Tift Merritt wanted to be a writer until her father taught her guitar chords and Percy Sledge songs. In her 20-year career, Merritt has toured around the world with her sonic short stories and garnered a reputation for making her own way and setting an interesting artistic table. The New Yorker calls her “the bearer of a proud tradition of distaff country soul that reaches back to artists like Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry.” Emmylou Harris calls her "a diamond in a coal mine.” Taking time off the road to raise her daughter, Merritt began work on site specific projects by way collecting objects in an old motel and an abandoned asylum as forgotten, essential language. For over ten years, Merritt has engaged in artist interviews about process and integrity on her radio show and podcast, The Spark, originating on Marfa Texas Public Radio. A regular contributor to the Oxford American, Merritt lives in North Carolina with her daughter Jean.

(Photo Credit: Alexanda Valenti)