Jessica Simpson has been tapped to support Rascal Flatts on the winter leg of the country group’s ongoing Bob That Head Tour.
Simpson, who will be on the road supporting her new country album “Do You Know” (Columbia Nashville), joins the trek for approximately 25 shows in mid-January. Further details about the concerts will be announced later this fall.
Simpson has been performing at fairs and festivals to promote “Do You Know,” which debuted last month at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart. The set has moved 104,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
— Mitchell Peters, L.A.
Andrew Bird will release his next effort, “Noble Beast,” on Jan. 27 via Fat Possum. The 12-track set is the follow-up to Bird’s 2007 album “Armchair Apocrypha” and features the single “Oh No.”
Bird will be previewing new songs from the forthcoming set at a handful of shows this month, including back-to-back nights at New York’s Hiro Ballroom tonight (Oct. 6) and tomorrow. Bird will also appear alongside artists like Fiery Furnaces and Eugene Mirman tomorrow at Barack Rock, a fundraiser for presidential candidate Barack Obama at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Bird scored a career-high on The Billboard 200 last April with “Apocrypha,” which peaked at No. 76 and has sold 99,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
— Katie Hasty, N.Y.
Tenacious D will be the subject of a second volume of its “The Complete Masterworks” DVD series, due Nov. 4 via Epic. In addition to a complete show taped last year at Seattle’s Moore Theatre, the DVD includes a documentary chronicling the duo’s 2007 film “Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny.”
Also featured is a performance of “Master Exploder” from “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” “The Metal” from “Saturday Night Live” and “The Friendship Song” from the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, as well as videos for “Time Fixers” and “Classico.”
A trailer can be viewed via the band’s Web site.
— Laura O’Connor, N.Y.