Lucinda Williams with JP, Chrissie and The Fairground Boys

The trek marks Williams’ first dates for 2010 and JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys’ debut tour.

Williams starts things off Aug. 17 at Majestic Ventura Theatre in Ventura, Calif., with dates booked through an Aug. 27 performance at Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay in San Diego.

The Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter will perform at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Calif. (Aug. 18), Shedd Institute For The Arts in Eugene, Ore. (Aug. 20), Roseland Theater in Portland, Ore. (Aug. 22), Crest Theatre in Sacramento, Calif. (Aug. 24) and Uptown Theatre Napa in Napa, Calif. (Aug. 25). 

Fans can also catch Williams’ unique blend of rock, folk and country at the “No Depression Festival” at Marymoor Amphitheatre in Redmond, Wash., along with a gig at Queen Mary Events Park in Long Beach, Calif. (Aug. 26).

JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys will join Williams on the road Aug. 17 and Aug. 24-27.

The JP in Hynde’s new six-piece band is a 31-year-old Welsh singer-songwriter named JP Jones.

Hynde and Jones met at a party in London in November 2008. While Hynde toured with The Pretenders, Jones sent her song ideas and texts, suggesting that they “could make a great album together.”

The duo ended up taking a spontaneous trip to Cuba where they wrote the bulk of their debut album from a suite atop the famous Hotel Nacional de Cuba overlooking Havana.
JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys’ full-length debut, Fidelity! is set for release Aug. 24 on their own label, La Mina, through a partnership with Rocket Science.

The rock and roll album “tells the story of two people who fall in love but realize their future is doomed by a 30-year age gap,” according to the band’s bio.

“We laughed a lot about the idea of riding around Wales in a caravan amongst kids and dogs — our kids and dogs — but, of course, that could never happen, so we put all of our irrational emotions of disappointment into a tale of woe, heartbreak, and ultimately, redemption,” Hynde said.

“It wasn’t an easy album to make emotionally, but writing and singing together was like falling off a log — the music was pouring out of us. We wrote to each other, about each other, with each other, and for each other.”

Click here for Lucinda Williams’ website.

Click here for JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys’ website.