Mercury Records announced Tuesday (10/12) that Shania Twain [ tickets ]'s year-end tour will now trek as far north as Connecticut. Sources close to the tour indicate that additional dates may be announced in coming weeks.

Twain's schedule -- which previously was limited to cities in the Southeast -- has been amended to include New Orleans, Atlanta, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Conn., Trenton, N.J., and Orlando.

The tour will open with a Nov. 14 performance at Texas Stadium in Irving. The concert will be taped for her second CBS television special, which is scheduled to air on Thanksgiving night. Her first special aired in March, and among its guest performers were the Backstreet Boys [ tickets ]. Twain's tour will roll into Orlando and Tampa on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4, just on the heels of the Backstreet Boys scheduled stops at the same venues.

Twain's third album, ''Come On Over,'' was released two years ago, but is still riding high on the charts (currently No. 21 on the Billboard 200 album chart) and spawning hits. The album's latest single, ''Man! I Feel Like A Woman!'' now sits at No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

An album of new songs and a Christmas album are expected from Twain in late 2000.