Jess Merritt brings “Torch Songs for Today” to Kerrytown Concert House

This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, the University of Michigan Arts Initiative, and the University Musical Society.

“I’ve always felt like I had to be two separate people,” says singer-songwriter Jess Merritt.

Even growing up, she says, she “always felt conflicted, like [she] had a dichotomy built into [her].”

One direction called for a more analytical mindset, problem-solving, working with her hands; the other was a creative outlet that involved songwriting, performing, collaborating with other musicians. At this moment in her life, Merritt seems to have found a sweet spot where she can fully express both. 

At 7:30 p.m. March 13 and 14, Merritt will perform a pair of shows titled “Torch Songs for Today” at Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. 4th Ave. in Ann Arbor.

Accompanied by Tim Van Riper on piano, Tommy Reifel on bass, and Jonathon Brown on drums, Merritt will play what she refers to as the music “of [her] youth.” That includes jazz standards, musical theater tunes, and torch songs (as opposed to the more “rock-and-roll-forward, soul-forward” sound her band usually goes for, she says).

Merritt grew up in Chelsea and went to school at the University of Michigan, where she studied both vocal performance and engineering — her internal dichotomy made manifest in her degrees.

Still, Merritt says she “never really found [her] place in [her] career world.”

After graduating, she spent 15 years working in product development for a medical device manufacturer. When she was laid off a year and a half ago, Merritt decided to switch gears. She got her builder’s license and is now in the midst of launching a home renovation/design business, Wildcraft, LLC, with friend Sarah Jackson (interested clients can inquire at jess.wildcraft@gmail.com).

Merritt started singing in her early teens and says she quickly found she “had a gift for it.”

“I was able to elicit a response or a feeling in people,” she says, which “has been really inspiring” for her ever since.

In college, Merritt was involved in musical theater. Later, she started writing songs with her now-ex-husband, with whom she formed the band The Understorey (Merritt was known then as Jess McCumons).

Around the time of the couple’s divorce, Merritt took a step back from making music. 

“My focus had to be elsewhere — on my personal life,” she says.

But by the time she turned 40, Merritt was ready to return to creative pursuits. She held a birthday performance at the Ark, which she refers to as a “musical memoir” — a chance to reflect on the course of her creative career up until then.  

Now, she says, with a few performances scheduled here and there, she’s mostly focused on writing new material — and still trying to find a balance between “having that creative outlet and the responsibilities of daily life.”

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that I appreciate … that gift of being able to integrate [both sides of myself] and use my creativity and my technical skills together,” she says. 

In her new line of work, and especially now that she works for herself, she says she’s “able to incorporate a lot of creativity and problem solving” in both areas of her life.

And in her music, Merritt says, she’s more invested than ever in what she calls “healing through feeling.”

“You have to let it in,” she says. “The more we push it away and pretend it’s not there, the more it … hardens.”

Both as a songwriter and as a performer, she says, “I’m not afraid to approach those more challenging emotional places.”

“A friend of mine was saying that she was at a show of mine, and she said, ‘I was crying and then I was dancing — and it was really nice,’” Merritt says, laughing.

“That’s the dream,” she told her friend.

“I love to go for that range of emotional connection — through the tough times and through the good times.”

Tickets for the “Torch Songs for Today” performances are available here.