Written by: Alex Green
Natalie Merchant has announced she will release a new album in 2023.
Breaking a nearly decade-long silence, Keep Your Courage will be the singer/songwriter’s ninth solo album and her first since 2014’s self-titled effort.
In the liner notes to the nine-track record, Merchant explains the album’s titular significance: “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. 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.”
Produced by Merchant herself, Keep Your Courage features two duets with Abena Koomson-Davis (Resistance Revival Chorus), contributions from jazz trombonist Steve Davis, the Celtic folk group Lúnasa, and Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh.
Keep Your Courage will be out in April on Nonesuch.
Natalie Merchant US Tour
Saturday—April 15—Poughkeepsie, NY—Bardavon, 1869 Opera House
Tuesday—April 18—Pittsburgh, PA—Byham Theater
Wednesday—April 19—Charlottesville, VA—The Paramount Theater
Friday—April 21—Philadelphia, PA—Kimmel Cultural Campus
Saturday—April 22—Hershey, PA—The Hershey Theatre
Monday—April 24—Greenville, SC—Peace Center Concert Hall*
Wednesday—April 26—Clearwater, FL—Ruth Eckerd Hall
Thursday—April 27—Fort Lauderdale, FL—Au—Rene Theater – Broward
Center for the Performing Arts**
Friday—April 28—St. Augustine, FL—The Saint Augustine Amphitheatre
Sunday—April 30—Atlanta, GA—Atlanta Symphony Hall**
Tuesday—May 9—Portland, ME—Merrill Auditorium
Wednesday—May 10—Boston, MA—Emerson Colonial Theatre
Saturday—May 13—Cleveland, OH—Keybank State Theatre
Sunday—May 14—Cincinnati, OH—Taft Theatre
Tuesday—May 16—Carmel, IN—The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts
Wednesday—May 17—Ann Arbor, MI—Michigan Theater
Friday—May 19—Chicago, IL—Chicago Theatre
Saturday—May 20—Milwaukee, WI—The Pabst Theater
Friday–Saturday—June 2–3—New York, NY—Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts — Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center**
Wednesday—June 28—Providence, RI—Veterans Memorial Auditorium**
Friday–Saturday—June 30–July 1—Washington, DC—John F. Kennedy
Center for The Performing Arts**
Saturday—July 8—Chautauqua, NY—Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater* **
Wednesday—September 20—Spokane, WA—Martin Woldson Theatre at The Fox
Friday—September 22—Seattle, WA—Venue TBA*
Saturday—September 23—Portland, OR—Keller Auditorium
Tuesday—September 26—San Francisco, CA—The Masonic
Wednesday—September 27—Saratoga, CA—The Mountain Winery*
Friday—September 29—San Diego, CA—Humphrey’s
Date TBA—Los Angeles, CA—Venue TBA
*On-sale timing TBA
**With symphony orchestra
