A white woman looking to the side, mid-twirl, with curly light brown hair and a lace dress against a dark background.

The Spark with Tift Merritt: Abigail Washburn

Virtual Event
September 24, 2020
7:30 PM

Registration for this event closes at 12 PM EDT on September 24, 2020.

Join us for CPA’s inaugural episode of The Spark with Tift Merritt, featuring Abigail Washburn. In this live interview series, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and UNC alumna Tift Merritt returns to Carolina Performing Arts to take us behind the scenes in artist-to-artist video interviews that delve deep into the creative process.

A Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter, clawhammer banjo player, and Carolina Performing Arts/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation DisTIL Fellow, Washburn is known for pairing folk elements with far-flung sounds for results that feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything heard before. One of a few foreign artists who has toured China independently and regularly, she hopes that cultural understanding and the communal experience of beauty and sound rooted in tradition will lead the way to a richer existence.  

How do you light a spark? How do you make something true? How does art happen? What is mumbled on the way in the studio and how can we hear it? 

Welcome to The Spark.

Tift Merritt

Based on the series Merritt produced for the acclaimed Marfa, Texas Public Radio, The Spark peels back the polished performance to reveal the elbow grease, risk, fire, and courage behind the art—and artists—we think we know. Each month, Tift will welcome a new artist for a 45-minute livestreamed conversation that gets to the heart of their work, followed by a 15-minute audience Q&A.

The Spark with Tift Merritt logo

A Note from Tift

I began collecting artist interviews for Marfa, Texas Public Radio many years ago and I am thrilled to continue that work in partnership with Carolina Performing Arts. Each month, I speak with an artist about how they really make their work and live their lives. The conversations are not about neatly packaged finished products. These are conversations about laughter, tough times, teachers, and turning points — the not so neatly hewn insight which comes from having your hands in the dirt.

Continue reading

In the new time zone of 2020, I revisit my own questions of meaning and making meaning every day. Here, I pose them to beautiful thinkers and bright pioneers of making one’s own way though the world. The Spark is my chance to be a student. I learn something new from each episode and find that resonating when I jump back into my own work. The truth is that I’d make The Spark if no one heard it at all.  It is my reminder that making work is a process rather than a destination and listening to the world around you is sometimes the best part.
Tift Merritt, summer 2020

Free and open to the public; registration required. Registration for this event closes at 12 PM EDT on September 24, 2020. This event will stream live, with closed captioning provided by the streaming platform. If you have questions or concerns related to accessibility, please contact us.

white woman stands with banjo in front of teal, white, and brown doors

About Abigail Washburn

If American old-time music is about embracing simpler ways of life and music-making from days gone by, Abigail Washburn is a rousing revelation to that tradition. A singing, songwriting, Nashville-based clawhammer banjo player, Washburn pairs folk elements with far-flung sounds for results that feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything heard before. 

read more

PopMatters calls her style “a perfect example of how complex the banjo tradition can be.”

A Grammy award-winner and TED Fellow, Washburn has released multiple albums including City of Refuge,which the New York Times praised as “Appalachia and folk-pop, with tinges of Asia and Bruce Springsteen.” Following her passion for Chinese language and culture, Washburn is one of the few foreign artists touring China independently and regularly. She hopes that cultural understanding and the communal experience of beauty and sound rooted in tradition will lead the way to a richer existence.  

Washburn is an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Discovery Through Iterative Learning (DisTIL) Fellow at Carolina Performing Arts and was recently named the first US-China Fellow at Vanderbilt University. She’s performed at CPA multiple times, including alongside her husband and multiple Grammy Award-winning banjoist Béla Fleck and musical collaborator Wu Fei.

About Tift Merritt

Called “a diamond in a coal mine” by Emmylou Harris, Tift Merritt has been compared to Joni Mitchell and James Taylor in a proud tradition that reaches back to Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry. A Raleigh native, Merritt played local haunts like Cats Cradle and The Cave before her debut album Bramble Rose soared to the Times and New Yorker top ten lists.

read more

Since then, Merritt has toured world-wide, opening for Joan Baez and appearing on Austin City Limits, the Grand Ole Opry, and NPR. She returned home to make her Carolina Performing Arts debut in the 17/18 season with a sold-out performance. She began hosting The Spark in over a decade ago for Marfa Texas Public Radio, where it garnered instant acclaim from artists and audiences alike.

Subscribe to Our Email List

Sign Up