KT Tunstall Set to Tour Through U.S.

Multi-platinum Scottish-born Relentless/Virgin Records singer/songwriter KT TUNSTALL will return to the live U.S. stage this summer, with a month of dates scheduled, many of them with acclaimed Zoe/Rounder artist Martha Wainwright.

In this round of touring, Tunstall’s show will highlight the way her vibrant and versatile music “distinguish(es) herself from the herd by demonstrating a wealth of musical possibilities,” as a Boston Herald reviewer put it a few weeks ago. The artist notes: “I’m very excited to be bringing my vintage electric guitars over to the U.S. for this month, and mixing the acoustic roots of Eye to the Telescope with the more complex driving sounds of Drastic Fantastic.”

Tunstall’s European and North American acoustic spring 2008 tour, dubbed “The Campfire Tour,” “was a huge success,” Tunstall says. “It taught me to enjoy the subtleties of the set as much as the pedal-to-the-metal foot-stompers.” The Boston Globe agreed, praising “Tunstall’s easy way with a melody,” and noting that she had “no trouble getting comfy and generating warmth during a sweet and sassy 90-minute set.” The Boston Herald continued: the “Scottish firecracker(‘s) unplugged set yielded marvelous results. Her four-piece band improvised ingeniously.”

Tunstall will perform on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien on July 15th, with American pop-soul icon Daryl Hall.

Discussing the pleasure and revelations of touring in the wake of her tremendous commercial breakthrough, Tunstall recently said: “my bar has been raised – I’ve realized what’s possible…touring (a first album) with a band, seeing how that album can turn into something else on stage, and how we can actually make it better….It’s always been about getting onstage and trying to do a mind-blowing show. And if you’re playing the same set night after night, that means playing around with it, and experimenting with what you’ve got. It’s not a CD, it’s a gig.”

Tunstall’s second Virgin/Relentless album, Drastic Fantastic, debuted on the Billboard Top 200 album chart at a career-high No. 9 last fall. The lead-off single, “Hold On,” was No. 1 in the AAA (adult alternative albums) radio format, and charted three months on the Hot AC listing.

First released in the U.K. late in 2004, Tunstall’s debut album, Eye To the Telescope, became a quintuple platinum smash in the British market, winning Tunstall the Brit Award and the prestigious Ivor Novello Award. It sold in excess of a million copies in the U.S. over an 83-week chart run. “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” was nominated for the 2006 Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy®, and along with “Suddenly I See,” charted a combined 70-plus weeks on the AC and Hot Adult Top 40 radio charts.

Tunstall is a founding figure in the launch of Global Cool, an environmental issues action group. Tunstall is also affiliated with The CarbonNeutral Company, partnering with CarbonNeutral in a dedicate-a-tree plan in her native Scotland to offset the carbon footprint of her own career.

KT TUNSTALL ON TOUR, AUGUST 2008

August 1 Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Botanical Gardens

August 2 New Brunswick, Canada @ Moncton Magnetic Hill Festival

(w/ The Eagles, John Fogerty, Sam Roberts)

August 3 West Hampton Beach, NY @ Westhampton Beach Performing Arts

August 4 Northampton, MA @ Calvin Theatre (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 6 Albany, NY @ Empire State Plaza (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 7 Fairfield, CT @ Fairfield Theatre (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 8 Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata Music Box (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 9 Baltimore, MD @ Virgin Festival (w/ Foo Fighters, Bloc Party, etc)

August 11 Grand Rapids, MI @ Meijer Gardens (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 12 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues Cleveland (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 13 Columbus, OH @ The LC Pavilion (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 14 Interlochen, MI @ Kresge Auditorium (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 15 Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theatre (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 17 Lyons, CO @ Folks Festival (w/ Jakob Dylan, Missy Higgins, etc)

August 18 Denver, CO @ Denver Botanical (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 20 Salt Lake City, UT @ Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre (w/ Martha Wainwright)

August 22 Reno, NV @ Silver Legacy Resort Casino

August 23 Cle Elum, WA @ Suncadia Resort

August 24 Denver, CO @ Mile High Station

August 25 Aspen, CO @ Belly Up Aspen(w/ Martha Wainwright)