Soul singer/songwriter Joss Stone [ tickets ] will launch a North American tour in late April to back her forthcoming new album, "Introducing Joss Stone," which hits stores March 20.

During what her publicist is describing as her "first proper tour in nearly three years," the Grammy-winning British teen will hit mainly larger clubs and mid-sized theaters, with a pair of special festival stops: May 6 at New Orleans' Jazz & Heritage Festival, and June 8 at New York's annual Central Park Summerstage concert series.

Stone will kick off the 16-city tour April 27 in Mashantucket, CT, and dates are set through mid-June.

"Introducing Joss Stone" follows the singer's 2005 inaugural full-length, "Mind Body & Soul," which peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The singer released her debut EP, "The Soul Sessions," in 2003, when she was only 16 years old.

Stone worked on the new album with producer Raphael Saadiq (D'Angelo, The Roots), in the Bahamas, where the pair spent two months recording. "Raphael is the most incredible musician I�ve ever met in my whole life," Stone said in a press release. "Musically, I feel like he reads my mind. I'll give him a look and he'll know exactly what I want."

In a posting on her website, Stone described her new album as "truly me. That's why I'm calling it 'Introducing Joss Stone.' These are my words, and this is who I am as an artist."