Moe. maps first dates of the new year

Indie-jam rockers moe. will kick off 2009 with a short series of two-night stands in the US.

The winter tour starts Jan. 30 in Denver and visits New York City and Chicago in February. Pre-sale tickets are currently available and the general on-sale begins tomorrow (11/15) through Ticketmaster. The itinerary is listed below.

Moe. continues to support its eighth studio album, "Sticks and Stones," which surfaced last January on the band's own Fatboy Records label and reached No. 16 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart. The release marks a departure from moe.'s previous efforts, as the majority of the album was written in the studio. The group's usual recording process starts after songs have been performed live for at least a year.

"We wrote and recorded the bulk of the album in about three weeks," guitarist Al Schnier said in a statement. "The songwriting was largely collaborative, whereas in the past, it had been much more singular."

Guitarist Chuck Garvey added that pulling the songs out of thin air and working on the arrangements in-studio fueled the excitement.

"This album is very raw and not over thought," he said. "It's made up of our first instincts--which is not what you get when you play songs for a year or two and then record them."

Over the summer, moe. also released "Dr. Stan's Prescription," the latest set in its live archival series. Volume one of the Dr. Stan series captures a live show from moe.'s 2004 Caribbean cruise, with filler from a 1995 Vail, CO, performance.

The recent releases follow last year's "The Conch," which won the Jammy Award for Best Studio Album.