Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant will visit the Center for the Performing Arts in May on a tour supporting her first full album of new material in nearly a decade.
An Evening with Natalie Merchant: Keep Your Courage Tour is set for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16 at the Palladium.
Tickets start at $55 and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 2, at the Palladium’s Fifth Third Bank Box Office, online at TheCenterPresents.org and by phone at (317) 843-3800. The concert is part of the Faegre Drinker Encore Series and the 2022-2023 Center Presents Season, presented in partnership with Allied Solutions.
Merchant first gained public attention in the 1980s as front person for the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. In 1995, she launched a solo career with the successful self-produced album Tigerlily, which sold over 5 million copies in the United States alone thanks to Top 40 singles “Carnival,” “Wonder” and “Jealousy.” A series of acclaimed albums followed, starting with the platinum-selling Ophelia in 1998 and continuing with explorations inspired by American and British folk music and literature.
In April, Nonesuch Records will release Keep Your Courage, Merchant’s ninth solo studio album and first of new material since her self-titled release in 2014. The record features lush orchestration, two duets sung with vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis (Resistance Revival Chorus), contributions from the Celtic folk group Lúnasa and Syrian virtuoso clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, and horn arrangements by jazz trombonist Steve Davis.