OK, so this blog is in danger of turning into a Tift Merritt Appreciation Web site, fine. Believe me, there are far worse things it could be.
I couldn’t resist going back to the well where I found the first of these record store clips and highlighting another great performance by Merritt from the same show as the last one.
Of all the videos I’m posting this week, this Tift Merritt show is the one I most wish I’d attended. And no, smart alecks, it’s not because she’s one of my Celebrity Girlfriends. I mean, I wouldn’t want to see Jennifer Garner or Connie Britton trying something like this.
No, I wish I’d been at this show because Merritt has such an infectious energy and she is so obviously in love with what she does for a living that I imagine it would be fulfilling just to be near her. Her music, and especially the way she performs her music, kind of sums up for me what this whole Song of the Day gig is all about.
It’s about the power four minutes of guitar, harmonica and voice have to fill a room not just with music but something else that can’t be measured.
Gonna light out of here for some cleaner place.
I’ll be sitting in the backseat with my hair in my face,
Then gone fast as freedom on good wind.
If I got my hopes too high, this is no easy kind of life.
But I see it in my mind’s eye, touch me real as daytime,
And I can’t keep from trying.
No place to run for a girl like me,
Whole lot of used to’s and supposed to be’s,
I want to burn like august, shine like gold dust,
Where everyday living can’t hold me.
If I got my hopes too high, this is no easy kind of life.
But I see it in my mind’s eye, touch me real as daytime,
And I can’t keep from trying.
So when I reach for you from some way down place,
Don’t be a stranger who won’t show his face.
I got no promise but these words I say,
I carry you, you carry me,
If I got my hopes too high, this is no easy kind of life.
But I see it in my mind’s eye, touch me real as daytime,
And I can’t keep from trying.
Meet Me In Montauk 
I think you making this a Tift Merritt blog may result in it having as many fans as does Merritt:)
Nice song and performance and all…but I don’t see that it shows off her high energy or great love of what she is doing. Did she have you at the foot tapping?:)
I’ll take Merritt’s fan base as opposed to my audience of six!
I bet Connie Britton would be fabulous in this setting, and Amy Adams would set the record store on fire. Of course, it’s because she’s one of your celebrity girlfriends that you’d rather attend her concert than the one given by Rufus, Jack Johnson, or Glen Hansard. As if any of them are less passionate about their music just because you didn’t get all giddy talking to them after a live performance 🙂 Nonetheless, this is your blog, and you can cry if you want to. Personally, I would have loved to attend any of these performances. How wonderful to see these artists without all the lights and stage and distance. Great theme week.
Well, I think you’re right in a sense… but the thing is, she’s one of my celebrity girlfriends because of that element that draws me to her music. Yes, she’s cute, too, but that’s the least of it.
I’d walk over broken glass to get close to Beyonce, but she’s not on my CG list or in this week’s live music lineup because her appeal is only about the physical.
Now I’ll be on a quest to find Beyonce singing in a record store 🙂 My bet is that if there is such a thing, you”ll fall instantly in love 😉