Concertwire.com

Over her 28-year career Natalie Merchant has earned a place among America’s most respected recording artists with a reputation for being a songwriter of quality and a captivating performer. Merchant began her musical career as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the pop music band 10,000 Maniacs and released two platinum and four gold records with the group between 1981 and 1993. In 1994 Merchant began her solo career with a self-produced debut album, Tigerlily (1995) which astounded the music industry by selling 4 million copies. In the years following, she released Ophelia (1998), Natalie Merchant Live (1999) and Motherland (2001). In 2003 after 18 years she left Elektra Records and independently released an album of traditional and contemporary folk music, The House Carpenter’s Daughter on her own label, Myth America Records. In 2005 she was persuaded to curate a collection of her own work for a double album she titled Retrospective. After the birth of her daughter in 2003 Merchant took an extended break from recording and touring. For the past six years Merchant has been researching, writing and recording a collection of songs adapted from the works of various classic and contemporary poets. This project, entitled Leave Your Sleep, is her first studio album in seven years and is due for release in April 2010 on Nonesuch Records.