Soft-rock stalwarts Hootie & The Blowfish have paved the road for their upcoming summer tour, while frontman Darius Rucker continues to work on his first solo album, set for release this fall.

The group will tackle a May 17 date with singer/songwriter Josh Kelley in Greenville, SC, before digging into its summer tour in earnest June 29 in Hampton Beach, NH.

Tickets for most shows on the outing--which will hit more than 30 cities and finish up in September--are already on sale. The band's full schedule is included below.

Some of the upcoming dates are part of the band's "Homegrown Concert Series," during which supplies are collected for schools in each community it visits. Details are available at the group's website.

The South Carolina-based foursome--frontman Rucker, guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim "Soni" Sonefeld--is working the road behind its fifth studio album, "Looking for Lucky," which surfaced in August of 2005 and features the cut "Get Out of My Mind." The band issued the set on its own independent label, Sneaky Long Records, an imprint of Vanguard Records.

"Looking for Lucky" was recorded in Nashville with producer Don Gehman, who also produced the band's 1994 debut, "Cracked Rear View." That album--which features the hit singles "Hold My Hand," "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be with You"--remains the group's most successful release to date; the set is multi-platinum certified for shipping 16 million copies in the US.

Rucker's solo effort, which still lacks both a title and a firm release date, will be a country music affair released on Capitol Records Nashville. The singer worked with country producer Frank Rogers (Brad Paisley, Darryl Worley) on the disc. Rucker recently set up a website where fans can sign up for updates on the album.