The outing starts at the Vanderbilt Theatre in Garden City, N.Y., on November 9. Harding’s last confirmed gig with Fastball at present will be November 24 at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

Before hitting the road with Fastball, Harding and his band – The Radical Gentlemen – will warm up with headlining shows at Magnolia Street in Spartanburg, S.C., and The Opera House in Rome, Ga., on November 3 and 4, with Drivin’n’Cryin in support.

Additionally, the Jayhawks will join Harding and Fastball November 15 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Harding, whose real name is Wesley Stace, has been a critics’ darling since his 1990 debut, Here Comes The Groom. In a typical display of moxie, he lifted his stage name from a Bob Dylan album title.

He’ll be backed on this tour by Robert Lloyd (keyboards, mandolin), Kirk Swan (guitar), Chris von Sneidern (bass) and Kevin Jarvis (drums). This will be Harding’s first tour with a full band in five years.

The outing with Fastball makes sense. Earlier this year, Harding recorded a cover of the Stealers Wheel tune “Star” with Fastball backing his lead vocal. The record will be released as a limited edition single, available free with the purchase of The Confessions of St. Ace beginning in November.

It’s been a busy year for Harding, who toured with zen cowboy Jimmie Dale Gilmore earlier in the year and put in a few solo one-offs. The St. Ace tune “I’m Wrong About Everything” was included on the soundtrack to last summer’s movie “High Fidelity,” while the album itself was released August 29.

He’s also released the first three live songs in what eventually will amount to a free album. Called “MPfreeEP,” the free tunes are in MP3 format on his Web site, which will provide cover art for the collection when the project is complete.