After the stunning success of her assured debut "Bramble Rose" and the acclaimed tour that followed, Tift Merritt didn’t give herself a chance to rest much. The North Carolina-bred songwriter went right to work, taking advantage of the widespread acceptance she enjoyed for the album and putting to use a few lessons she learned along the way in what was an eye-opening process.

With her sights set, the North Carolina songwriter reached into her hat and pulled out "Tambourine", the kind of breakthrough recording virtually no one familiar with Tift’s earlier material will expect. Where Bramble Rose was a tasteful, slow-burning mix of brittle sweetness and delicate candor, "Tambourine" is a blow-out of gritty defiance and therapeutic honesty, a sexy, energetic roots rock record with healthy doses of Muscle Shoals soul and hints of country. "I think music is about the pursuit of joy, even the sad songs," says Tift. "It feels really great to get those feelings out, and I wanted this record to reflect that celebration."

The studio session, overseen by uber-producer George Drakoulias, resulted in an incredible exhale of great music, played, incidentally, by top-notch musicians. The "Tambourine" sessions find an impressive guest list of performers surrounding Tift with stellar performances. Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, along with Don Heffington (Hot Band, Lone Justice) comprised Tift’s band, while her hero Maria McKee, Jayhawk Gary Louris, and steel guitarist Robert Randolph all paid a working visit to the studio.

Tift augments her fine songwriting here with vocal performances to match. The combination sends already high-energy songs into musical orbit. From the lead track, a Jayhawks-styled strum "Stray Paper," to the Petty-esque "Wait It Out," and the bluish "The Plainest Thing," Tift asserts herself with a strong, distinctive voice reatively, musically and lyrically. "I don’t know if “growing up”is the right way to put it," she says, "but I feel like when you’re around musicians of such high caliber you learn so much and you see how dedicated everyone is to making great music.”

The many powerful emotional and stylistic impressions on the record might make "Tambourine" a diverse listen for Tift’s fans and the many converts bound to pile aboard her wagon. But for Tift as an artist, this variety of emotional expression all comes from the same place. "I didn’t think about these styles when I was making this record," she says. "In my mind, it’s all part of the same course. It’s something I admired about acts like Delaney and Bonnie, Carole King and Dusty, how they blended.”

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