A New York Evening With Natalie Merchant

The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to present an intimate conversation and performance with Natalie Merchant at The Greene Space at WNYC and WQXR in New York City. The conversation will be moderated by Jessica Hopper and will include a discussion about the making of Natalie’s latest album, her creative process, career, and more. Following the conversation, Natalie will perform.

Natalie Merchant is one of many artists to be featured in the GRAMMY Museum’s New York City program series, which includes bringing a slate of the GRAMMY Museum’s renowned GRAMMY In The Schools Education Programs and Public Programs to the East Coast in partnership with the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. “A New York Evening With…” is generously supported by the Dawn and Brian Hoesterey Family Foundation.  

ABOUT NATALIE MERCHANT:

Natalie Merchant is an award-winning, multi-platinum-selling, American singer-songwriter and producer known for her distinctive voice and captivating literary-pop songs. Her music blends folk, rock, and world music influences, and she continues to be regarded as a pioneering figure in alternative music.

On her beguiling ninth studio album, Keep Your Courage, Merchant examines love in all its guises. By the Artist’s count she mentions love twenty-six times across Keep Your Courage. “I think the pandemic was a great period of solitude and longing,” she says by way of one possible explanation for her fixation on matters of the heart. “I craved and savored human connection; it was the only thing that really mattered.”

Keep Your Courage is a sonically disparate and musically sumptuous collection produced by Merchant and recorded in Vermont with trusted collaborators and new friends. Whether it’s delicate chamber pop (“The Feast of Saint Valentine”), horn-driven soul (“Tower of Babel”), Celtic balladry (“Eye of the Storm”), or instantly infectious pop (“Come on, Aphrodite”), the album is anchored by Merchant’s unmistakable voice, whip-smart wordplay, and emotional delivery.

Though this is her first album of all new, original material in nine years, Merchant has been anything but idle in that time. In addition to raising her daughter, the singer-songwriter has tackled several projects in the last decade, among them: rearranging her songs for string quintet and acoustic instruments for the CD and documentary Paradise Is There, directing Shelter, a documentary on domestic violence, curating the 10-disc box set The Natalie Merchant Collection, and somehow, for two years, finding time four days a week to work with children as an artist-in-residence with a local non-profit pre-school. She explains, “I felt like it was part of my job as a mother to be an example of someone who’s engaged in the community.” In November 2022 Merchant was appointed to a six-year term on the board of trustees for the American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress by Senate majority leader Charles Schumer.

ABOUT JESSICA HOPPER:

Jessica Hopper is a director, producer and author based in Chicago. In a career spanning more than twenty years, Hopper earned acclaim as a provocative, fearless music journalist before moving on to directing and producing documentary work. She is the author of The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic and the 2018 music memoir Night Moves; Hopper’s forthcoming book, No God But Herself: How Women Changed Music in 1975 is due 2025 from MCD/Farrar Straus & Giroux. She was formerly the Editorial Director at MTV News, and Senior Editor at Pitchfork and Rookie, and currently co-edits The American Music Series. Most recently, Hopper directed and executive produced the four-part docuseries, Women Who Rock, for MGM+/Amazon.

Check-In: 6:30pm

Show Time: 7:30pm

In partnership with

TICKET POLICY

The holder of this ticket is granted admission to the indicated facility for the purpose of viewing the specified event. This ticket is for use by the holder only and the holder is bound by this policy. This ticket is not transferable and may not be sold, otherwise conveyed or used for any other purpose, including promotion or commercial, without the prior written consent of The Recording Academy. If this ticket is sold, otherwise conveyed or used in violation of this policy, it will be deemed revoked and void, and its holder deemed a trespasser at all Recording Academy events. This ticket is a revocable license and admission may be refused by refunding the face amount of the ticket or ejection may occur for failure to comply with any facility rule. The holder agrees not to transmit or aid in transmitting any description, picture, recording or reproduction of the event. The holder acknowledges that the event may be captured and recorded by audio, audiovisual, and/or photographic means, and hereby grants permission to utilize the holder’s image and/or voice in any and all media now known or hereafter devised to further the interests and mission of the Recording Academy. It is unlawful to reproduce this ticket in any form. The Holder assumes all risks incidental to the event, whether occurring prior to, during or after the event, and releases the facility, management, all participants and each of their affiliates, employees, officers, directors, members, partners, owners, managers, sponsors, contractors and agents from any loss, damage or expense resulting from any such risk. The Recording Academy reserves all legal rights and remedies. Save money on ticketing fees next time by becoming a GRAMMY Museum member! More info at grammymuseum.org.

ALL TICKETS ARE WILL-CALL ONLY AND VALID I.D IS NECESSARY FOR PICK UP.

ALL SALES FINAL. NO REFUNDS. NO EXCHANGES.

EVENT TIME & DATE SUBJECT TO CHANGE