Merritt To Play Evanston Folk Festival & Deer Valley Folk Festival This Fall

May 22, 2026 : Today, beloved Grammy-nominated singer-songwriterTift Merritt has released a new single "Everyday Singing," the final preview track from her first album in a decade, Sugar, due out June 26 via One Riot Records. The song - with its joyful choir of women - is about everyday resilience, especially the quiet strength passed between mothers and daughters.

The song was inspired by a series of letters between Rosetta Rietz, the dynamic New York-based second wave feminist dedicated to retrieving the erased foremothers of jazz and blues on her Rosetta Records label, and poet Dachine Rainer, who founded and edited the anarchist literary magazine Retort with her husband Holley Cantine, until expatriating to London when they divorced. "They were both raising daughters alone, fighting for what they believed in, worried about the world, and cheering each other on," Merritt says about the letters. "They were such good friends to each other. It was heartening to find myself and my friends and our present in their words to each other."

Even in a world marked by heartbreak and uncertainty, the lyrics speak to how humanity survives because people keep creating, caring for one another, because women keep showing up. The "Everyday Singing" choir was made up of women, friends, mothers, daughters, many of whom were researchers whose funding was impacted under the current administration. "We gathered in the lobby of [my developing hotel] The Gables on a December night, and someone said, 'But we don't know how to sing,'" Merritt recalled. "'Yes, you do!' I told them. 'You know the important kind; you do it everyday.' And we did. We had the most joyous time. It was the best party I ever threw."

Listen to "Everyday Singing" HERE .

Watch the visualizer for "Everyday Singing" HERE .

Merritt's upcoming album marks a defining new chapter for the North Carolina-bred artist long regarded as one of Americana's most influential voices. She stepped largely out of the spotlight following her 2017 albumStitch of the World, turning her focus toward raising her daughter, serving as a Practitioner-in-Residence at Duke University, helping shape the hotel reinvention of The Gables in Raleigh, NC, and advocating for musician rights through the Artist Rights Alliance. That time away - lived fully and on her own terms - quietly expanded her sense of purpose, laying the foundation for the songs that would become Sugar.

A gorgeously unguarded collection rooted in Merritt's radiant blend of country-soul, Sugar was written across eight years of lived experience and reveals an artist returning with renewed clarity and emotional depth. The album was tracked live at Nashville's Gold Pacific Studios, featuring a wide-ranging group of collaborators, including producer Lawrence Rothman, guitarist Audley Freed (Alison Krauss, Sheryl Crow), multi-instrumentalist Robert Ellis (PJ Harvey, Faye Webster), Dr. Dog's Eric Slick, Midlake's McKenzie Smith, and Memphis-based arranger Art Edmaiston.

Tift recently sat down with Variety for the first in-depth interview ahead of the new album. You can read the story HERE . She previously previewed the album with singles " Finest Feelings " and " Someone To Watch The Band With Me ."

"[Sugar] is every bit as tender and tough-minded as what you would expect from the woman who brought you classic records like 'Tambourine,' but possibly even more joyful... Bracingly real and ebullient."

- Variety

Now more than two decades into her career, Merritt remains a singular voice in American music. Hailed by The New Yorker as "the bearer of a proud tradition of distaff country soul," Merritt first broke through with her 2004 album Tambourine, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album. Her songwriting has drawn comparisons to Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris, and she has collaborated with artists including Jason Isbell and Iron & Wine.

In addition to the album, Merritt is also a part of the revisioning of The Gables, a 18-room hotel, bar and gathering space in Raleigh, NC, set to open this summer. For more information, please visit https://www.thegablesraleigh.com/ .

Merritt will play Evanston Folk Festival and Deer Valley Folk Festival this September, with additional tour dates to be announced. You can pre-orderSugar(out June 26) HERE and visit https://www.tiftmerritt.com/ for more information and upcoming tour dates.

Press Contacts:

Allison Elbl (Shore Fire) - [email protected]

Taylor Perry (Shore Fire) - [email protected]