Two of Athens' finest, Summer Hymns and Folklore, will be hitting the Midwest and East Coast over the next two months, and the dates have now been made official.

Summer Hymns are touring in support of their critically acclaimed fourth album, Backward Masks. Our rave review is here.

Folklore will be selling advance copies of their debut CD, The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman, as well as an EP, Carpenter's Falls. Beaverman features guest vocals by members of Elf Power, Gerbils, I am the World Trade Center, Masters of the Hemisphere, The Instruments, and more. There's a write-up on the Folklore EP in Flagpole. We wrote about the full-length here.

Also note that Folklore will be playing this Sunday night, December 17, at the "Bandiversary" (celebrating the third year of Venice is Sinking). Folklore will be playing along with Venice Is Sinking, Big Gray, The Folk Yous, The Ginger Envelope, and Phosphorescent. All of this will be going down at "Stan The Art Man's place on Pulaski Street (the giant barn on the right just before the tracks)," Athens.

Summer Hymns/Folklore Winter Tour
01.23.07 Lexington, KY @ Mecca
01.24.07 Urbana, IL @ Canopy
01.25.07 Madison, WI @ King Club
01.26.07 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
01.27.07 Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
01.28.07 Bloomington, IN @ Art Hospital
01.29.07 Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
01.30.07 Akron, OH @ Lime Spider
01.31.07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
02.01.07 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02.02.07 New York, NY @ Cake Shop
02.03.07 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall
02.04.07 Philadelphia, PA @ Manhattan Room