Natalie Merchant tickets are going to be available for the 2010 promotional tour following the release of the former 10,000 Maniacs' lead singer fifth solo album Leave Your Step. The tour begins in July at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ on the 13th. 30 concerts later, the Natalie Merchant tour schedule ends on September 1, 2010 at the Peace Center Concert Hall in Greenville, South Carolina. The album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200, which seems to indicate, despite a seven-year absence from the industry, she still has a loyal group of fans.

Natalie Merchant began her career in 1981 at the age of 18 (she was born on October 26, 1963) as the lead singer of the 10,000 Maniacs while she was attending Jamestown Community College in Jamestown, New York. Actually, she began her career two years earlier as the lead singer of Still Life, but the band was nothing more than a juvenile escape that would eventually become 10,000 Maniacs.

For the next 12 years she sang with 10,000 Maniacs alongside a myriad of musicians. The early alternative rock group seemed to be constantly changing, and Natalie Merchant's name was added to the long list of former members in 1993, just when alternative rock was taking off and gaining acceptance in the mainstream.

She made foray three years later with the release of her solo debut Tigerlilly. The album followed sparse work, with a song featured on the Philadelphia movie soundtrack. That song led to a whole studio album. Five million albums later, Natalie Merchant established herself as a solo musician in the age of the female solo rock/folk singer.