Taylor Swift tour maps six-month North American course for ‘Fearless’

With her most recent studio album sitting atop the Billboard 200 for eight straight weeks, record industry darling Taylor Swift has announced details for her first headlining tour. The Fearless Tour 2009 will visit 52 cities in the United States and Canada over the course of six months.

The extensive outing will kick off after a string of special event appearances on April 23 in Evansville, IN, and is currently scheduled through an October 10 concert in Minneapolis, MN. Venue information for all dates will be announced in the coming weeks. American Idol finalist Kellie Pickler will support for the entire tour with Gloriana appearing as a special guest.

Swift is touring behind her sophomore album “Fearless,” which was released on November 11. In addition to its prized streak atop Billboard‘s album sales chart, the disc has also topped Nielsen SoundScan’s list as the best-seller so far for 2009, pushing 287,000 copies so far this year and 2.4 million since its release.

Though this is her first headlining tour, Swift has headlined individual shows before and has proven to be a hot selling point for festivals and special events. The nearly 71,000 tickets for her March 20 performance at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo sold out within the first 48 hours of public onsales, according to Swift’s publicist.

“Headlining my own tour is a dream come true! This way I can play more music every night than I ever have before,” Swift said in a statement about her upcoming tour. “Having written my own songs, they are all stories in my head, and my goal for this tour is to bring those stories to life.”

Full ticketing information will be announced in the future, but most markets are expected to offer tickets starting around $20 to encourage attendance despite worries about the economy. Swift noted, “I want to be sure that everyone has the opportunity to come see my show, so we have affordable tickets available for every date we do this year.”

The three-act show will feature graphics and sets designed by the 19-year-old musician, including a “fairy-tale castle” pinpointed with more than one million lights, as well as multiple costume changes. Swift will also showcase her instrumental talents on tour, switching off between five different guitars and a piano.

Swift explained, “My favorite thing when I go to a concert is having lots of changing things to look at, so I’ve been working really hard to make this show as multi-dimensional as possible.”

Taylor Swift itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change. Venues are TBA.)