
Brad Paisley 's massive summer tour is getting ready to head into its final stretch, but the country star is nowhere near finished with "The Paisley Party."
A new leg is set to kick off Jan. 15 and visit 24 arenas across the US and Canada through early March. Fellow Grand Ole Opry member Dierks Bentley will serve as special guest on the entire run, and Hootie & The Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker and Crystal Shawanda will take turns in the opening slot.
Paisley, who launched the party in June, continues Sept. 18 in Atlanta, GA, and will wrap the tour's current leg with a run of Texas dates in mid-October. His full itinerary is listed below.
During his break from the road, the singer/guitarist will release his next studio album, "Play," on which he experiments with jazz guitar and tries his hand at heavy metal. The mostly instrumental set, due on Election Day (Nov. 4), comprises 15 tracks, four of which feature Paisley singing and picking with B.B. King, Keith Urban, Steve Wariner and the late Buck Owens. An all-star guitar jam, "Cluster Pluck," features guest stars Wariner, Vince Gill, James Burton, John Jorgensen, Albert Lee, Brent Mason and Redd Volkaert.
Paisley, the current CMA and ACM Male Vocalist of the Year, has been supporting last year's "5th Gear," which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and earned the performer the highest first-week sales of his career. The set has spawned five No. 1 singles, including Paisley's latest, "Waitin' On A Woman."
Paisley, whose 2007 Bonfires and Amplifiers Tour was ranked the No. 2 country tour by concert trade magazine Pollstar, has played to more than 502,000 fans so far this year, according to a press release.
"This number means more to me this year than ever knowing how strapped people are economically these days," Paisley said in a statement. "The fact that fans are willing to both buy tickets and the gasoline necessary to come to a show is the ultimate compliment and I am so thankful."
Paisley, who has sold more than 10 million albums and scored 12 No. 1 singles during his career, picked up his first Grammy Award this year for the country instrumental "Throttleneck."