Stitch of the World
Tift Merritt wastes no time gettin’ to it on *Stitch of the World*, kicking off with the rowdy, countrified folk of “Dusty Old Man.” Piano-led weeper “Heartache Is an Uphill Climb” follows in dramatic fashion, showcasing her commanding warble. Merritt’s deft songwriting contains multitudes, and she gets mystical on the album’s title track with a windswept arrangement that conjures dark desert nights. And Sam Beam, a.k.a. Iron & Wine, delivers a beauty of a feature on “Wait for Me.”
Stitch of the World, Merritt’s sixth studio album, was written on a friend’s farm in Marfa, Texas, at Merritt’s California cabin and in New York City in the wake of several major changes in her life. Merritt workshopped the songs on Stitch of the World with longtime friend Sam Beam of Iron & Wine after bumping into him in an airport. The album was recorded in Los Angeles while Merritt was six months pregnant, after which she relocated to her hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. The time since the release of 2012’s Traveling Alone has also found Merritt recording and touring with Andrew Bird in his Hands of Glory, MC Taylor’s Hiss Golden Messenger and classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein.
Given the consistent strength of her recorded work, one of the great mysteries of the 21st century remains: why isn't Tift Merritt a star?
Tift Merritt has attributed elements of her multifaceted, genre-defying songwriting style to her father's diverse record collection of soul,...
Tift Merritt’s new album, Stitch of the World, makes it just a little bit easier to believe that scars do heal.