Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will warm up for their forthcoming studio sessions with a brief tour of the western U.S. that is set to begin in early May. On-sale dates for tickets to all of the tour’s stops have been set.

The group’s official website is calling the outing a “mini-tour before they go into the studio.” Details about the band’s next release were not available at press time.

Fans awaiting a new album from the group can enjoy in the meantime the re-release of three of its classic MCA albums: “Damn the Torpedoes” (1979), “Hard Promises” (1981) and “Long After Dark” (1982). All three discs--digitally remastered and featuring the albums’ original artwork and lyrics--were re-released on March 20.

Petty’s most recent studio album is the April 1999 release “Echo” (Warner Bros.), which debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart. A tour in support of the album wrapped up in October of that year.