Tift Merritt. Songstress Tift Merritt is a North Carolina native. Her father taught her guitar chords and Percy Sledge songs. With her longtime band, she has built a unique and critically acclaimed body of work of sonic short stories and poignant performances. Merritt has toured the US and Europe, been featured on Austin City Limits, produced a Grammy-nominated album and been hailed by none other than Emmylou Harris as “a diamond in a coal patch” of songwriters. Her quote reads, “I think music is a marriage of a lot of different things. Rhythm, melody and a story. And I think the more you can just behold unto those things, then everything falls into place.”