Tift Merritt, “Virginia, No One Can Warn You”

Fourteen years ago Tift Merritt stepped out of North Carolina and onto the national stage with an album so accomplished and assured that it was almost impossible to believe that it was her debut. Bramble Rose betrayed few growing pains, instead revealing a songwriter and performer full of grit and grace who seemed destined for bigger and better things.

Merritt has fulfilled those initial expectations with the unfailingly high quality of her subsequent work, even if widespread commercial success hasn’t quite been in the cards. Bramble Rose is getting a limited edition re-release in vinyl this February, and the artist who birthed this outstanding collection of songs has a soft spot in her heart for them. “There was so much sweetness in that time, something pure in making a first record,” Merritt remembered. “We were so excited to be in the studio together, to be in Los Angeles – everything was ahead and everything was happening for the first time. When I think of how all the miles I’ve seen began with this little seed, it gives me a great deal of hope. I could tell you 1,000 tender stories from those days. But maybe that is what those songs are.”

Photo by Jason Frank Rothernberg

picture: http://www.queenieaustralia.com/black-formal-dresses-au

“Virginia, No One Can Warn You” certainly qualifies as a tender story. In a way, it was the public’s introduction to Merritt, thanks to a clever one-shot video that received ample airplay. A mid-tempo rambler featuring a steadfast rhythm, some well-placed pedal steel courtesy of Greg Reading (now a member of Raleigh-based Chatham County Line), and production from Ethan Johns that leaves ample open space for Merritt’s longing melody to unfurl, it’s a goodbye song. Yet unlike most goodbye songs, it doesn’t concern the end of a romantic relationship.

Instead the title character seems to be an earlier incarnation of the narrator, one full of equal parts hope, optimism, and naiveté. Seemingly much wiser if not much...