TOUR UPDATES: O Brother Where Art Thou? Tour Expands By 12 Markets … And More!

The "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" tour has been expanded to 12 additional markets: St Louis; Memphis; Houston; Shreveport, LA; Little Rock, AR; Kansas City, Madison, WI Indianapolis, Charleston, WV; Chester, WV; Roanoke, VA; and Birmingham, AL. The CMT-sponsored tour featuring American roots music from the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," hits the road June 25 in Louisville, Kentucky, and ends on August 21 in Birmingham, Alabama — a total of 42 shows. The outing is a joint production of Immortal Entertainment Group, United Talent Agency, Metropolitan Entertainment and House of Blues Concerts.

Artists include Ricky Skaggs, The Del McCoury Band, Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Dan Tyminski and Jerry Douglas, Emmylou Harris, Ralph Stanley, Patty Loveless, Norman & Nancy Blake, Chris Thomas King, The Whites and The Nashville Bluegrass Band. The lineup will be further enhanced on selected dates by the Cox Family, the Fairfield Four, The Flatlanders and the Peasall Sisters.

Jessica Andrews to Tour With McGraw

RENO, NV (AP) — Four years ago, an unknown kid named Jessica Andrews launched her first tour with Faith Hill.

In June, a much better known Andrews will be touring with Hill's country music superstar husband.

Tim McGraw is keeping concerts to a minimum while he works on a new album and helps tend to a new daughter at home. But he added a handful of tour dates and asked Andrews to join him.

"It's awesome," the 18-year-old told The Associated Press by telephone from Nashville on Wednesday.

"We're managed by the same company, so it was, 'Hey, why don't you get Jessica to do some dates?' and Tim was really cool about it. I'm very excited to be doing it with him. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else this summer."

She'll open for McGraw but may sing with him on a song or two if they can work in the rehearsal time.

Their current June dates are in Lincoln, Neb.; Grand Forks, N.D.; Billings, Mont.; Boise, Idaho, and Oshkosh and Cadott, Wis.

Andrews' album "Who I Am" went gold three weeks after its release. The title song was her first No. 1 country hit.

Smuckers To Sponsor Stars On Ice

Stars on Ice, America's premier figure skating production, has partnered with Smucker's as title sponsor for its 2002/2003 US touring season.

Soon to enter its 17th consecutive year of touring the United States, the multi-million dollar Stars on Ice production combines a cast of the most versatile and exceptional figure skating stars in the world with state-of-the-art lighting and sound technology, cutting edge costume designs, progressively innovative staging and choreography, and a mix of American standards to the most contemporary tunes in all genres of today's music. No stranger to Stars on Ice, Smucker's served as "presenting" sponsor for the show between its 1996/1997, 1997/1998, and 1998/1999 seasons.

Conceived in 1986 by Olympic Champion and skating icon Scott Hamilton, and Robert D. Kain of IMG, Hamilton also co-produced and co-headlined the show each season until his farewell tour during 2001/2002. Still a co-producer of Stars on Ice, Hamilton remarked, "No sponsor ever treated us better than Smucker's, in that Smucker's always tried harder to make the tour beneficial to their business while also building a rapport with the show and its stars. I am honored that Smucker's has returned to the Stars on Ice family because we already know the type of partner they are and will be."

Since its inception, Stars on Ice has featured various Olympic, World and National Champions including Olympic Champions Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarina Witt, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, Ilia Kulik, Dorothy Hamill, and Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean; Olympic medallists Paul Wylie, Debi Thomas, Brian Orser, and Rosalynn Sumners; 4-time World Champion Kurt Browning, and 3-time U.S. National Pair Champions Jenni Meno & Todd Sand. Most recently, 6-time U.S. National Champion, World Champion, and 3-time Olympian Todd Eldredge joined the Stars on Ice 2001/2002 tour immediately following his participation in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games at Salt Lake City.

The 2002/2003 Smucker's Stars on Ice season will, once again, feature Tara Lipinski, Kurt Browning, Todd Eldredge and Jenni Meno & Todd Sand. In addition, the production will also feature some of skating's newest and brightest stars from the Salt Lake Olympic Games.

Making their debut with Smucker's Stars on Ice will be 2002 Mens Olympic Champion and 4-time World Champion Alexei Yagudin, and 2002 Olympic Pair Champions Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze. Additional cast members will be announced.

Smucker's Stars on Ice Executive Producers are Robert D. Kain and Gary V. Swain of IMG. Scott Hamilton and Byron Allen (of IMG) are Producers, with Sandra Bezic serving as Show Producer, Director and Choreographer.

Rick Wakeman To Rejoin Yes For Tour

Keyboard virtuoso Rick Wakeman will reunite with Yes for its upcoming tour. The Yes office in Los Angeles told Assist News that Wakeman will be joining the group for rehearsals in a few weeks and will participate in a Yes concert tour set for this summer. Plans are being made to expand the tour from its original dates to possibly include some international touring in 2003. Although there are no plans for a studio album, several of the concert dates may be taped for future release on DVD.