UPDATE: The CW has moved this episode to Feb. 6. Raleigh native Tift Merritt will get some primetime network television exposure Monday on the CW drama "Hart of Dixie."

Merritt, a Grammy nominated singer-songwriter, will premiere her new song "Sweet Spot" on the show's Valentine's Day episode. "Hart of Dixie" is set in the fictional small town of Blue Bell, Alabama. The show's pilot was shot in Wilmington but subsequent filming moved to Los Angeles.

In the January 30 February 6 episode, Merritt plays herself, performing "Sweet Spot" with two of her band members at the town's annual Valentine's dance.

Well, shoot. In today's paper, you'll find an interview with Simone Dinnerstein; and below is the blog post I prepared to go with it (under the headline, "Strange yet cool collaborations: Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt"). Alas, Dinnerstein has had to postpone her show scheduled for tonight due to illness. The rescheduled date is March 2.

Last time she played Durham, classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein shared the stage with Tift Merritt in an intriguing cross-genre collaboration. They'll work together again this summer with an album project. Meantime, Dinnerstein and Merritt have separate albums on tap. Dinnerstein's "Something Almost Being Said" comes out next week, and Merritt is in the midst of recording the followup to 2010's "See You on the Moon" now.

"I'm really excited, I've got a neat cast coming in," Merritt said shortly before recording was to begin. "It's close enough that I don't want to jinx it by saying anything, but I'm excited. I'm making this one myself with Tucker Martine producing, and Marc Ribot will play guitar. It's been kind of wonderful to be at the helm in an even deeper way than before."

Dinnerstein also plays tonight at Duke.

The North Carolina State Fair has unveiled its 2011 concert lineup for Dorton Arena, and it has all the usual elements. There are a couple of Christian-pop acts, plus country groups you've never heard of even though they've won a bunch of awards; an "American Idol" alumnus; a burned-out classic-rock band; plus a partridge, pear tree, expatriate local Tift Merritt, classy oldie Dionne Warwick and the most attention-getting name of all, one of the biggest danged legends in country music -- the great George Jones.

One act is still to be announced, but here's what we've got so far:
 

Oct. 13 -- Craig Campbell, $5
Oct. 14 -- Skillet, $15
Oct. 15 -- TBA
Oct. 16 -- Tift Merritt, $5
Oct. 17 -- Steel Magnolia, $5
Oct. 18 -- George Jones, $10
Oct. 19 -- David Nail, $5
Oct. 20 -- Dionne Warwick, $10
Oct. 21 -- Newsboys, $10
Oct. 22 -- Kansas, $10
Oct. 23 -- Kellie Pickler, $15

Here is a look at today's local headlines:

300 EAST MAIN ON THE MOVE: Developers say construction could begin on the Cat's Cradle/ArtsCenter shopping center makeover this summer. First up: a hotel and parking deck. Read Tammy Grubb's story here.

ON THE PORCH: The Bynum General Store celebrates 75 years as the Chatham County community's hub (and most recently, launching pad for Grammy-nominated singer Tift Merritt). Read how residents rallied after the post office closed in Dave Hart's story. 

DID POLICY LEAD TO TROUBLE?: Greenbridge needed to sell a certain number of units to get the bank loan the developers now can't pay back. Partner Tim Toben says the bank counted the units priced to meet the town's affordable housing mandate. So did the town indirectly contribute to the developers' financial collapse? Read Katelyn Ferral's story and tell us what you think at editor@nando.com.  

Sam Taylor says the Heels kept him connected in Basra. Susie Wilde says Chapel Hill writer Luli Gray never liked Aesop's "Ant and Grasshopper" (so she rewrote it). Monks are building a mandala, and former CHHS runner Kent Pecora is tearing up the track in the NCAA.

Lots going on. We still want to hear from you about UNC's proposed arts center at the old museum, OWASA's plans to tap Jordan Lake water in future droughts and whatever else is on your mind. Send us a letter at editor@nando.com.

Thanks for reading,

Mark 

Sad news out of Nashville today, the iconic country vocalist Charlie Louvin passed away early Wednesday morning. He was 83 years old and had been battling pancreatic cancer since the summer of 2010.

Louvin was still musically active until recently, playing Triangle clubs on a semi-regular basis as a solo act. But he'll be best-remembered as half of the Louvin Brothers with his late great brother Ira, who made some of the most gorgeous, strange and all-around scary records in country music history.

A lot of Louvin Brothers songs are ostensibly about heaven. Yet they're still profoundly unsettling because the brothers' apocalyptic harmonies convey such awareness of That Other Place that's south of heaven. And when they sang about the end times on songs like "Great Atomic Power" (which I still can't hear without shuddering), the effect was downright terrifying.

For all that, Charlie himself was reportedly an affable fellow. Triangle expatriate Tift Merritt did a guest vocal on Louvin's 2007 self-titled release, but they didn't actually meet until they sang together at the Grand Ole Opry two years ago.

"That was such a thrill," Merritt says. "The Louvin Brothers changed everything for people who sing harmony together. If you sing harmony, you just have to listen to them. I was so nervous about meeting him, but he could not have been nicer. In fact, he was a wonderful flirt. So I'm very sad he's gone, but I'm also happy that the Louvin Brothers are finally together again."

It's always nice when folks from here go on to bigger things without cutting ties to the old hometown. Consider two Triangle expatriates who move in vastly different circles, theatrical singer/actress Lauren Kennedy and rock bassist Robert Kearns.

Like her fellow Triangle-to-New-York transplant Tift Merritt (who also gets back down this way pretty regularly), Kennedy had some of her earliest performance training at North Carolina Theatre camps. She's giving back by performing at a Monday night benefit for NCT. For details, see this interview in Friday's paper.

Meanwhile, Kearns plays in the venerable Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd nowadays. But before the group's current tour got underway, he came back to Raleigh to play at the Mike Gardner benefit show earlier this month. The show was a great help to Gardner, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease but does not have health insurance.

"It was amazing, and raised a lot of money for Mike," Kearns said in a recent interview. "I heard they raised about $17,000 after expenses, too. It was a great experience, a lot of love in the room for Michael. I've written a lot of songs over the years with Mike and Phil Gardner. I'd like to get them to come to Nashville to record, although a lot of it is in bits and pieces. I'm always good at starting songs -- that first riff and verse, maybe a chorus -- but I'm terrible at finishing complete songs. I need to make myself sit down and finish 'em."

For more on Kearns' doings with Lynyrd Skynyrd, plus details on the group's Friday night show in Raleigh, see the interview in Friday's paper.

The Grammy Awards happen on Sunday night, and we'll have more to say about one of our local nominees later this week. In the meantime, however, there's other award-type news from half a world away to report. Local bluegrass band Chatham County Line has been nominated for a Spellemann Prize, the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammys, for the group's latest collaboration with Jonas Fjeld. The ceremony is March 6, and frontman Dave Wilson says CCL plans to attend "if it works out and the label will pay."

Meantime, the next Fjeld-less CCL album is coming along. Titled "Wildwood," it's at the mixing stage and features Tift Merritt drummer Zeke Hutchins in a prominent role that Wison promises will "continue to confuse the bluegrass community wholeheartedly." Look for that to emerge this summer.

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!"

PineCone has announced its 2009-2010 concert series, a mighty fine lineup that includes a two-day blowout on Jan. 30-31 to highlight its 25-year anniversary -- and the return of one of the Crescent City's finest piano players. The full schedule goes like this:

Greencards (Sept. 12, Fletcher Opera Theater)
Travelin' McCourys (Nov. 13, Fletcher Opera Theater)
Kris Kristoferson, Tift Merritt with special appearance by Community Music School choir, Tony Rice Unit, Bearfoot (Jan. 30, Meymandi Concert Hall)
Ricky Skaggs, Dale Ann Bradley, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Danny Paisley & Southern Grass (Jan. 31, Meymandi Concert Hall)
Allen Toussaint (Feb. 18, Meymandi Concert Hall)
Wailin' Jennys (April 15, Fletcher Opera Theater)
Phil Wiggins & Corey Harris (May 14, Fletcher Opera Theater)