ABOUT

TIFT MERRITT wanted to be a writer until her father taught her guitar chords and Percy Sledge songs. In her 20 year career, she has toured around the world with her sonic short stories and garnered a reputation for making her own way and setting an interesting artistic table. The New Yorker calls her “the bearer of a proud tradition of distaff country soul that reaches back to artists like Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry.” Emmylou Harris calls her "a diamond in a coal mine.” Taking time off the road to raise her daughter, Merritt began work on larger, site specific projects by way collecting objects in an old motel and an abandoned asylum as forgotten, essential language. Merritt also collects artist interviews about process and integrity on The Spark for Carolina Performing Arts. A regular contributor to the Oxford American, she lives in North Carolina with her daughter Jean.

THE SPARK

How do you light a spark? How do you make something true? How does art happen? What is mumbled on the way in the studio and how can we hear it? 

Welcome to The Spark.

Based on the series Tift Merritt produced for the acclaimed Marfa, Texas Public Radio, The Spark peels back the polished performance to reveal the elbow grease, risk, fire, and courage behind the art—and artists—we think we know. Each month, Tift will welcome a new artist to speak about integrity and process — how they really make their work and their lives. The conversations are not about neatly packaged finished products; these are conversations about laughter, teachers, and turning points — the not so neatly hewn insight which comes from having your hands in the dirt.

EVENTS