Umphrey’s McGee tour opens year with new album, concerts

Midwestern jam band Umphrey’s McGee will kick off another year of exhaustive touring with the release of a new album. The new 45-date tour will begin January 19 at The Vic Theatre in Chicago, IL, and continues through May 22 – 24 shows at the 2009 Summer Camp festival at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, IL.

Along the way, Umphrey’s McGee will perform several multiple-night engagements, including February 12-15 sets at Barrymore Theatre in Madison, WI, March 13-14 gigs at Murat Egyptian Room in Indianapolis, IN, and April 10-11 shows at Nokia Theatre Times Square in New York, NY. As usual, most nights on the tour will feature two sets from the six-man band.

Umphrey’s McGee will be promoting their latest release, “Mantis,” which is set to hit stores on January 20. The album is a follow-up to their 2007 studio effort “The Bottom Half,” a disc that peaked on Billboard‘s Top Heatseekers chart at No. 7 and hit No. 22 on the independent albums chart.

Though the band is known for breaking down into jams during their live performances, the latest release is much more of a conventional album, clocking in at a concise 54 minutes. “We didn’t want to overload the record with 80 minutes of music,” lead guitarist Jake Cinninger said in a statement on the band’s Web site. “We wanted to make it feel a certain way, so we trimmed away a lot of the fat.”

Umphrey’s McGee formed in 1997 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and released its misleadingly titled debut “Greatest Hits Vol. III” in 1998. Since then, the progressive rock group has become a popular live act, releasing five live records over the years including the 2008 double album “Jimmy Stewart 2007.”

Umphrey’s McGee itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)