• Tift Merritt & Teddy Thompson
• 9:00pm Seating / 10:00pm Show

TIFT MERRITT

Singer/songwriter Tift Merritt seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the spring of 2002 with her acclaimed debut album Bramble Rose, but as is often the case, this triple-threat artist -- a gifted singer, superb songwriter, and skillful guitarist.

Over the course of three critically acclaimed studio albums and live tours that have drawn raves, Tift Merritt has risen to become one of the most admired singer-songwriters of her generation. Buckingham Solo showcases Tift and these great songs in the intimate and pure way she wrote them. Among the standouts are “Something To Me” and “Tender Branch” from her most recent album, 2007’s Another Country, “Stray Paper” and “”Good Hearted Man” from her Grammy nominated record, Tambourine and a beautiful cover of George Harrison’s “I Live For You”.

TEDDY THOMPSON

“This is a happy record,” Teddy Thompson says of his new Verve Forecast release A Piece of What You Need. “Well, maybe not happy, but upbeat. Actually, maybe not upbeat, but it does have some up-tempo songs! Anyway, it's as close as I've gotten to making the record I've always wanted to make.”

Thompson's trademark blend of catchy songcraft, pensive emotional insight and good–natured black humor is present on such new tunes as “In My Arms,” “What's This?!!,” “Don't Know What I Was Thinking” and the bittersweetly fatalistic “Turning the Gun On Myself.” The album's effortless pop sensibility is matched by a playful sonic palette that incorporates such aural surprises as the careening brass band on “Can't Sing Straight” and “One of These Days,” or the Hitchcockian orchestral rushes that haunt the cinematic “Jonathan's Book.”

Although Thompson co–produced his last two albums Separate Ways and Up Close & Down Low, for A Piece of What You Need he made it a point to recruit an outside producer to help realize his expansive musical agenda. The man for the job was Marius de Vries, whose extensive production resume includes work with acts as diverse as Bjork, Madonna, David Gray and Rufus Wainwright.

Thompson, son of folk-rock legends Richard and Linda Thompson, developed his musical drive early in life and launched his first band while still in his early teens. By the time he released his self-titled solo debut in 2000, he'd served a stint in his father's touring band and contributed guitar and vocals to his dad's albums You? Me? Us? and Mock Tudor. He subsequently co-produced and played on his mother's 2002 comeback disc Fashionably Late, and toured as a member of Rosanne Cash's backing band.