Widespread Panic will release Ball -- their first album since the death of guitarist Michael Houser last August -- on April 15th. The band also plans to plug the album with a tour starting April 9th in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ball was recorded with the band's longtime producer John Keane (Matthew Sweet, Indigo Girls) in his Athens, Georgia studio. Guitarist George McConnell joined Widespread after Houser's death and contributed to the latest LP.

"At first, we had to get over the shellshock of playing without Mikey, of him not sitting there in that space he normally occupied," keyboardist John Hermann says. "We went in there with the attitude of, 'Let's not worry about any outside pressures, let's try to have fun and throw down as many ideas as we can.' You start with a big log and then you whittle away until you've got something."

Widespread's summer slate includes a co-headlining slot at the Bonnaroo Music Festival with the Dead, a late-June stand at Red Rocks in Colorado and Minnesota's inaugural 10,000 Lakes Festival in July.

Widespread Panic tour dates:

4/9: Madison, WI, Alliant Energy Center
4/11-12: Chicago, IL, UIC Pavilion
4/15-16: Boston, MA, Orpheum Theater
4/17-18: Washington, DC, DAR Constitution Hall
4/19: Upper Darby, PA, Tower Theater
4/22-23: New York, NY, Beacon Theater
4/25-26: Raleigh, NC, Alltel Pavilion
4/27: Charlotte, NC, Center City Fest 2003
4/29: Savannah, GA, Savannah Civic Center
4/30: Tallahassee, FL, Tallahassee Leon City Civic
5/2-3: New Orleans, LA, New Orleans Jazz & Heritagefest Auditorium
5/6-7: Kansas City, KS, Uptown Theater
5/9-10: Birmingham, AL, Warehouse District downtown Birmingham
5/13-14: Louisville, KY, Palace Theater
5/16-17: Indianapolis, IN, Murat Theater
6/14: Manchester, TN, Bonnaroo Music Festival
6/27-29: Morrison, CO, Red Rocks Amphitheater
7/4-5: Detroit Lakes, MN, 10,000 Lakes Festival
7/18-19: Grenada, MS, Hobstock Festival

COLIN DEVENISH
(March 11, 2003)