I was surprised to see that today’s random track is only the second song I’ve posted from Tift Merritt’s 2004 sophomore album Tambourine. Even more surprising is that the first time was just last summer, when another of its songs showed up on a random weekend.

My love for Tift Merritt is well-documented on the blog, and I have featured her more than 40 times, yet somehow only two of those posts come from this album, the first of hers I heard.

That certainly has nothing to do with the quality of Tambourine. It’s one of her best, and the reason I became a fan in the first place.

I bought this album back in ’04 after learning Merritt would be opening for Elvis Costello at a show I was lucky enough to attend. I quickly fell for the album, and was almost as excited to see her set as Elvis’s. She didn’t disappoint, and afterward I bought her debut CD and had her sign it at a meet-and-greet.

So began a 17-years-and-counting appreciation for one of the most talented, yet unheralded, singer-songwriters around.