Tift Merritt Trouble Over Me Neighborhood Diamond Shoes When I Cross Over Imagine the Rolling Stones recording a country album in Muscle Shoals with Dusty Springfield singing lead. Now imagine a young artist from North Carolina whose ambition not only measures itself against such classic compari... more »sons, but shows the promise to transcend them. Tift Merritt's major-label debut finds such promise fulfilled on "Sunday," the six-minute centerpiece in which the sweet sensuality of her upper register floats over an organ bedrock and vocal chorus that are pure Southern church. Even when other cuts sound like they could have been preserved in a '70s time capsule--the generic country-rock of "Diamond Shoes" and the very Stonesy "Neighborhood"--her vocals have a seductive intimacy that freshens the familiar. The lead guitar of producer Ethan Johns and the keyboards of Benmont Tench (on loan from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers) augment Merritt's band on arrangements that give the material plenty of room to breathe. As a writer, Merritt has some room to grow, but as a singer, she already sounds like one of the greats. --Don McLeese