Newman is probably best known for two songs considered novelties – “Short People” and “I Love L.A.” – but best loved by fans as a songwriter with an acerbic wit, and most honored by peers for his work on numerous film scores.

His latest release, Bad Love, was issued in June 1999 and was his first non-theatrical, non-soundtrack studio album in more than a decade. The album was his first for the Dreamworks label; he had been with Reprise since the release of his self-titled debut in 1968.

During the early 1990s, Newman composed an updated musical version of the Goethe classic, “Faust.” Since then, he has worked almost exclusively composing film soundtracks. He has garnered 11 Oscar nominations for his compositions, including three in 1999.

The tour opens September 6 at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theatre in Medford, Ore., before swooping into California and cities including Saratoga, Anaheim, San Luis Obispo and San Diego.

Then Newman heads east, opening October 13 at the Capitol Center in Concord, N.H., and closing out at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota, Fla., on October 27.