Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright [ tickets ] is lining up his first North American tour dates of 2004 as he continues to support his recent release, "Want One," and lays the groundwork for its follow-up.

The outing is set to begin in mid-February, and about a dozen club and theater dates are scheduled so far.

Wainwright--the son of folk icons Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle--issued "Want One" in September. The set was intended to be a double album, but it was split into two parts; "Want Two" is due next spring.

"'Want One' is a presentable, accessible entity," Wainwright said in a statement. "'Want Two' will have some of the more daunting tracks, the operatic, weird stuff, some heavy numbers that relate to my classical sensibilities."

Marius deVries (Bjork, Madonna, David Bowie) produced both "Want" albums, and also co-arranged the orchestral arrangements with Chris Elliott, Maxim Moston and Wainwright.

"Want One" is Wainwright's third album, and follows 2001's "Poses." His self-titled debut hit stores in 1998.

"My first love of music was Al Jolson, when I was very young," Wainwright said of his influences in a recent liveDaily interview. "Then I saw 'The Wizard of Oz' and got into musicals, like 'Annie' and stuff like that. ... And at the same time I was getting into the new wave music: the Eurythmics, Thompson Twins, Men Without Hats, Prince. And actually, when you consider the musical climate today, the early '80s were pretty amazing, because you had so many different types of artists. Then, around the age of 13 or 14, I had this sort of religious experience with opera, and it's dictated my musical tastes up until today. My main love is opera--it's almost like the Yankees."