Kris Kristofferson is 73 years old, which means that he's been writing songs for 62 years. His latest album closes with an unlisted song that doesn't even have a real title -- he guesses it would be called "I Hate Your Ugly Face" -- and Kristofferson wrote it at the ripe old age of 11, complete with references to "cryin' in my beer" and "the happiest day of my unhappy life."

"I had not been drinkin' beer by that time," he said with a laugh in a recent phone interview. "I just knew the expression. I had cousins and relatives that always wanted to make a sing-along out of that one. But I've never actually performed that one live. I should do that someday."

Perhaps "someday" will turn out to be Saturday, when Kristofferson plays in Raleigh on a bill with Tift Merritt (assuming, of course, that it doesn't get snowed out). For more, see the interview in Friday's paper.

By the time Tift Merritt plays her next hometown show at the end of this month, things should be moving forward with the release of her new album. Titled "See You on the Moon," it's tentatively set for release in May, although it still awaits final mastering and tweaking. Merritt came home to North Carolina to record, doing the work in November at Durham's Overdub Lane with noted producer Tucker Martine. And while it's not as overtly conceptual as 2008's "Another Country," the album does have some thematic elements.

"Well, I didn't leave and go off to Paris this time, although I did spend some time there writing," Merritt says by phone from her New York City apartment. "The story is more in the music this time. Jay [Brown] and Zeke [Hutchins] and I all had grandmothers die last summer, within a week of each other. Those kinds of ties that bind each other and our families all made their way in there."

Merritt will probably offer up a song or two from "Moon" on Jan. 30, when she plays Raleigh's Meymandi Hall at one of Pinecone's 25-year-anniversary shows. She's opening for Kris Kristofferson, a longtime favorite that Merritt hopes to entice onto her radio show.

"I'm such a huge fan and he's done so many different creative things with integrity," she says. "I'm always a great admirer of people like that. I want to try and get him onto my  show. He doesn't know I'm gonna show up with my microphone!"