# Event Details - **Event Name**: Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt - **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 17 Dec, 2026 at 08:30 pm – Thu, 17 Dec, 2026 at 11:00 pm (-05:00) - **Event Description**: Enjoy world-class artists, songwriters, musicians, and storytellers in the coziest mountain tavern in western North Carolina.About this EventABOUT THE VENUEOur Salon Series happens in our Ruffed Grouse Tavern at the Highlander Mountain House Hotel. Make dinner reservations before the show during service hours 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm if you choose, then enjoy an incredible music performance by Tift Merritt (separate event ticket must be purchased). Parking available on the property or street behind HMH. Seating for the show is first come first serve.ABOUT TIFT MERRITTTift Merritt is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and musician who wanted to be a writer until her father taught her guitar chords and Percy Sledge songs. In her 20-year career, she has released a critically acclaimed body of work and toured the world with her sonic short stories. The New Yorker calls her “the bearer of a proud tradition of distaff country soul that reaches back to artists like Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry.” Emmylou Harris calls her “a diamond in a coal mine.” Merritt’s reputation as a musician’s musician is earned by the unique and varied creative projects she helms. While Merritt has worked to create her own brand of southern music, never settling for the status quo, her creativity and curiosity have similarly refused pigeonholing.With Tift Merritt revealing that she has an album of new material on the way after nine years without one, fans may have an instinctual reaction to the fact that it’s titled “Sugar,” as if to say, of course — because they’ve had a sweet tooth for what she has to offer that has gone unsatisfied for a bit.There is piquant quality to what this North Carolina native has to bring to music that could not arrive at a more necessary time, and the new album, due June 26 via One Riot Records, is every bit as tender and tough-minded as what you would expect from the woman who brought you classic records like “Tambourine” and “Bramble Rose,” and possibly even more joyful. She rediscovered her own full-blown love of making music while working with producer Lawrence Rothman on the project, and that refreshment, combined with an acknowledgement of not-so-sweet times for many of us, makes for a record that is both bracingly real and ebullient.“This record is very personal and also really powerful,” Merritt says, further explaining: “You know, it’s not like it’s personal in a way that I’m just sitting in the corner thinking and I’m a violet falling apart. It’s super fun and energetic and has the spark of life that inner life really does have.” The first single, “Finest Feelings,” is out now (see the video, with behind-the-scenes footage, below), and the full album can be pre-ordered here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpaJiRiNR0Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tirpNiJshzA&t=1s - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/highlands/highlander-mountain-house-salon-series-with-tift-merritt/100001992447041737 - **Event Categories**: music, entertainment, workshops, art, literary-art - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 - **Event Highlights**: - Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes - Location: Highlander Mountain House & The Ruffed Grouse Tavern - Languages: English ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 53.24, max: 53.24, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: Highlands - **state**: NC - **country**: United States - **location**: Highlander Mountain House & The Ruffed Grouse Tavern - **lat**: 35.0536724 - **long**: -83.1993957 - **full address**: Highlander Mountain House & The Ruffed Grouse Tavern, 270 Main Street, Highlands, United States ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events5/banners/aab96afdd588f182919406b06773b8dcf246c34214f3bf06dea6720446873b93-rimg-w1152-h1504-dc5c2a15-gmir.jpg?v=1782376321 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt being held? - **A:** Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt takes place on Thu, 17 Dec, 2026 at 08:30 pm to Thu, 17 Dec, 2026 at 11:00 pm at Highlander Mountain House & The Ruffed Grouse Tavern, 270 Main Street, Highlands, United States. - **Q**: Who is organizing Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt? - **A:** Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt is organized by Highlander Mountain House. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt is ideal for music lovers, fans of all genres, and anyone who wants to celebrate the power of music - from intimate gigs and live sessions to festivals and cultural performances. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Highlands, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Highlander Mountain House Salon Series With Tift Merritt", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events5/banners/aab96afdd588f182919406b06773b8dcf246c34214f3bf06dea6720446873b93-rimg-w1152-h1504-dc5c2a15-gmir.jpg?v=1782376321", "startDate": "2026-12-17T20:30:00-05:00", "endDate": "2026-12-17T23:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://allevents.in/highlands/highlander-mountain-house-salon-series-with-tift-merritt/100001992447041737", "eventStatus": "https://schema.org/EventScheduled", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Highlander Mountain House & The Ruffed Grouse Tavern", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "270 Main Street", "postalCode": "28741", "addressLocality": "Highlands", "addressRegion": "NC", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "35.0536724", "longitude": "-83.1993957" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Enjoy world-class artists, songwriters, musicians, and storytellers in the coziest mountain tavern in western North Carolina.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-06-25", "availabilityEnds": "2026-12-17T23:00:00-05:00", "validFrom": "2026-06-25", "lowPrice": "53.24", "highPrice": "53.24", "price": "53.24", "url": "https://allevents.in/highlands/highlander-mountain-house-salon-series-with-tift-merritt/100001992447041737" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-06-25", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-06-25", "url": "https://allevents.in/highlands/highlander-mountain-house-salon-series-with-tift-merritt/100001992447041737", "price": "53.24", "name": "General Admission" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Highlander Mountain House", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/highlander-mountain-house/18563979", "description": "Encouraging curious travelers to reconnect with the landscape (and each other), the 18-room Highlander Mountain House feels like your own private Blue Ridge retreat—equal parts Appalachian lodge and refined English country estate. After an afternoon exploring the area’s primordial network of trails, trout streams, rivers, waterfalls, and pristine forests, curl up with a hot toddy or restorative cup of tea by the wood-burning stone fireplaces in the lobby and dining room at The Ruffed Grouse, the inn’s elevated, all-day tavern, and plot your next adventure.Built in 1885—reportedly for a retired sea captain from Charleston, South Carolina—the clapboard mountain farmhouse maintains many of the period architectural details such as the original wood flooring and exposed timber framing, but there’s no lack of modern amenities or contemporary finishes.The Highlander’s updated design narrative is rooted in the region and draws on the area’s unspoiled natural beauty and rich cultural heritage—from the Cherokee tribes to the Scots-Irish homesteaders to the moonshiners and the avant-garde artists who taught and studied at nearby Black Mountain College. The resulting design is a suitably eclectic mix. Bespoke furniture, antiques, custom lighting, whimsical wallpaper, and quirky art and artifacts like Victorian-era taxidermy create a space that’s as inspiring as it is inviting. It’s a place we hope you’ll look forward to returning—again and again." } ] } ] ```