A Texas wallflower comes into full bloom

When Tift Merritt saw “Grammy” as the subject of e-mail after e-mail last December, her first reaction was, “Oh. Someone we know must have been nominated.” The idea that she had been selected just didn’t seem likely.

But there the 30-year-old Texas native was, in the big leagues, with her Southern-fried “Tambourine” competing for best country album against country institution Loretta Lynn and chart-toppers Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and Gretchen Wilson.

Known chiefly as a critics’ darling, Merritt was clearly the dark horse in the race, so she wasn’t surprised when Lynn was called on stage at Staples Center Feb. 13 to pick up the Grammy -- and not just because of Merritt’s low profile.

The singer-songwriter may live south of the Mason-Dixon line and be signed to a Nashville label, but the strum and twang of “Tambourine” are leavened with soul and sprinklings of gospel in a style Merritt calls a “rock-soul throw-down.”

If it is country music, it’s heavily footnoted with complementary styles. The part of the country genre she most identifies with is its classic storytelling.

“That storytelling is what I’m concerned with,” she explained over a cup of tea recently in a Hollywood hotel restaurant. “In a lot of ways, what feels so special about the nomination is that somebody thought beyond what it was.”

“Tambourine” is the follow-up to Merritt’s critically acclaimed 2002 debut, “Bramble Rose,” a slower, more introspective record that stuck to her roots and clearly defined boundaries. More down-tempo than upbeat for most of its 51 minutes, the CD was a warm introduction to Merritt’s fragile trill.

Raves in tastemaker publications, from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone, helped keep Merritt on the road for a year, but it was during that time that she began to feel constrained by the tenor of her first batch of songs.

“Our live shows have always had a lot of energy,” she said. “When we were touring with ‘Bramble Rose,’ I felt like what I wanted to do next was a show where every night I could come off stage feeling like I’d just left a part of myself [up there]. I wanted to make something as sincere and genuine and from me, but I wanted to do it in a way that was loud, more like church or a party.”

She’s succeeded, on the album and in her recent live shows. During a performance last month at the Troubadour, backup singers and a quivering organ were perfect accompaniment to Merritt, who was as charismatic as a preacher. And some of her songs have such an uplifting spiritual tone that they would be welcome at a revival meeting.

Oozing Southern charm with her quick wit and casual banter, Merritt had an easier time than many in winning over the traditionally stoic L.A. crowd. Lulls between songs were filled with cries of love from the audience, and there was unusually high participation when she led a call-and-response segment.

Here’s an artist who clearly loves the stage and appreciates the rapt attention of her audience, but it took years before she felt comfortable in front of a crowd.

When she was getting started as a solo artist in Raleigh, N.C., at age 19, she said, she felt so self-conscious that she gave up performing. Three years later, when drummer Zeke Hutchins suggested the two form a group, Merritt said she was interested. “But I really wanted to be the bass player and hide.”

Since she was the guitarist and lead singer, that wasn’t an option, so she hid behind a band name instead -- first the Carbines, later the Two Dollar Pistols. She only stepped out in front of the band after growing into her sense of self as an artist.

That confidence just happened to coincide with her 2001 signing to the Lost Highway label, home to gritty songstress Lucinda Williams and alt-country poster boy Ryan Adams, who recommended her to the label.

Billing her for the first time as Tift Merritt, “Bramble Rose” was recorded with the same musicians she’d played with for six years. But the singer wanted to take her sound to a new level with “Tambourine,” and she did it with the help of producer George Drakoulias, who has worked with other rock/country hybrids, including the Black Crowes and Tom Petty.

Musically, “Tambourine” leans heavily on rock and soul, but lyrically it’s pure country. Before pursuing music Merritt was an aspiring fiction writer, and it shows in songs that could be novellas if they weren’t delivered with a guitar.

All of her lyrics are complicated human dramas, most of them romantic. In stories that unfold on buses and in hotels, they explore love from all angles -- its hopeful, sexually charged beginnings, its slow fading and troubled, bitter demise.

“I think it’s really easy for all of us to preoccupy ourselves with easily available dramas that are less than the truth,” Merritt explained. “I try to write about what’s important, to say what I really mean. I don’t have the kind of mind that can take everything in at once. I want to sit with something and think about it. The details are what make things passionate. You can’t see them if you’re too close.”