by: Steve Morse, (page: C16)

She calls it a "quiet kind of success." And that says it all. Without much fanfare, Natalie Merchant's solo career sailed beyond expectations this year. She sold 2 million copies of Tigerlily, an articulate, heartfelt record that, again quietly, spawned three hit singles. It was a homespun project made in Woodstock, N.Y., but its eventual reach made her a global star.

"Yes, it was a good year," says Merchant, whose decision to leave the nest of her former band, 10,000 Maniacs, proved to be a smart move. She left on her own terms and succeeded on her own terms through such hits as Carnival and Wonder, which marked her as a profound humanist as well as caring feminist.

"The album surpassed the popularity that I achieved in 10,000 Maniacs," she says with obvious pride, "but for some people, the perception is that it didn't happen. So I'm happy with that, because some people still see me as an underdog.

"There was no hype attached to this record. People either liked the songs or they didn't," says Merchant, who ends a year and two months of touring with a show at Great Woods on Monday night. "There was no image to embrace, really. It was a non-image. And I think a lot of people responded to the simplicity and honesty of that.

"It never felt like a big pressure project. I paid for the whole thing myself and all the musicians were from a group of friends, basically. I didn't go for the best musicians in the business. I just wanted to work with younger musicians who were passionate players," she adds. "And it's a very low-tech record. It's flawed in a few places, but I think that also kind of makes it charming. It doesn't feel like a big-scale, big-label production. It's not a corporate album."

The album's most compelling track is Wonder, an inspiring tale of a woman with a severe handicap who is still "God's own creation." Says Merchant: "I've met so many people this year who have been crippled since birth or who have had cerebral palsy, heart transplants, brain tumors or liver transplants. And children dying of cancer, and AIDS patients who have the lyrics taped over their beds. These people say that Wonder is like an anthem for them. That's pretty powerful. . . . Of all the songs on the record, Wonder has really stood out as having the kind of spirit that I want my music to have."

Merchant's groundbreaking year has been capped by summer dates with Sting and two weeks on the H.O.R.D.E. tour with Blues Traveler, Lenny Kravitz and Rusted Root. "Everyone got along so well. The vibe backstage was the best I'd ever seen," she says.

Aside from her own songs, Merchant has added some fun covers this summer of David Bowie's Space Oddity and Jimmy Cliff's Sitting in Limbo. But after Monday's finale, she'll take off on a canoe trip to the Adirondacks to clear her head and decompress. Later, she plans to travel to the South Pacific and Asia to write songs on location.

"I'm more confident now and feel like experimenting more. And I've got secret plans that I can't divulge," she says. "It's a way to combine all my interests in theater and dance and painting and music and sculpture -- just all the arts that I enjoy participating and dabbling in. They're all going to be combined."