Tift Merritt - Bramble Rose

Like Caitlin Cary, a North Carolina alt-country chanteuse type, but shares more musically with Sweet Old World era Lucinda, albeit with a sweeter voice and more of a tendency towards balladeering than that latter. Opening track "Trouble Over Me" (the one that I knew before listening to the album) encapsulates the feel of Bramble Rose - strength and fragility, wrapped up in a melody which is rooted in trad country songwriting styles but subtly inventive about it. Indeed, all in all, it's a very well-balanced record, hitting all the right notes without seeming to be merely going through the motions, and it's impressing me so far; summer is the right time of year to be listening to this kind of music, and I think that my appreciation of it will only grow over time.