█████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▓▓ ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▒ ████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▓ █████████████████████████████████████████ ░▒ ▒▒ ░██████████████████████████████████████▒▒▓ ▓ ███████████████████████████████████████ ▒░ ████████████████████████████████████ █ ██████████████████████████████████▒ █ ▓█████████████████████████████████ ▒ ████████████████████████████████ ▒▒ ▒██████████████████████████████ ▒█ █████████████████████████████ ▒█▓▒ ████████████████████████████ ░██░ ░█░ ███████████████████████████ ████ ██████████████████████████▒ ▓████ █████████████████████████▓ █████░ █████████████████████████▓ ██████░ ████████████████████████▓ ███████ ███████████████████████▓ ████████▒ ▓█████████████████████▒ ▓█████████ ████████████████████░ ░███████████▒ █████████░██████▓░ ▒█████████████▒ ██████▓ ██ ▒▒█████████████████▒ ░█████ ███ ░ ░▒████████████████████▒▒ ██████▒░█▒██░█ █▒ ████████████████████████▒ ████████▒ ▓███ ████▓█ ██████████████████████░ ███████ ▒ ░██░ █ ███ ▒███████████████████████ ███████░ ▒ ███ █ ░██████████████████████████ ████████▓ ▓█░ ▒██████████████████████████████▒ ████████░▒██▒██████████████████████████████████ ████████████ █████████████████████████████████▒ ████████████ ████████████████████████████████ ████████████▓░██████████████████████████████▒ ████ ██ ██ █████████████ █████████████████████████████▒ ██ ██ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ █████████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ███████████████████████████████████████▓ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ ██ ████████████████████████████████████▒ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████████████████████████████▒ ▒ █████████████████████████████████ ▒▒░ ELITE RECORD PLAYERS ███████████████████████████████ ▒▒ █████████████████████████████ ▒ ▒▒ ██████████████████████████▓ ▒▒▒ ████████████████████████ ░▒ ████████████████████ ░▒▓▒ ░ ███████████████▒▒░░▒░█░ ░ ┌────────┐ ────┤ Info ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Artist | Tift Merritt Title | Traveling Alone Genre | Folk/Rock Format | Album Source | CDDA Time | 44:09 Label | Yep Roc Records Store | 2012 Catalog | YEP-2291 Rip | 2016 Bitrate | 227 kbps Size | 75.74 MB Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Tracks ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ 01. Traveling Alone 4:44 02. Sweet Spot 2:50 03. Drifted Apart 3:34 04. Still Not Home 3:48 05. Feeling Of Beauty 4:01 06. Too Soon To Go 4:35 07. Small Talk Relations 3:23 08. Spring 4:21 09. To Myself 3:34 10. In The Way 3:35 11. Marks 5:44 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Notes ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Singer/songwriter Tift Merritt seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the spring of 2002 with her acclaimed debut album Bramble Rose, but as is often the case, this triple-threat artist - a gifted singer, superb songwriter, and skillful guitarist - actually has plenty of experience under her belt. Born in Houston, Texas, in 1975, Merritt's family moved to North Carolina when she was young and she's lived there ever since. Merritt first developed an interest in music when she was a child and learned to sing harmonies with her father, who had dabbled in folk music in his younger days; in her early teens, she picked up a guitar and her dad taught her her first four chords. While Merritt was drawn to the rebellious spirit of punk and indie rock, she felt a greater emotional connection with more acoustic-oriented artists, particularly Joni Mitchell (Merritt once told a reporter, 'I went through a Joni Mitchell phase - and all girls go through a Joni Mitchell phase; if any girl tells you she never did, don't believe her'). If Tift Merritt's body of work so far has shown anything, itÆs that she seems incapable of making an uninteresting or emotionally dishonest record, and she can work in a number of different ways and still sound like herself. "Traveling Alone", Merritt's fifth studio album, was recorded in Brooklyn with producer Tucker Martine, and for these sessions, Merritt and her studio band cut the bulk of the material live in the studio, with a group of stellar accompanists including Marc Ribot on guitar, John Convertino on percussion, Eric Heywood on pedal steel, and Jay Brown on bass. The close interaction of the musicians is a large part of the sound of "Traveling Alone" - hearing them kick into gear in the intro to "Still Not Home" is a thrill - but despite having a band of top-flight players behind her, Merritt is very much the focus of "Traveling Alone" throughout, and sheÆs in typically excellent form. The title cut is a bittersweet meditation on the joys of solitude, and much of "Traveling Alone" concerns itself with freedom and following oneÆs own path, for better ('To Myself') or for worse ('Still Not Home'), and Merritt's lyrics are eloquent with an artful touch that doesnÆt compromise their sincerity and direct focus, while her strong but elegant melodies are a fine match. As a vocalist, Merritt continues to go from strength to strength, and the purity of her instrument and the intelligence of her phrasing, as well her sure-footed musical instincts, suggest sheÆs maturing into the Emmylou Harris of her generation. And with guest vocalist Andrew Bird doing his best Roy Orbison impression alongside Merritt's lead, "Drifted Apart" is the best ballad of broken hearts to appear so far in 2012. "Traveling Alone" feels more spontaneous and immediate than most of Tift Merritt's previous work, but itÆs no less beautiful or affecting for it, and it offers further evidence that Merritt is as good a singer/songwriter as anyone working the form these days. ┌────────┐ ────┤ Group ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘