Natalie Merchant has announced Keep Your Courage, her first album of new music since her 2014 self-titled LP (which was her first album of original music since 2001’s Motherland), due April 14 via Nonesuch Records (pre-order). The album was produced by Natalie, and it features contributions from Celtic folk group Lúnasa, Syrian clarinet player Kinan Azmeh, and jazz trombonist Steve Davis, as well as orchestrations by seven composers including Gabriel Kahane, Stephen Barber, Colin Jacobsen, and Megan Gould. Natalie wrote nine of the 10 songs, and there’s also a cover of Lankum’s “Hunting the Wren.” The first single is “Come On, Aphrodite,” which features guest vocals by Resistance Revival Chorus musical director Abena Koomson-Davis.
“‘Come On, Aphrodite’ is an invocation to the goddess of love and passion,” says Natalie. “In the lyrics, I list all the clichés we use to describe falling in love: being drunk and blind, over the moon, weak in the knees, and half out of our minds. For the Greeks, when the spirit of love descended, it was seen as a kind of assault; you would become powerless against an all-consuming, sweet madness. Amazingly, humans still crave it, in spite of the perils.” Listen below.
Natalie is also gearing up for a tour, beginning with two sold-out shows at Poughkeepsie, NY’s historic Bardavon opera house. She plays NYC on June 2 & 3 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hull, and those shows will be with symphony orchestra The Knights. All dates are listed below.
Before her tour, Natalie also performs at the Paul McCartney tribute show at Carnegie Hall on March 15, as well as the rehearsal show at City Winery a day prior.
Natalie Merchant — 2023 Tour Dates
April 14—Poughkeepsie, NY—Bardavon, 1869 Opera House†
April 15—Poughkeepsie, NY—Bardavon, 1869 Opera House†
April 18—Pittsburgh, PA—Byham Theater
April 19—Charlottesville, VA—The Paramount Theater†
April 21—Philadelphia, PA—Kimmel Cultural Campus
April 22—Hershey, PA—The Hershey Theatre
April 24—Greenville, SC—Peace Center Concert Hall
April 26—Clearwater, FL—Ruth Eckerd Hall
April 27—Fort Lauderdale, FL—with The South Florida Symphony Orchestra
Au-Rene Theater – Broward Center for the Performing Arts**
April 28—St. Augustine, FL—The Saint Augustine Amphitheatre
April 30—Atlanta, GA—with The Atlanta Symphony at Atlanta Symphony Hall**
May 9—Portland, ME—Merrill Auditorium
May 10—Boston, MA—Emerson Colonial Theatre†
May 11—Boston, MA—Emerson Colonial Theatre
May 13—Cleveland, OH—Keybank State Theatre
May 14—Cincinnati, OH—Taft Theatre
May 16—Carmel, IN—The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts
May 17—Ann Arbor, MI—Michigan Theater
May 19—Chicago, IL—Chicago Theatre
May 20—Milwaukee, WI—The Pabst Theater
June 2–3—New York, NY—Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts—Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center**
June 28—Providence, RI—Veterans Memorial Auditorium**
June 30—Washington, DC—John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts**
July 1—Washington, DC—John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts**
July 8—Chautauqua, NY—Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater* *
September 20—Spokane, WA—Martin Woldson Theatre at The Fox
September 22—Seattle, WA—Venue TBA*
September 23—Portland, OR—Keller Auditorium
September 26—San Francisco, CA—The Masonic
September 27—Saratoga, CA—The Mountain Winery*
September 29—San Diego, CA—Humphrey’s†
Date TBA—Los Angeles, CA—Venue TBA*
*On-sale timing TBA
**With symphony orchestra
†Sold Out
Tracklist
1. Big Girls
2. Come on, Aphrodite
3. Sister Tilly
4. Narcissus
5. Hunting the Wren
6. Guardian Angel
7. Eye of the Storm
8. Tower of Babel
9. Song of Himself
10. The Feast of Saint Valentine
Bonus Tracks:
11. Spring and Fall: To a Young Child (from 2010’s Leave Your Sleep)
12. Butterfly (from 2017’s Butterfly)
13. Giving up Everything (from 2014’s Natalie Merchant)
14. Frozen Charlotte (from 2017’s Butterfly; original version on 1998’s Ophelia)