Country star Trace Adkins [ tickets ] will start the new year with an eight-week North American trek that stretches from the East Coast to the Midwest.

The 2008 American Man tour is set to kick off Jan. 24 in Bangor, ME. Comedian Bill Engvall and rising country singers Luke Bryan, Jason Michael Carroll, Bucky Covington and Kellie Pickler will be among the opening acts on select shows. Most of the venues have yet be announced, but dates and cities are listed below.

In every city along the tour, contest winners will be invited to a private acoustic show with Adkins in the designated "Game On Lounge," according to a press release.

Pre-sale tickets for a limited number of concerts will be available through Ticketmaster (LiveDaily's parent company) for fans who pre-order Adkins' forthcoming album, "American Man, Greatest Hits Volume II," at Apple's iTunes Music Store. The pre-sale is scheduled to begin Dec. 5 and tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Dec. 7.

The forthcoming album, which features three new songs, is due to hit stores Dec. 4. Lead single "I Got My Game On" and its video are streaming at Adkins' MySpace page.

The singer's 2008 outing is sponsored by cable-TV network Great American Country, which will premiere the concert special "Trace Adkins: American Man" this Saturday (12/1). The one-hour program, taped at the historic Mill at Lebanon in Tennessee, includes exclusive interviews with Adkins about his road to stardom.

Meanwhile, Adkins plans to finish out 2007 with a slate of December performances across the US, including a three-night stand in Las Vegas. He also has a couple of spring shows scheduled beyond the American Man tour.

The performer is also promoting his new book, "A Personal Standard: Observations and Opinions from a Free-Thinking Roughneck," which offers his thoughts on politics, fame, parenting, hard work and being true to yourself.

During his 11-plus-year career, Adkins has sold more than 7 million albums and scored 23 hit singles, according to his MySpace page. His most recent set, last year's "Dangerous Man," debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and spawned the No. 1 hit "Ladies Love Country Boys."