Singer/songwriter Josh Ritter [ tickets ], currently touring Ireland--the country that has brought him his biggest following--will embark on a solo acoustic tour of the US in late January.

Ritter kicks off his American tour Jan. 27 in Norfolk, VA. The 22-date outing will include a healthy swing through Canadian soil and will run into early March. Various acts will offer opening support during the trek, including singer/songwriters Dawn Landes and Stephen Kellogg, as well as Will Sheff of indie-folk unit Okkervil River.

Most of the tour's US dates (shown below) are currently on sale. Ritter's full Irish itinerary is available at his website.

Ritter, whose most recent studio album, "The Animal Years," was released in April, will offer a special Ireland-only release to his most dedicated fans. "In the Dark - Live at Vicar Street" is a CD/DVD combo capturing Ritter and his band performing over a two-night period in Dublin earlier this year.

Ritter's popularity in Ireland grew with the single "Me & Jiggs," which hit the Irish Top 40 chart. The Idaho native further expanded his fanbase by continuing to tour, playing several festivals worldwide, including the Cambridge Folk Festival, the V Festival and the 2002 Newport Folk Festival.

"The Animal Years," Ritter's V2 Records debut, is the singer's third studio album. The set was produced by Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine) in a studio near Seattle.

"It was great working with Deck," Ritter said in a press release. "I was very lucky. He was a guy, I felt, who was as weird as I was. There was stuff that I could bring up, like wanting 'Monster Ballads' to sound like Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, and he didn't bat an eye. He was just into the idea. So it was great--he was going to be my collaborator."