Richard Thompson [ tickets ] will head to North America next month for a quick stretch of solo dates in Western states and provinces.

The veteran British singer/songwriter kicks off the short run with a Dec. 5 appearance at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in Manitoba, and the first three dates on the outing take place in Canada before Thompson roams south for a Dec. 9 show in Chico, CA. Dates are below.

In January, Thompson will launch a major UK excursion. Those dates can be found at the performer's website.

The prolific entertainer continues to support last year's "Sweet Warrior," which mixes some of his most memorable recordings with a batch of new songs, including the politically pointed "Dad's Gonna Kill Me," which conveys the feelings of a US soldier stationed in Iraq. The album is Thompson's first electronic studio set since 2003's "The Old Kit Bag."

The Grammy-nominated performer's career stretches back to the late '60s, when he co-founded British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. In the '70s, Thompson recorded several albums with his then-wife, Linda Peters, including "Shoot Out the Lights," which regularly makes critics' lists of the Top 10 records of all time.

For the past 20-plus years, Thompson has performed solo, earning accolades including an Ivor Novello Award for Songwriting and the 2006 BBC Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also named by Rolling Stone as one of the Top 20 Guitarists of all time.