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Scaled-Down Clarkson Tour Back On

Thu., Sep. 6, 2007 5:44 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

It may not have been her summer, but it's gearing up to be Kelly Clarkson's December.

Although previous plans for an arena tour fizzled in the face of lackluster ticket sales, the pop star is now ready to hit the road in support of her latest album, My December. It has held its own on the charts, despite her label's concerns that the tracks were too edgy for Clarkson's fan base.

Tickets go on sale Sept. 15 for the 26-city theater tour, which kicks off Oct. 14 at New York's Beacon Theater.

Clarkson will then crisscross the United States and Toronto, eventually winding up in Nashville on Dec. 4.

"I'm really getting pumped to get out there and rock with y'all," the two-time Grammy winner said. "We intend to blow the roofs off these theaters."

In July, Clarkson signed up with Nashville-based Starstruck Entertainment, which was founded by Reba McEntire's husband, Narvel Blackstock, after parting ways with longtime manager Jeff Kwatinetz of the Firm in Los Angeles.

While the managerial turnover and rumored creative differences between Clarkson and RCA Records honcho Clive Davis clouded My December's release, the "Never Again" chanteuse maintains she never regretted pushing for as much creative control as possible on the darkish album. It debuted in second place on the Billboard 200 and has sold more than 625,000 copies in the U.S. and a million-plus worldwide.

All of the tracks on My December were either written or cowritten by the artist herself. She refused to work with the same producer who helped shape her second studio album, Breakaway, into the raging success that it was.

"I found myself at the lowest of lows" while at the height of her multiplatinum-selling success, Clarkson told the Los Angeles Times in May.

Therefore, her new album, compared to Breakaway and Thankful, was "very aggressive. And it might be too much. But I just needed to be able to make this record and not have so many hands in the cookie jar saying, 'Pull this string, pull that string.' I was like, Just give me this one thing, and I will make whatever record you want next time. Now, I need this for me."

Meanwhile, Clarkson's choice to hook up with McEntire's rep in Nashville wasn't exactly a surprise. She has always considered the country star to be an inspiration. And the duo recently teamed up at the Academy of Country Music Awards on the song "Because of You," a performance that scored a nod for Best Musical Event at the upcoming CMAs on Nov. 7.