With the release of her first studio album in three years coming up fast, Dolly Parton [ tickets ] has unveiled an initial set of dates for a world tour expected to run through most of 2008.

The country icon will kick off the first US leg behind the new disc Feb. 28 in Minneapolis, one of eight domestic shows currently on the singer's itinerary before she heads off to Europe in June for her first international dates of the new year.

Other American cities on the docket so far include Chicago; Pittsburgh; Boston; New York City; Uncasville, CT; Fairfax, VA; and Atlanta. Parton's overseas commitments are posted at her official website.

The singer is gearing up to hit the road behind "Backwoods Barbie," her first studio effort since 2005's "Those Were the Days." Due in stores Feb. 5, the album features nine originals among its 12 tunes, including the Parton-penned title track, which will be used in the score for a Broadway musical "9 to 5" (based on the 1980 movie of the same name that co-starred the singer with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) currently planned for 2009.

Parton--who co-produced the album with her guitarist and bandleader Kent Wells--will issue the forthcoming album on her newly created indie label, Dolly Records.

"I put it on my own label because many of the majors really didn't want me because of my age, thinking I was over," the singer said in a press statement. "But I feel different about that. I figured the major labels are pretty much a thing of the past anyway, kind of like they thought I was. The way music is being played today, why not make all the money, if there's any money to be made."

"Better Get to Livin'," the album's first single, hit radio stations in September, peaking at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

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