Tift Merritt: Trouble Over Me
[purchase]
Tift Merritt carries us from trouble to dissent with this fully self-aware plea for self delusion, in which a litany of boldfaced lies ("I don't want a boyfriend", "leave me alone") belie a fully honest urging for someone to make some trouble over her. Twenty-something Merritt, who was born and lives in small-town Texas, is an oft-overlooked singer-songwriter in terms of commercial success despite two failed Grammy nominations in 2004, in part because although her music is often mis-categorized and sold as country, its sound is more of a folk-rock hybrid, but she has plenty of cred in the industry and in-crowd; the song was featured in audiophile Nick Hornsby's 31 Songs project, and other works have found placement on several prominent TV and film soundtracks in recent years, including the 2009 Hornsby-adapted vehicle An Education.
