Tift Merritt Quotes

France was very opposite of the show-business experience I'd been living; I was anonymous and alone. I wore no makeup, wore the same clothes every day. And I wrote and wrote and wrote.

My work is has always been very, very personal.

I'm a writer, first and foremost, and I sort of take my cues from the songwriters of the '70s, who are talking about what's really important to them.

I really love music, and I definitely love playing music and getting to be a part of music.

You can always boil down the life of a musician to touring, playing, and writing.

I travel in a Ford Econoline van with a trailer. So it's not quite so glamorous.

I think, at the end of the day, I have an outsider's heart.

The thought of making work that's easily consumed and quickly forgotten - what's the point? I want my work to be cohesive, to age and improve like old leather.

I wanted to dedicate myself completely to the things that matter to me and let everything else go, and I think that's a really rewarding thing.

In France, I discovered that I love writing in the city. There's such an intensity to being in the city that matches the intensity of what you're experiencing in your head.

I think you need a concrete, real-world metaphor to talk about inner life without feeling like a jerk.

My point of view as a writer has to be a lot more ego-less than just like being some performer on stage with a hairdo.

Sometimes when you're writing on a ukulele, you're in a totally new land, rhythmically or melodically.

As much as I love being a singer-songwriter, I love throwing down on stage and letting it all out.

When I was nominated for a Grammy, my label dropped me - I have a wariness about trying for a hit.

I was thinking about how a playlist is really so inadequate as opposed to a mixtape because it takes seventeen days to really make a mixtape with a homemade cover that you like and that you'd give away.

A tremendous amount of energy is freed up when you feel that your vision is actually respected and cared for by the people you're working with.

I don't want to be overly philosophical, but I think there are things you earn for yourself as you go.

You have to be vigilant about keeping your own fire alive.