David Byrne [ tickets ] has announced initial dates to support his forthcoming album with Brian Eno--the first studio collaboration between the two performers in 27 years.

The trek, which will feature Byrne and his band performing music from "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today," is expected to extend into 2009, with the first batch of shows currently set to kick off Sept. 18 in Newport News, VA. Three of the first five announced shows will take place in California. Details are below.

"Everything That Happens," Byrne's first recorded collaboration with Eno since 1981's "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts," will be offered in both streaming and retail versions beginning Aug. 18 from the album's website. A free download of a sample song from the set is available starting today (8/4) from the site. Eno also produced three of Byrne's albums with Talking Heads.

The idea of the album was conceived during Byrne's visit to Eno's studio after Nonesuch Records re-released "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" in 2006, according to a press release.

"I recall Brian mentioning that he had a lot of largely instrumental tracks he'd accumulated, and since, in his words, he 'hates writing words,' I suggested I have a go at writing some words and tunes over a few of them, and we see what happens," Byrne said in a statement.

"When we started this work, we started to think we were making something like electronic gospel: a music where singing was the central event, but whose sonic landscapes were not the type normally associated with that way of singing," added Eno. "This thought tapped into my long love affair with gospel music which, curiously, was inadvertently initiated by David and the Talking Heads."

"The live shows will maybe try to draw a line linking this new material with what we did 30 years ago, a little bit anyway," Byrne said.