Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American musician Tift Merritt.
Last updated on April 14, 2025.
Catherine Tift Merritt is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has released seven studio albums, two for Lost Highway Records, two for Fantasy Records, and three for Yep Roc Records.
I think that there are a lot of things that come along with being a musician, but I don't want to whine about them. I don't want to complain about my job.
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.
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.
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.
I travel in a Ford Econoline van with a trailer. So it's not quite so glamorous.
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.
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.
You can always boil down the life of a musician to touring, playing, and writing.
I think you have to ask questions that are scary to ask, and you cannot apologize for that, and you cannot worry what anyone else thinks about your journey.
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.
My work is has always been very, very personal.
I'm always kind of surprised how much I'm associated with country music.
As much as I love being a singer-songwriter, I love throwing down on stage and letting it all out.
Sometimes when you're writing on a ukulele, you're in a totally new land, rhythmically or melodically.
I think you need a concrete, real-world metaphor to talk about inner life without feeling like a jerk.
When I was nominated for a Grammy, my label dropped me - I have a wariness about trying for a hit.
Music is like a really sacred, awesome thing. That first 45 minutes to two hours that you're on stage spending time with music every night is always really great.
I really love music, and I definitely love playing music and getting to be a part of music.
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, at the end of the day, I have an outsider's heart.
I don't want to be overly philosophical, but I think there are things you earn for yourself as you go.
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.
You have to be vigilant about keeping your own fire alive.