Acclaimed singer-songwriter Tift Merritt has announced her long-awaited new album Sugar, marking her first full-length release in nearly a decade. Set for release on 26th June, the record signals a deeply personal and creatively renewed chapter for one of Americana’s most enduring voices.
Tiftt Merritt
Alongside the announcement, Merritt has unveiled the album’s lead single Finest Feelings, a tender yet powerful introduction to the project’s emotional core. Rooted in her signature blend of country-soul, the track captures the immediacy and vulnerability that defines Sugar. “There’s nothing so fine as the urgency of love,” Merritt explains. “This song just spilled out, full of hope and fear and possibility and also the longing to be fully known.”
Written over the course of eight years, Sugar reflects a period in which Merritt stepped back from the spotlight following 2017’s Stitch Of The World. During that time, she focused on family life, worked within academia, and became an advocate for musicians’ rights through the Artist Rights Alliance. The result is a record shaped by lived experience, grounded in both introspection and quiet resilience.
Recorded live at Gold Pacific Studios in Nashville, the album embraces a raw, spontaneous energy. Produced by Lawrence Rothman, the sessions brought together an eclectic group of collaborators including guitarist Audley Freed, multi-instrumentalist Robert Ellis, drummer Eric Slick and McKenzie Smith, alongside arranger Art Edmaiston.
The album’s themes are both expansive and intimate, exploring love, loss and the unexpected beauty found in everyday life. “Sugar is about the surprising sweetness of being unequipped for showing up every day but trying anyway,” Merritt says. “It relishes pleasure, finds love and loses it, and laughs about how your ideas about your life get shaken out of your hands for the better.”
More than two decades into her career, Merritt’s influence remains undeniable. Since her breakthrough with Tambourine—which earned a GRAMMY® nomination—she has built a reputation for deeply expressive songwriting, often drawing comparisons to artists such as Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris.
Tiftt Merritt
Her return arrives at a moment when connection and authenticity feel more vital than ever. “When people hear this album, I hope they feel like I shared with them as generously as I could,” she reflects. “These days, when it feels harder and harder to connect with something real, I’m doubling down on that realness.”
Having recently returned to UK stages for the first time in several years—including an appearance at Glastonbury Festival—Tift Merritt’s re-emergence with Sugar feels both timely and essential, reaffirming her place as a singular voice in modern Americana.
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