Acony Records is excited to announce that Gillian Welch has confirmed the first leg of a North American tour. Welch and David Rawlings will play 31 cities in July and August, beginning July 6 in Santa Cruz, CA and ending August 28 in Charleston, SC. In addition, they will play the High Sierra Music Festival on June 30 as well as the Vancouver Folk Festival and the Newport Folk Festival. More dates will be added in the fall, including the already announced Austin City Limits Festival in September.

The tour is in support of Welch’s new record, The Harrow & The Harvest, which is due to be released on June 28. The Harrow & The Harvest, “is a new Southern sound,” writes Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, “with the sort of songs you wouldn’t be surprised to hear issuing from some verdant, wooded hollow in Appalachia; Songs you’d expect to hear hollered from an Asheville grange hall, all too late in the evening. Songs with the wry humor of the back porch. Listen to this record with the lights low. Listen to it on an old radio, cradled next to your ear.”

You can find all the tour dates on the tour page. The second half of the tour will be announced in a few weeks. Check back often or sign up here for updates.