[rating=4.00]
In late 2006, Lost Highway Records dropped Tift Merritt. Her final album with the label, Tambourine, garnered a Grammy nomination and general high praise, but it left Merritt as an independent musician. Clueless by the decision and tapped of her energy, Merritt, who had been living in Paris at the time, still felt one thing to be true: her songs that would eventually become her third album, Another Country, would win out.
Her hunch was right.
With the help of Doug Pettibone on guitar, Merritt delivers on Another Country, writing personal and reflective country ballads that flow and capture your heart with their simple goal: to reveal the truth. The title track is gold, featuring Merritt and her smooth southern voice, “wanting to go, too,” in search of love. “Something to Me” and “Hopes Too High” also reveal a certain comfort in Merritt’s outlook, that good times eventually prevail in a world of “supposed to bes.” Kudos to Tift Merritt for sticking it out and recording what she believed in, making Another Country a true winner.
