Folk-rockers Counting Crows will fly through North America this summer in a brief July tour that will serve as a warm-up for their performance at Woodstock '99.

According to the band's official website, www.countingcrows.com, the tour will begin July 6 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and continue for five more Canadian dates before heading to the U.S. with a July 16 show in Toledo, Ohio.

From there, the band will head to Michigan, New Jersey and Rhode Island. They'll finish up July 22 in Lackawanna, N.Y., and then head to Rome, N.Y., to play a July 24 set at Woodstock '99.

The band is now mixing its third studio album, which has the working title This Desert Life, and hopes to release it in late summer, according to Janette Sheridan, a representative of the band's management firm, Direct Management.

Two songs from the album have already surfaced: The spare, moody piano ballad "Colorblind" was included on the soundtrack to the recent movie "Cruel Intentions" and "Baby I'm a Big Star Now" played over the closing credits of the 1998 film "Rounders."

Cracker frontman David Lowery is producing the album, which also is slated to feature "Speedway," "Saint Robinson in His Cadillac Dream," "I Wish I Was a Girl," "All My Friends," "Hangin' Around," "High Life" and "Amy Hit the Atmosphere."

"The sound is more colorful, more textured," frontman Adam Duritz said in September. "My vocals are a little more upfront. The vocals are in-your-face, and stark, with no reverb."

"I think [what we're doing] has elements of the two previous [Crows] albums, but a little sparser," Lowery said. "The dynamics are more extreme."

Counting Crows released their debut album, August and Everything After, which featured the hit "Mr. Jones" (RealAudio excerpt), in 1993. The follow-up, Recovering the Satellites, with the hit "A Long December" (RealAudio excerpt), was released in 1996. Last year the band released a two-CD live album, Across a Wire -- Live in New York.

Counting Crows Tour Dates:

July 6; Vancouver, British Columbia; Queen Elizabeth Theatre

July 8; Calgary, Alberta; Jack Singer Concert Hall

July 9; Edmonton, Alberta; Francis Winspear Centre For Music

July 11; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Walker Theatre

July 12; Ontario, Canada; Community Auditorium

July 14; Kitchener, Ontario; Lulu's

July 16; Toledo, Ohio; Zoo Amphitheatre

July 17; Kalamazoo, Mich.; State Theatre

July 19; Sea Bright, N.J. Tradewinds

July 20; Providence, R.I., Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel

July 22; Lackawanna; N.Y.; Sideshow Music Hall

July 24; Rome, N.Y.; Woodstock '99

Editorial Director Michael Goldberg contributed to this report.