Jose Gonzalez has been a heatseaker ever since an unfathomable number of bouncy balls boomeranged down the slanted streets of San Francisco to his cover of the Knife's 'Heartbeats' for a Sony commercial. But this is why he's hot: global warming. The Swedish singer-songwriter tells Spinner that he's been environmentally active since he was a kid, long before the current green rush in America. "In Gothersberg, it's easy to walk or take the bicycle or take the tram to anywhere, so it's fairly easy to be environmentally friendly when I'm at home," he says.

In support of his latest album, 'In Our Nature,' the good-natured Swede has planned a North American 'Green Tour,' which will kick off this weekend in Miami and traverse all the way to Vancouver by the end of March. Non-profit group Reverb has partnered with Gonzalez to help educate his audiences about environmental sustainability.

"One thing I don't hear media mention so much is the environmental impact of animal products," Gonzalez says. "There's a huge amount of energy used to produce a piece of factory-farmed beef. That should be seen as a luxury today."

Less than a week after doctors told her to take it easy, Dolly Parton has announced that her 'Backwoods Barbie' tour is back on. The country legend is resting a sore back, caused by what she jokes was "wagging these puppies around" (referring, of course, to her breasts). The doctors' orders forced Parton to postpone her tour, which was originally scheduled to begin later this month. She'll instead kick it off in April, and all tickets for postponed shows will be honored on their rescheduled dates.

"Thanks for being patient," Parton writes to fans on her official website. "I'm mending very nicely and will be fit as a fiddle soon. And I'll not only have the fiddle, but the rest of the band as well. We can't wait to hit the road for our 'Backwoods Barbie' tour. We're anxious for you to see our new show and play you some of the new songs. Look forward to seeing you soon."

Parton's 'Backwoods Barbie' -- her first mainstream country album in 17 years -- hits shelves on February 26.

British combo the Kooks wrap up their first promo tour in support of their sophomore April 15-due effort, 'Konk,' tonight in Brooklyn.

The band kicked off their mini-trek last week, beginning things at the Los Angeles Troubadour where new songs were previewed to rabid local fans, their producer Tony Hoffer and a fair amount of foreign celebrity attendees including Ireland's the Thrills, Liverpool combo the Zutons and an almost-appearance by Noel Gallagher, who was on the guest list, but didn't make it due to a reported illness.

The jaunt featured a slightly tweaked lineup as the Kooks recently parted ways with bassist Max Rafferty. In his place temporarily at least is Dan Logan, from Brighton, England quartet Cat the Dog. "We've all known him for a little while," Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard explained of the fill-in guy. "We asked him to come and play with us for a favor. We f---ing love playing with him, [but] it's not official at all. He has another band."

While Spinner may not be able to help the replacement process, we did manage to, however, reveal to Pritchard that his track 'Ooh La,' helped soundtrack a portion of last week's 'American Idol.' "They played one of our songs? What?" he said in disbelief. "That's f---ing cool. Anyone playing your songs is good I suppose. I'm just really, really glad no one sung our song [as an audition]."

A self-described "tour hag," Ani DiFranco will kick off an extensive spring run -- just on the heels of her recently-wrapped winter jaunt -- beginning with a makeup date on February 28 in Concord, New Hampshire. The tour is set to wrap April 23 in Seattle, with a performance at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival on June 20, and another makeup date scheduled for July 15 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, to follow.

Joining the prolific folker will be her most recent backing band -- bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Allison Miller -- as well as openers Over the Rhine. DiFranco is touring in support of her latest release, the double-disc career retrospective 'Canon.'

Ani Plays the Interface

Read the Spinner Interview

Feist's beloved new album, 'The Reminder,' has won the 2007 Shortlist Music Prize. The annual award, which launched in 2001, honors albums that have sold less than 500,000 copies (gold status) and that were released between January and November. Leslie Feist becomes the second woman ever to receive the award. Last year's winner was Cat Power, who won for her effort, 'The Greatest.'

Meanwhile, Feist is slated to perform at Sunday night's Grammy Awards. The Canadian singer is up for four golden statues, including Best New Artist. In addition, Feist will kick off another U.S. tour behind 'The Reminder,' beginning April 10 in Detroit, and wrapping in New York City on April 30.

Feist Plays in Our Studio

Artist: White Rabbits
Video: 'The Plot'
Highlight: Life on the road with one of the hardest working bands in indie rock.

Singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez will embark on a green tour of North America in support of his latest album, 'In Our Nature,' this spring. The eco-friendly run begins on February 29 in Miami, FL.

Gonzalez is a noted vegetarian and was pursuing a PhD in biochemistry prior to his successful music career, so it's no surprise that the Swedish guitarist would set his sights on this environmentally conscious package. The tour, in partnership with the green-minded non-profit Reverb, will neutralize its carbon emissions by supporting renewable energy projects. Gonzalez's rider will include biodegradable catering products, and concert crew will be provided with re-usable water bottles throughout the tour.

A 50 cent ticket add on fee will go toward Reverb's environmental efforts, and fans will have the option to donate an addition 50 cents to NativeEnergy's CO2 Offset program when purchasing tickets through Ticketstoday. A full list of tour dates is on Jose-Gonzalez.com