Ani DiFranco [ tickets ], who's been on the road since late last month, has added several more dates to her itinerary, which now stretches through mid-July.

The singer/songwriter/guitarist continues the trek tonight (3/14) at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium and will take a breather after this weekend's shows in Birmingham, AL, and New Orleans. She'll return in April with a West Coast run that includes two newly added gigs in San Francisco, and has also tacked on June and July performances in Flagstaff, AZ; Hyannis, MA; Las Vegas; Philadelphia; and New York City. Her full schedule is listed below.

The self-described "Little Folksinger" returned to the road last fall after the January 2007 birth of her first child. During her time off, she put together the material for her first career retrospective, "Canon," which surfaced in September.

DiFranco hand-selected 36 songs for the two-disc set, delving into material from her 1990 debut to 2006's "Reprieve." "Canon" also includes five re-recorded tracks of old DiFranco favorites, including "Both Hands," which is streaming at her MySpace page.

In a recent interview, the Grammy-nominated performer, who is not a huge fan of her own recordings, described putting together "Canon" as a "tortuous" experience. But she had her reasons for getting it done.

"I have 19 records out now," DiFranco told the Tampa Tribune, "which is a daunting number for a newcomer to my music; where do you start? It's cool for the uninitiated to have an overview."

In conjunction with the best-of collection, DiFranco also released "Verses," her first book of poems and original artwork published in the US.

Meanwhile, the singer and her band have been laying down tracks for a new project slated for release later this year, according to Tennessee's Out & About newspaper. Plus, a new live concert DVD, "Ani DiFranco: Live at Babeville," is due April 1.