Spotlight: Tift Merritt on Raleigh

“On a perfectly straightforward level, I write a lot about North Carolina because it’s my home. Any time I’m writing about relationships with home and grounding, I’m writing about North Carolina. I grew up in Raleigh, near downtown – I grew up in a place that really had a true sense of place. It was a very singular feel. That was and that has always been palpable to me. It’s been something that I’ve tried very much to give to my work: I want my work to feel like a particular world that you’re stepping into, a particular place and time steeped in a feel of its own. I think I want my work to feel that way because I’ve experienced it firsthand, here in Raleigh.”
–Tift Merritt

Folksy-bluesy country-rock singer and Raleighite Tift Merritt’s latest album, Stitch of the World, was released in January by
Hillsborough-based label Yep Roc Records. Learn more at tiftmerritt.com.