Merritt And Dinnerstein, A Musical Odd Couple, On Bridging Their Worlds

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Classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein (left) and singer-songwriter Tift Merrit collaborate on the new album Night.

But what happens when they decide to make music together? They can't exactly meet in the middle because ... where is the middle? That's the question Merritt and Dinnerstein tried to answer in making the new collaborative album Night.What happens when two very talented women — one, a rising alt-country star; the other, one of classical music's great new talents — meet one another? In the case of singer Tift Merrittand pianist Simone Dinnerstein, a friendship ensues.

"Simone and I play music in completely different ways, and I was very scared that so much could go wrong," Merritt says. "I mean, I play by ear and Simone plays music on the page, so I thought, how would we create a language that we could both speak to each other? And I think in the end, I became much more mindful of being technically proficient and getting inside of songs and knowing them deeply, even if I had to do it by ear. And it was a journey to get there."