is lending his keyboard skills to Citizen Cope for a two–month tour that starts in February, 2010, while he continues to promote his own self-titled solo disc.  You remember Jason, he previously appeared on Citizen Cope’s 2004  The Clarence Greenwood Recordings. The tour starts up on  February 2 at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC, and continues late into April (full itinerary below).

Meanwhile, JASON will celebrate his self-titled solo CD (out via Vapor Records) with a special free performance at his artist’s loft near L.A.’s Chinatown on January 9, 2010. The evening is set to feature all of the CD’s musicians; longtime Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, Acetone guitarist Mark Lightcap, and drummers Oliver Charles (JASON’s former bandmate in Ben Harper’s Innocent Criminals) and session-man Gary Mallaber (Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt) – along with a handful of surprise guests. The set will culminate with a jam session befitting both the low-key venue and JASON’s philosophy behind the CD.

He said recently; “There was always a certain way I wanted to play, no matter what band I was in,”. “It had to be natural, and have a strong groove to it. When I was writing the songs on the new album, that idea was at the front of my mind the whole time.”

That groove traverses blues and rock, gospel and soul; it flirts with jazz and country. There’s a sense of space here, whether that space resonates with impressionistic guitar licks and JASON’s B3 on songs like “Nobody So Far” and “Paper Tents,” or it’s filled only with the melancholy of the bare and beautiful closing track “Sing For You.”

More @ myspace.com/jasonyatesofficial.  Specs on JASON’s free L.A. show are: January 9, 2010 / 8pm at  1637 N. Spring St., Los Angeles 90012. Map @ JasonYates

Citizen Cope 2010 Tour Itinerary -

February

 2, 3 Carrboro, NC     Cat’s Cradle

 4, 5 Towson, MD   Recher Theatre

10    Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg

12, 13, 14    NYC, NY Bowery Ballroom

18, 19    Philadelphia , PA   Theatre of the Living Arts

24    Providence, RI   Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel

25, 26    Boston, MA    Paradise Rock Club

March

5 Chicago, IL     Vic Theatre

6, 7 Minneapolis, MN     Varsity Theater

9 Oklahoma City, OK   Diamond Ballroom

10   Dallas, TX   House of Blues

12   Austin, TX   Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater

13   Houston, TX   House of Blues

16   New Orleans, LA    Tipitinas

30   Vancouver, BC   Commodore Ballroom

April

1, 2, 3     Seattle, WA    The Showbox

13 Boise, ID     Knitting Factory

15 Boulder, CO   Fox Theatre

16 Denver, CO     Ogden Theatre