Brad Paisley pushes 'Play' into fall

Brad Paisley, who is currently on the final stretch of his massive "Paisley Party" trek, has already mapped out plans for an extensive summer/fall outing to support his latest release, "Play."

The "American Saturday Night" tour with special guests Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne currently spans nearly 40 US and Canadian cities from coast to coast, and more dates are expected. The road trip is scheduled to launch June 5 in Charlotte, NC, and visit a host of amphitheaters, festivals and fairs through mid-October.

Paisley returned to the road earlier this month to continue "The Paisley Party," which began last summer and has sold more than 750,000 tickets, according to a press release. The tour, which also features Bentley along with opening acts Darius Rucker and Crystal Shawanda, continues Thursday (1/29) in Dayton, OH, and crosses the US and Canada through mid-March. Paisley's full itinerary is listed below.

The country star just garnered his 13th No. 1 single, "Start a Band," a duet with Keith Urban featured on "Play." The new album, released in November, is a mostly instrumental affair comprising 15 tracks, four of which feature Paisley singing and picking with B.B. King, Keith Urban, Steve Wariner and the late Buck Owens.

"If there's any part of my image or my artistry that goes unnoticed at this point, it may be the guitar-playing side," Paisley said in a review posted at his website. "I've had people [recently] say, 'I had no idea that you could play guitar like that.' And I'm thinking that the quickest way to say that is to do a largely instrumental project."

The record's all-star guitar jam--"Cluster Pluck," featuring Wariner, Vince Gill, James Burton, John Jorgensen, Albert Lee, Brent Mason and Redd Volkaert--has been nominated for a Grammy Award at next month's ceremony. Paisley is also in the running for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his chart-topping hit "Letter to Me," from 2007's platinum-selling disc, "5th Gear."

The reigning ACM and CMA Male Vocalist of the Year picked up his first Grammy trophy last year: Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Throttleneck," also from "5th Gear."