natalie merchant tour history

Keep Your Courage (released 2023.04.14) 2023.03.15 New York, NY (The Music of Paul McCartney - Stern Auditorium - Carnegie Hall) 2023.04.14 Poughkeepsie, NY (Bardavon 1869 Opera House) 2023.04.15 Poughkeepsie, NY (Bardavon 1869 Opera House) 2023.04.18 Pittsburgh, PA (Byham Theater) 2023.04.19 Charlottesville,VA (Paramount Theater) 2023.04.21 Philadelphia, PA (Kimmel Cultural Campus) 2023.04.22 Hershey, PA (Hershey Theatre) 2023.04.24 Greenville, SC (Pearce Center Concert Hall) 2023.04.26 Clearwater, FL (Ruth Eckerd Hall) 2023.04.27 Fort Lauderdale, FL (Au-Rene Theater - Broward Center for the Performing Arts) 2023.04.28 St. Augustine, FL (Saint Augustine Amphitheatre) 2023.04.30 Atlanta, GA (Atlanta Symphony Hall) with symphony orchestra 2023.05.09 Portland, ME (Merrill Auditorium) 2023.05.10 Boston, MA (Emerson Colonial Theatre) 2023.05.11 Boston, MA (Emerson Colonial Theatre) 2023.05.13 Cleveland, OH (Keybank State Theatre) 2023.05.14 Cincinnati, OH (Taft Theatre) 2023.05.16 Carmel, IN (The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts) 2023.05.17 Ann Arbor, MI (Michigan Theater) 2023.05.19 Chicago, IL (Chicago Theatre) 2023.05.20 Milwaukee, WI (Pabst Theater) 2023.06.02 New York, NY (Alice Tully Hall - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts) with symphony orchestra 2023.06.03 New York, NY (Alice Tully Hall - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts) with symphony orchestra 2023.06.25 Newark, NJ (NJPAC, New Jersey Performing Arts Center) 2023.06.28 Providence, RI (Veterans Memorial Auditorium) with symphony orchestra 2023.06.30 Washington, DC (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) with symphony orchestra 2023.07.01 Washington, DC (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) with symphony orchestra 2023.07.08 Chautauqua, NY (Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater) with symphony orchestra 2023.07.12 New York, NY (WFUV Marquee Members Event - Sheen Center) 2023.07.13 New York, NY ("A New York Evening" - The Greene Space - Grammy Museum) moderated by Jessica Hopper 2023.07.30 Cooperstown, NY (Cantico - Alice Busch Opera Theater - Glimmerglass Festival) with Anthony Roth Costanzo 2023.09.20 Spokane, WA (Martin Woldson Theatre at The Fox) 2023.09.22 Seattle, WA (Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery) 2023.09.23 Portland, OR (Keller Auditorium) 2023.09.26 San Francisco, CA (The Masonic) postponed to 2024.05.30 2023.09.27 Saratoga, CA (The Mountain Winery) postponed to 2024.05.29 2023.09.29 San Diego, CA (Humphrey's Concerts By The Bay) postponed to 2024.05.25 2023.09.30 Los Angeles, CA (Walt Disney Concert Hall) postponed to 2024.06.01 2023.10.31 Berlin, Germany (Theater Des Westens) 2023.11.02 London, England, UK (Palladium) 2023.11.03 London, England, UK (Palladium) 2023.11.05 Glasgow, Scotland, UK (Royal Concert Hall) 2023.11.06 Manchester, England, UK (O2 Apollo) 2023.11.08 Dublin, Ireland, UK (3Olympia) 2023.11.09 Dublin, Ireland, UK (3Olympia) 2023.11.11 Bath, England, UK (Forum) 2023.11.13 Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands (Carre Theatre) 2023.11.14 Brussels, Belgium (Cirque Royal) 2023.11.17 Milan, Italy (Teatro Dal Verme) 2023.11.18 Chiari, Italy (Palasport San Bernardino) 2023.12.15 Woodstock, NY (Levon Helm Studios) 2023.12.16 Woodstock, NY (Levon Helm Studios) 2024.01.28 Milan, Italy (Fondazione Prada - Accademia dei bambini) workshop for children 2024.05.23 Santa Barbara, CA (Santa Barbara Bowl) 2024.05.25 San Diego, CA (Humphrey's Concerts By The Bay) 2024.05.26 San Diego, CA (Humphrey's Concerts By The Bay) 2024.05.28 Saratoga, CA (The Mountain Winery) 2024.05.29 Saratoga, CA (The Mountain Winery) 2024.05.30 San Francisco, CA (The Masonic) 2024.06.01 Los Angeles, CA (Walt Disney Concert Hall) 2024.06.27 Charleston, SC (The Rivera Theater) 2024.06.29 Boone, NC (Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts) 2024.07.02 Nashville, TN (Schermerhorn Symphony Center) http://www.nyx.net/~jhiguchi/natalie.html

Natalie Merchant Tour History

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Natalie Merchant  

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Natalie Anne Merchant is an American singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the alternative rock band 10,000 Mechanics until 1993.

Merchant's first big break in the music industry came as lead singer and primary lyricist for 10,000 Maniacs, joining in the beginning days in 1981 while she was a student at Jamestown Community College. The group recorded their album 'Human' and Merchant contributed lead vocals and played piano for seven studio albums. After parting ways with the band, Natalie took two years to compose her first solo release 'Tigerlily' which was released through the Elektra label. It charted at #13 on the US Billboard Charts and is now certified as five times platinum selling.

The follow up 'Ophelia' was a far grander affair than the debut, enlisting the help of British composer Gavin Bryars who composed and conducted a symphonic arrangement for the LP. It is her highest charting album at #8 in the US and also performed well around the world, entering charts in countries including the UK and New Zealand. In 2000, Merchant embarked on a folk tour in the United States with many shows being supported by alt-country band Wilco. She became her most experimental on the next release, 'Motherland' which won praise by critics for a developing sound and a boldness in vision.

She continued to release new material continuously and tour the produce across the States and worldwide. Her 2014 self titled album topped the US folk charts and sold over 200,000 copies worldwide, it was her first album made up of exclusive solo material since 2001 LP 'Motherland'.

Live reviews

Natalie Merchant originally of 10,000 Mechanics has gone on to have a successful solo career all of her own on both sides of the Atlantic. Her alt-rock/pop sound has captivated audiences for over two decades with a unique vocal tone and performance style that simply oozes both life and passion for her music.

It feels like a substantial time since Merchant released her top 10 single 'Carnival' yet it is still met with the same deafening cheers as ever much to the delight of the lady of the hour. The highly talented backing band knows Natalie's discography very well and keep the pace going all throughout the show to allow her to simply sing and interact with the audience. She has a completely natural way in which to address the crowds and she is able to handle a crowd of hundreds with ease. They are all very much on side throughout the night and applaud the likes of 'Motherland' and 'Break Your Heart' loudly. She takes a final bow and says her last thank yous to both the audience and her musicians before a slick rendition of 'Kind & Generous'.

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Natalie Merchant, Ridgefield Playhouse CT. July 6th. I had not seen Natalie Merchant live in a long time, but her voice still sounds just as beautiful as ever. She is acompanied by a mini orchestra and performs a lot of songs from her new cd "Ladybird" as well as songs from her other solo albums including "Tigerlilly'. Natalie is celebrating the 20th anniversary of "Tigerlilly" and a special documentary is being filmed in honor of this. Natalie's perfomance on stage includes her signature dancing and twirling along with interacting with her audience. She was talking about some people in the front row that were snacking on something during the show. When they left behind their candy wrapper, Natalie immediately started reading the ingredients of the candy and even making up lyrics and singing about the ingredients, lol. Natalie also brought some young girls up on stage during her third encore to help her sing the song "Thank You". I highly reccommend anyone to go see Natalie on this current concert tour.

Despite having a cold, Natalie Merchant marched on and delivered a signature performance including a few 10,000 maniac songs. The musicians created an enormous sound that filled the bowl. A masterful string quartet carried the show with very elegant arrangements. You could sense the crowd wanted to hear more 10,000 Manaic songs but it didn't matter what she sang as her voiced soothed the crowd. Been seeing her performance for over 20 years and she keeps getting better with time. Catch one of her shows if you can. It'll be a time to remember...these are the days.

Great place for a concert which wasn't good in my opinion.

Natalie has an incredible voice and large number of wonderful compositions but a whole concert with voice and classic guitar only was too flat.

In my opinion it needed another instrument such as fiddle or accordion and alternatively an electric guitar as per original 10.000 maniacs arrangements.

Great show! All I expected

My first Cd ever was 10000 Maniacs unplugged and I was hoping to see Natalie Merchant live ever sinc. It took awhile but I finely did and it was amazing.

Great selection of songs,best of musicians playing and an ever fabulous Natalie

Go and get your tickets

Unfortunately, I missed her again...

I'm sure she was wonderful as usual.

This is where I'll put the other words I'm supposed to write to meet your 30-word quota -

Punxatawney

Speed Racer

Confederation

Corky dancer with a lot of heart. Her voice has not faded at all with age. Wish she played a bit more of her old stuff that I knew but over all the music was beautiful. The concert has a calm feel to it. We were seated the entire time which was nice.

Natalie Merchant has the most lovely voice and most beautiful soul in the Multiverse .

Just sayin' .

This review was written by Susan Leader Ator. Please feel free to contact me if you disagree. I'd love to psycho-analyze you...

This was one of the finest live concerts that I have ever been to. The chamber orchestra that joined Natalie was one of a kind. Natalie was friendly, spontaneous and warm. Great experience to share with children.

Such a great show !!! ❤ venue has the seats too close. No leg room and you are right on top of each other. But her show was worth the discomfort.

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National Symphony Orchestra An Evening with Natalie Merchant Keep Your Courage Tour

Concert Hall

Famed singer and songwriter Natalie Merchant, former front person of the folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs, brings her Keep Your Courage tour to the Concert Hall! Come experience her unique, lush sound with selections from her newest album, performed live with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Jun. 30 - Jul. 1, 2023

upcoming dates

Fri. Jun. 30, 2023 8p.m.

Sat. Jul. 1, 2023 8p.m.

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NSO POPS SERIES PRESENTING SPONSOR

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“An artist with a singular voice and vision. Time has only amplified the power of Merchant’s music.” Mojo

James Bagwell , conductor

Famed singer and songwriter Natalie Merchant , former front person of the folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs, brings her Keep Your Courage tour to the Concert Hall! Come experience her unique, lush folk-alternative sound with selections from her newest album, performed live with the National Symphony Orchestra .

Keep Your Courage , Merchant’s ninth solo studio album and first of new material since 2014’s self-titled record, was released in April 2023.

Merchant writes in her album’s liner notes, “The songs contained within this album were written and recorded during the global pandemic that began in the winter of 2019 and is in its fifth wave as I write, in the autumn of 2022. It has been, and continues to be, a period of great flux and fear on every level: global, national, communal, familial, personal. But this is not an album about the coronavirus or the chaos it caused. For the most part, this is an album about the human heart.” She continues. “The word ‘courage’ has its root in the Latin word for heart, cor , and we see it over and over in many languages: le coeur , il cuore , o coração , el corazón . This is a song cycle that maps the journey of a courageous heart.”

Over her forty-year career, Natalie Merchant has attained a place among America’s most respected recording artists. She has earned a reputation for being a songwriter of quality and a captivating stage performer, and has distinguished herself as a social justice and environmental activist. Merchant began her musical career as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the pop music band 10,000 Maniacs and released one platinum, two double-platinum, and one triple-platinum records with the group.

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“One of the most successful and enduring alternative artists to emerge from the eighties intact and uncompromised.” Vogue

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Natalie Merchant Releases New Album “Keep Your Courage” and Opens Tour (Concert & Album Review)

Our review of Natalie Merchant’s “Keep Your Courage” album and tour, finds one of music’s finest writers and singers of the last four decades in top form, inspiring us out of darker days.

Natalie Merchant released her first new album of new material in nine years with Keep Your Courage . Along with that album’s release on April 14, 2023, Merchant launched a new tour at the Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY, near her Hudson Valley home. And I was fortunate to see her show there on April 15.

Below we examine the new album and what inspired Natalie Merchant’s new music. And then we discuss the opening weekend of the tour supporting the album from one of our most enduring singer-songwriters of the last forty years.

Keep Your Courage

First, the album. Keep Your Courage emerges from a rough time for Natalie Merchant . In addition to trying to get through the pandemic, she underwent spinal surgery four days after the start of the lockdown. The surgery required a long healing process.

The album’s title, Keep Your Courage , as well as the image of Joan of Arc on the cover, gives away that it is not a dark album. Instead, as AllMusic writes, the music “celebrates compassion, empathy, and inspiration.”

The album includes some of the most catchy songs from Merchant’s post-10,000 Maniacs career, including the album’s opening two duets with Abena Koomson-Davis of the Resistance Revival Choir. “Come On Aphrodite” immediately became one of my favorite songs from Merchant’s career.

The title of “Come on Aphrodite” hints at some of the themes on the album, where Merchant’s songwriting incorporates myths, legends, and history to send a positive message. As Merchant has explained , “During the pandemic, it really felt like we were living in the myth.”

Many of the songs on the album are slower and many feature rich orchestrations, more rooted in classical and folk music than in pop or rock. Or as Jim Shahen at No Depression describes the arrangements as “baroque pop.”

Merchant wrote nine songs for the album, which also includes an interpretation of “ Hunting the Wren ” by Ian Lynch of the Irish band Lankum. Merchant’s “Sister Tilly” provides a tribute to the inspiring women of her mother’s generation.

Yet, both the slower and more upbeat songs are uplifting. Largely because Merchant’s writing and her voice, as always, bring a deep warmth and compassion to the music.

Perhaps the best description of the two types of music on Keep Your Courage comes from a statement Merchant made about creating the album: “Music got me through the pandemic, and what I wanted to hear was thoughtful, beautiful music, or I wanted to dance.”

The Keep Your Courage Tour

The above description about the combination of “thoughtful, beautiful music” with dancing music, not surprisingly, also describes Merchant’s 2023 tour. Alternating between the slower lush music of her career and music that makes you want to dance, Merchant performed a moving and, at times, lively show. Throughout, despite needing some honey for her throat at one point, Merchant’s voice remains distinctive and strong as it ever was.

Her performance at Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY on Saturday, April 15, 2023, featured a guitar, a piano, a cello, several stringed instruments, and a powerful backup singer. Although some of her shows on this tour feature a fuller local orchestra, her smaller travelling group filled the house with a sound that well-suited Merchant’s voice.

Not surprisingly, the setlist featured several songs from the new album, including “Sister Tilly,” “Come On Aphrodite,” “Narcissus,” “The Feast of St. Valentine,” “Big Girls,” and “Tower of Babel.” But the 25 songs (with an intermission) also included highlights across her long career, like “Beloved Wife” and “Ophelia.” And, much to the delight of the audience, Merchant herself danced to uplifting songs from both her solo career and her time with 10,000 Maniacs, like “Kind and Generous,” “Wonder,” and the final encore closing “These Are Days.”

All in all, in both her new album and her ongoing tour, Merchant brings us both somber reflection and uplifting celebration of getting through dark days. And it means more because she dances with knowledge that the dark days always come again.

But that is why when you can, you have to take time to reflect while also remembering to dance.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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Author: chimesfreedom

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2 thoughts on “Natalie Merchant Releases New Album “Keep Your Courage” and Opens Tour (Concert & Album Review)”

There are forces of nature. Gravity, magnetism and Natalie Merchant. I saw her in Cincinnati and it was fantastic. I haven’t kept up with her music since the 10000 maniacs days but still her show was spellbinding. Natalie Merchant has big (ish) feet (she takes her shoes off during the concert to dance around the stage) and at one time her blouse slipped up to reveal some muffin top. These glimpses of her humanity made her that much more beautiful. Natalie’s voice is still like honey, like spiced deep red wine. She and her backup ensemble, particularly the striking young woman singing backup really seem to be enjoying giving a live performance rather than just singing for money. Natalie’s music was warm, varied and genuine. Of course she ended the concert with her hits “Kind and Generous” and “These are the Days” but the entire rest of the concert was just magical. Thank you Natalie.

My thoughts from the Greenville show on April 24 match Scott’s above. Natalie Merchant and her music have been a part of my life the last three decades, an influence to me in so many ways, and I went as a quiet way of thanking her. Instead I fell in love all over again. Her voice has taken on so many special qualities over the years, and she is a force on stage (I’ll never forget how she marched several times across the stage, mic stand in tow, as she sang the anguished second half of “River”). She can make you ache to tears with a song one moment, then between songs her wonderful sense of humor can have you laughing, as she pokes a little fun at herself or makes light of something that doesn’t go quite as planned. That was what I enjoyed most: seeing her in full, this wonderful, incredibly talented and very human person who knows who she is and shares that with us, and is that much more endearing for it. Scott said it best: the whole thing was magical. To anyone reading, if you get the chance – go see her! (And to Natalie – thank you, thank you…!)

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• July 2, 2024 Setlist

Natalie Merchant Setlist at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville, TN, USA

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• Lulu Play Video
• Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience Play Video
• The Worst Thing Play Video
• Verdi Cries ( 10,000 Maniacs  song) Play Video
• Giving Up Everything Play Video
• Narcissus Play Video
• Ladybird Play Video
• Break Your Heart Play Video
• Big Girls Play Video
• River Play Video
• Frozen Charlotte Play Video
• Spring and Fall: To a Young Child Play Video
• The Letter Play Video
• Sister Tilly Play Video
• Wonder Play Video
• Come On, Aphrodite Play Video
• Life Is Sweet Play Video
• Kind & Generous Play Video

Edits and Comments

2 activities (last edit by randyugh , 29 Aug 2024, 18:35 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Come On, Aphrodite
• Sister Tilly
• Break Your Heart
• Frozen Charlotte
• Kind & Generous
• Life Is Sweet
• Giving Up Everything
• Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience
• Spring and Fall: To a Young Child
• The Worst Thing
• Verdi Cries by 10,000 Maniacs

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Natalie Merchant

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Natalie Merchant Gig Timeline

• Jun 27 2024 The Riviera Theater Charleston, SC, USA Add time Add time
• Jun 29 2024 Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts Boone, NC, USA Start time: 8:15 PM 8:15 PM
• Jul 02 2024 Schermerhorn Symphony Center This Setlist Nashville, TN, USA Add time Add time

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Why Natalie Merchant Felt 'Grateful' After Losing Her Voice — And How Singing Is 'Better Than Ever' (Exclusive)

After spine surgery left her unable to sing for 10 months, the Gen X icon is touring again with her first album of new music in nine years

Claire Rosen

In 2019, Natalie Merchant began experiencing an ache in her neck that eventually turned into "unendurable pain." Diagnosed with a rare, degenerative spine condition known as OPLL, the singer, who has sold 15 million albums as a solo artist and as lead singer for 10,000 Maniacs , underwent surgery to replace three deteriorated vertebrae. Afterwards, she was left without her singing voice for 10 months. Merchant, who is now on tour with a fully healed voice, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue how she accepted the loss of her singing ability — and wrote her new album, Keep Your Courage, during the pandemic as a message of hope in turbulent times. It’s an unseasonably cold day in upstate New York, and Natalie Merchant is bundled in a purple parka for a Zoom call. She turns her computer screen to show the thick haze outside that has drifted in from Canadian wildfires, obscuring the sky above her rural home and making the unusual summer weather all the more disturbing.

“We haven’t been able to go outside for days,” says Merchant, 59. “It’s hard to think about anything else.”

Then suddenly, an unwanted guest appears at her window, stopping her mid-sentence: a 2-in.-long gypsy moth caterpillar. “They’re so destructive that the forest canopy is disappearing,” she explains. “I spent the entire winter crushing their egg sacs. But there she is, so I’m going to knock her down.” She excuses herself to do battle with the invasive species that has been devouring woods across the Northeast: “I will risk going out and breathing that air to kill that caterpillar!”

Since she first hit the music scene in the early ’80s as the teenage frontwoman for the alt-rock band 10,000 Maniacs, and later as a solo artist, Merchant has been a warrior for a cause. Racism, pollution, colonialism, poverty, child abuse — all have influenced Merchant’s songwriting. Her passion for social justice and her literary lyrics — she was once praised as “the thinking man’s Madonna ,” to which she replied playfully, “I prefer the Emily Dickinson of pop”— have earned Merchant, who has collectively sold 15 million albums, a devoted fan base.

But three years ago a personal crisis threatened to silence her when surgery for a rare and painful degenerative spine condition left her unable to sing for 10 months. “I thought maybe I was retiring from music,” says Merchant. “I thought, ‘Well, I had a good run.’”

Instead the singer, with her distinctive contralto intact, returned this year with Keep Your Courage , her first full album of original material in nine years — a collection of pandemic-inspired songs that “remind you that you are not alone in your suffering” — and her first major tour in six years, which begins its European leg in October. Now fully healed and back to her whirling dancing onstage, “I’m singing better than I ever have. I think my voice is actually better now.”

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Larry Busacca/WireImage

Merchant was just 17 when she hopped on stage to sing with a local band from her hometown of Jamestown, New York. A year later the group recorded their first album as 10,000 Maniacs with songs written by Merchant. “At 18, it’s not your greatest work,” she says. “But there were moments.”

By the early ’90s the band had three multiplatinum albums and performed at MTV’s Inaugural Ball for newly elected President Bill Clinton . But at the height of the group’s success in 1993, Merchant left the band, saying at the time that she “didn’t want art by committee anymore.” Her solo debut, 1995’s Tigerlily , gave the singer her first Top 10 hit with “Carnival.”

The earnestness of Merchant’s lyrics — and her activism — attracted both praise and snark. (“Even as you wish she’d lighten up, you can’t help but admire Merchant’s uncompromising vision,” an Entertainment Weekly critic wrote in a 1995 review.) But Merchant, who acknowledges her reputation with dry humor, remains unapologetic. “Some people at my record company would’ve appreciated if I had been less cause-y and more sexy,” she says. “But there are worse things than being too serious. And I think time has vindicated me."

The singer, who spends nearly as much time in our interview asking questions as answering them, clearly more interested in conversation than cultivating fame — "I think it requires an obscene level of narcissism to assume that everyone wants to know everything you think, and you feel, and what you are doing," she says — took another unconventional turn after 2003, when she had her daughter Lucia, whom she shares with her ex-husband. For a time, she stepped away from songwriting and touring. “The most important job I had was being my daughter’s mother, and I was able to be present in a very intense way,” she says. She sewed costumes for her daughter’s school plays, was a class parent and helped run the craft fair.

She also volunteered with a local preschool, made a documentary about domestic violence victims and protested fracking. “Songwriting requires solitude for me, and it seemed self-indulgent in the face of these things,” she says. “People think, ‘Oh, you weren’t writing or touring? You must have been sitting on a couch eating bonbons.’ But they were very busy years.”

In December 2019 her health crisis brought her to a standstill. It began with a nagging neck ache that extended down her arm: “The pain was unendurable.” She was diagnosed with spinal degeneration with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, or OPLL. If left untreated, she says, “there’s a chance you may become paralyzed."

OPLL “is a process that occurs when a body over time turns a ligament that’s normally soft and mobile into calcification. Essentially, it hardens,” says Dr. Byron Stephens, division chief of spine surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who has not treated Merchant. The condition, uncommon in the United States, is more prevalent in eastern Asia. Because of the risks, surgery should be done “as a last resort but if properly indicated can have an incredibly positive impact,” he says.

In March 2020 Merchant underwent a four-hour surgery to replace three vertebrae that had deteriorated. An incision was made over her vocal cords, which needed to be pulled aside during the operation. When she woke, Merchant discovered she could speak but couldn’t sing: “I couldn’t find the power or keep the pitch. I could sing in falsetto, but I couldn’t sing in my real voice anymore.”

Natalie Merchant

'I could talk but I couldn't sing with my real voice, I couldn't find it.'

For 10 months, as the pandemic raged, she was left without her instrument. “While I was deeply saddened by the possibility of not singing professionally, it’s also an emotional outlet for me. I sing all day long. When my daughter [now 20 and a college student] is around, we sing together,” she says. “But I accepted the consequences, because I couldn’t live with that pain. And I feel so grateful to not be in pain anymore."

Not knowing if she could ever record as a singer again, she returned to songwriting amid the isolation and confusion of the pandemic, creatively fueled by “the profound realization that other people are the most important thing.” And by the time she had an album’s worth of material for what would become Keep Your Courage ("an appropriate title for the times — with the pandemic, the climate crisis and so many other crises — to encourage people to stay strong and hopeful"), her voice had recovered.

Credit: Amazon

Now back on tour, where she cares for her vocal cords by regularly massaging her neck muscles ("tension in the neck can restrict the vocal cords"), Merchant has a deep sense of gratitude. “The pandemic taught all of us how much we should value simple things,” she says. “I realized how much I valued singing. And this experience has taught me to be accepting of the state of things in my body."

In a world beset by daily tragedies, the singer downplays her personal medical saga: "I just feel like so many people have endured much more than I have — life-threatening car crashes, open heart surgery, brain tumors — It was very challenging and frustrating, but I feel like it's all behind me now, which is exciting."

Merchant realizes that with her spine condition, which is progressive, she may face further complications. But she's refreshingly matter-of-fact about her future: “It’s not curable, so I’m going to fall apart bit by bit like everyone, but my spine is going to fall apart first. I’m just enjoying the time before that happens and I have to decide whether to have another surgery.” .  here For more on Natalie Merchant, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe   

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Natalie Merchant

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Over her forty-year career, Natalie Merchant has attained a place among America’s most respected recording artists. She has earned a reputation for being a quality songwriter and a captivating stage performer and has distinguished herself as a social justice and environmental activist. Merchant began her musical career as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the pop music band 10,000 Maniacs and released one platinum, two double-platinum, and one triple-platinum records with the group:  The Wishing Chair (1985), In My Tribe (1987), Blind Man's Zoo (1989), Hope Chest (1990), Our Time in Eden (1992), and 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged (1993). Merchant left the group in 1994 and has subsequently released nine albums as a solo artist with combined sales of seven million copies: Tigerlily (1995), Ophelia (1998), Natalie Merchant Live (1999), Motherland (2001), The House Carpenter’s Daughter (2003), Leave Your Sleep (2010), Natalie Merchant (2014), Paradise Is There (2015), and Butterfly (2017). 

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