Features
Merchant Tours
Although it’s an election year, politically active singer Natalie Merchant is making time to focus on the music. The singer is doing a series of U.S. dates on both coasts this summer, beginning July 31 in Northampton, Mass., and continuing through late August.
It’s her first road trip since 2002, when she shared headlining duties with Chris Isaak on a cross-country trek. The singer, who keeps a busy schedule of social activism and volunteering, promises that this will be her only tour of 2004.
She’ll be accompanied by the same band that played on her most recent release, The House Carpenter’s Daughter. The album features Merchant’s interpretations of seven traditional folk songs and four covers by the likes of the Carter Family and Fairport Convention.