Natalie Merchant to celebrate the release of her 10-CD box set The Natalie Merchant Collection with a free event at Kleinert/James Center for the Arts in Woodstock on Saturday, July 1st. The event, presented by The Golden Notebook, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, and Radio Woodstock WDST, will include an interview with Merchant, an audience Q&A, and a short performance. Following the event Merchant will sign copies of the new box set – which will be available for purchase. Kleinert/James Center for the Arts 36 Tinker Street Woodstock, NY 12498 Saturday, July 1st Doors 6:30pm Event 7pm Note: This is a free event and space is extremely limited. Entry will be on a first-come / first-serve basis, so please arrive early. The Natalie Merchant Collection comprises ten discs, including all eight of her solo studio albums from the past three decades. A ninth disc, Butterfly, is a new studio set featuring four new songs and six reinterpreted selections from her catalogue, all arranged for string quartet. The final disc is Rarities, a collection of fifteen rare and previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1998 and 2017, which offers a unique view of Merchant’s creative experimentation through home studio demos, album outtakes, live tracks, and collaborations with diverse artists like Billy Bragg, David Byrne, The Chieftains, Cowboy Junkies, and Amy Helm. The package includes a 100-page lyric book and pictorial history of the singer-songwriter’s solo career—an archival treasure box for collectors. To coincide with the release of the box set, Merchant will tour the US this summer with Natalie Merchant: 3 Decades of Song, performing songs from across her entire career. The tour kicks off at The Bardavon in Poughkeepsie on June 30th, A portion of the tour’s proceeds will be donated to the environmental organization Food & Water Watch, which champions healthy food and clean water. Tickets for the Bardavon performance are on sale now; the performance at the Kleinert/James is a free community event. More information may be found at http://www.woodstockguild.org/nataliemerchant.html or nataliemerchant.com.