The wife and I went to see Tift Merritt on Saturday night. Tres Chicas were scheduled to be the opening act but those ragged, heroin-stabbing bitches were turned back at the border* - so as a last-minute replacement we were treated to a set by Carolyn Mark and Neko Case (aka the Corn Sisters, natch). Not a bad trade-off in my book. Carolyn and Neko were backed by a lone guitarist so it wasn't exactly a raucous affair, but it was still a treat to witness.

Tift was surprisingly good, by the way. Her voice is as gorgeous as on her albums, and she brought along a great band. They stretched out the coda of "Ain't Looking Closely" into an organ/guitar duelling rave-up - and I'm always a sucker for a keyboardist who physically spanks the b'jeezus outta his instrument. All around, way better than I'd expected.

* Coincidentally enough, we were at the show with a Canada Customs Official.

I almost made the show here in portland but had other things going on - I like Tift Merritt

I like Tift Merritt too. I wasn't able to go to either of her formal shows, but as I stated before, I caught her instore here in Portland in like October or November. And we got coffee afterwards. I didn't really get to sit down with her and her two band members or anything, but we walked to the coffee shop. It was nice. But I had to get back to class.

Anyway, wicked replacements Radcliffe.

NICE Rad!

I actually pulled this record out again over the weekend after "Laid a Highway" came up on my Ipod shuffle. Great record.

Neko will be here in Atlanta next month. May have to go check it out.

She's in FHM this month as one of the "new ladies of country music."

If one hasn't heard her music, the photos and accompanying mini-text would make people think she's just another generic cute face in the country crowd, which is so not true.

It's a hard tag to dodge. I mean, I've got Tambourine and really like its mix of country, soul, rock, and gospel - I think it's everything Dusty In Memphis isn't (apart from "Son Of A Preacher Man", which lives up to the legend) - but even still I was expecting Tift to play a generic, merely nice alt.country sorta show that wouldn't separate itself from Kelly Willis or Kim Richie or Kathleen Edwards or any one of a hundred of seemingly similar artists. But she rocked the joint. Certainly proved to me that Tambourine was no fluke or a trick of studio production.

i'm really looking forward to seeing her in about a month. she was on leno a few weeks ago and sounded pretty good. and tambourine is really solid.

Radcliffe-- I too enjoy the Tift; I've seen her live supporting the band that is (in my opinion) the best country act working today --- The Two Dollar Pistols; Coincidentally the Pistols and Tift paired up for an album (an ep really -- 7 tracks) that I quite enjoy; I can make it a part of our next trade if you wish.

Not that I know anything about electronically exchanged music, but my AIM is geneskinner93........