GREAT BARRINGTON —  Natalie Merchant’s Autumn Acoustic Tour will stop at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center as it swings through the Northeast.

The folk-rock singer-songwriter, who last performed at the Mahaiwe in 2019, will appear in concert with longtime collaborator Erik Della Penna 8 p.m. Nov. 1. Tickets are $71 to $81, with discounts for members and individuals 30 and under, and go on sale to the general public June 6. Member tickets go on sale June 4. Online sales, both days, begin at 10 a.m. at mahaiwe.org. Tickets will be available, both days, beginning at noon. 

Merchant is no stranger to the Berkshires. She performed two sold-out benefit concerts at Hancock Shaker Village in 2018. She performed at Tanglewood in 2017 as part of the Popular Artist Series and has graced the Mahaiwe stage on several occasions, including concerts in 2013 and 2014. 

Merchant began her musical career as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the pop music band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and released two platinum and four gold records with the group. She left the band in 1993 and has subsequently released nine albums as a solo artist with combined sales of 7 million copies.

She has also distinguished herself as a social justice and environmental activist through her work with a wide variety of non-profit organizations and her work in documentary films and large-scale community arts projects.

In 2007, Merchant was appointed to the the New York State Council on the Arts by Gov. Elliot Spitzer. In 2022, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, appointed her to the board of trustees of The American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress. Merchant’s awards for artistic excellence and philanthropic work include: the ASCAP Champion Award, The Library Lion Award from the New York Public Library, and The John Lennon Real Love Award. In 2025, the National Head Start Association made Merchant their national artist-in-residence.