It’s been fourteen years since Jewel entered the scene with ‘Pieces of You,’ and while her focus has sometimes changed, her singer/songwriter roots remain intact. The Alaska native is readying a full 16-city acoustic tour to celebrate the release of her eight studio album ‘Lullaby.’ The tour launches in Baltimore on October 27 and will carry her through to Fort Worth to close things up on November 15. Meiko will provide opening support on the first leg of the tour.

Peter Gabriel, who founded Genesis the rock group, and Jose Antonio Abreu, Venezuelan composer, are sharing the Polar Music Prize this year. On Monday the two musicians received 1 million kroner (or $143,000) awards during a ceremony held in Stockholm. They both said they’d love to work together.

The second studio album of the blue eyed singer Colbie Caillat, “Breakthrough,” is definitely living up to the name. The up-and-coming singer is anticipating a No. 1 debut next week on Billboard’s 200. She is also in the middle of preparing for a new upcoming headlining tour. Caillat’s North American leg of her “Breakthrough World tour” will kick off in San Diego, CA at House of Blues on September 15.

The Mars Volta, progressive alternative rockers, just as their tour is about to kick off has expanded their headlining US outing backing “Octahedron,” their newly released album. The Mexico based, Texas born group will start their summer and fall tour on August 29, appearing at Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, followed by several stops on the West Coast before they head east. Seven shows at last check have been added.

After Lyle Lovett tackles his upcoming fall tour with John Hiatt, he will be heading out for a series of headlining shows along with Large Band. The multiple Grammy award winner and veteran performer will be kicking off his headlining stretch in Orange, TX on October 26, after his latest show with Hiatt. The shows with Hiatt kick off in Albuquerque, NM on October 6 and close in Tacoma, WA on October 18.

Silversun Pickups’ latest album “Swoon” has been in the can since April, but you just can’t seem to keep this quartet off the road. They’ve lined up a couple festival gigs at the Outside Lands Festival and San Diego Street Scene before they embark on their fall tour. After they wrap the festival circuit, they take on the club/theatre scene starting at the Pipeline Cafe in Honolulu on September 5. Opening support will be handled by Manchester Orchestra on the first leg of the tour with Cage the Elephant covering the remainder.

Dane Cook will begin the second part of his Global Thermal Comedy Tour on September 4-6 in Atlantic City, NJ’s Etess Arena. From there he will take a month off before continuing on to Las Vegas, NV’s The Joint on October 9-10. As of now, Cook is scheduled to perform 30 times throughout Canada and [...]

The Utah-quartet The Used are fueling up the tour bus in anticipation of their fall concert tour. Their latest album “Artwork” debuts in stores on August 31, coinciding with their first tour stop at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California. The tour will trek through mid-November, bouncing around the major markets. See a full line-up of tour dates below.

This will be the first time for music icon Bob Dylan to release a Christmas album after being in the music biz for almost forty years.

“Christmas in the Heart”, which features Dylan’s spin on Yuletide classics like “Winter Wonderland”, “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Little Drummer Boy”, is slated for an October 13 release date, coinciding with the singer’s two-week west coast tour. But the best part is Dylan’s earnings from the album will be handed over to non-profit group Feeding America to feed about 1.4 million starving Americans this Yuletide season.

It’s time for the music award season to begin. On Monday the eligibility time period for the Grammy Awards of 2010 ends. Today it was announced that Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will be returning to host the Country Music Association Awards for 2009. On November 11 the CMA show will be airing live on ABC in the East Coast time zone.