Nonesuch Records will release Natalie Merchant’s Keep Your Courage, her ninth solo studio album and first of new material since 2014’s self-titled record, on April 14, 2023. An eclectic album, produced by Merchant, it features 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. There are lush orchestrations throughout by seven composers including: Gabriel Kahane, Stephen Barber, Colin Jacobson, and Megan Gould. Keep Your Courage comprises nine original songs by Merchant as well as an interpretation of “Hunting the Wren” by Ian Lynch of the Irish band Lankum. The vinyl LP edition of Keep Your Courage includes four bonus tracks from earlier albums, previously unreleased on vinyl.
In celebration of the release, Merchant will embark upon a US tour this spring, going into the fall (schedule below); European dates will be announced shortly. Keep Your Courage is available to preorder here.
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, and 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.”
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
Keep Your Courage 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 Content
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)
