Joe Jackson to 'Rain' down on North America

Joe Jackson will head out next month on a world tour to support his forthcoming album, "Rain."

The genre-bending performer will start in late February with a month's worth of shows in Europe and then make his way to North America for a six-week trek beginning April 1 in Toronto. Coast-to-coast US dates include a two-night stand in Chicago.

In mid-May, Jackson will head for Australia and he's also planning his first run through South Africa. North American concerts are included below and those overseas are listed at Jackson's website.

The singer/pianist's original Joe Jackson Band rhythm section--bassist/vocalist Graham Maby and drummer/vocalist Dave Houghton--will join him on tour. The trio originally reunited in 2003 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Jackson's 1978 debut recording, "Look Sharp."

The band has been previewing material from "Rain" over its past couple of tours, and entered an East Berlin studio last year to record the 10-song set, which is due Jan. 29. Jackson said he took a pared-down approach to the new album.

"There is no padding on it at all," he explained in a statement. "The album is stripped to the bare essentials, so I hope it has a timeless quality."

"Rain" follows Joe Jackson Band's latest studio album, 2003's "Volume Four," as well as its 2004 live offering, "Afterlife." Jackson said he was in no big hurry to record new material.

"I promised myself that I wouldn't make a record until I had an album's worth of songs that were the best I could do," he stated in his bio. "I think several of these songs are the best songs I've ever written, and I wanted to have 10 or 12 songs that I felt that way about before I put out another album."

Several tunes from the set are streaming at Jackson's MySpace page.

The Grammy-winning performer, who entered the music scene as a new-wave rocker, has explored genres including reggae, jump-blues, and Latin rhythms during his 30-year career. Jackson has also released instrumental albums of contemporary classical music and produced several film scores.