Folk-music legend Joan Baez [ tickets ] this summer plans to release her first new album in more than five years, but first she's heading out on tour.

Baez's outing kicks off with a Feb. 26 performance in Redwood City, Calif., that benefits San Jose State University's Center for Steinbeck Studies. At that event, Baez will become the first woman to be presented with the John Steinbeck Award.

The Center for Steinbeck Studies presents its award to artists and humanitarians whose works "exemplify values found in Steinbeck: a concern for the common people, a commitment to the natural environment, the courage to critique the contrasts between the powerful and the poor," according to Baez's official website. Previous award recipients include Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and playwright Arthur Miller.

Guest artists Joel Rafael, Roger McGuinn, Lucy Kaplansky, Josh Ritter and Tracy Grammer will rotate through the opening slot on Baez's upcoming tour. Specific details are available at Baez's website.

Though no release date has been set, Baez plans to offer up her next album in June. The release will be her first collection of new material since her late-2002 release, "Gone from Danger."

"Lily," a track that appears on "Gone from Danger," also turns up on this month's "Respond II," a two-disc compilation that features 32 female artists. All proceeds from the album's sales benefit Respond, Inc., and the Family Violence Prevention Fund, two organizations that are dedicated to ending domestic violence.

Earlier this month, Baez appeared at an anti-war demonstration in San Francisco that drew a crowd that organizers estimated at about 150,000, according to her website. There, Baez performed the songs "Let Us Break Bread Together," "Finlandia" and the Steve Earle-penned "Christmas in Washington."