounds like something from Tamla Motown in the 60's right down to the handclaps and the keyboards. But that is quite deliberate on the part of producer George Drakoulias and it somehow fits the collection like a glove.
There are but a couple of tracks I found hard to cope with, but I stand by what I said up top!
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