“It must have been spring fever,” says Shannon Stephens; a Facebook announcement from the Seattle-based singer-songwriter says she’s hitting the road in the month of June on a “crazy regional tour.”

On Thursday, May 30, Stephens kicked the tour off with a concert at Olympia’s Spar Cafe, featuring Graydon Holden of lower lights burning, to be followed by seven more dates around the Northwest. Filling out the bill at most shows will be Stephens’ fellow Seattleites, singer-songwriter j. wong and three-piece Pablo Trucker.

Upcoming dates include June 6—j. wong’s birthday—at Seattle’s Sunset Tavern; June 7 at Portland’s Hawthorne Theatre; Boon’s Treasury in Salem, OR on June 8; and a June 15 show at Everett, WA’s Anchor Pub featuring Tomo Nakayama and Cami Lundeen. Finally, wong and Pablo Trucker return to the tour for three more dates: June 21 at Mikey’s Gyros in Moscow, ID; June 22 at Sandpoint, ID’s Downtown Crossing; and June 23 at Caffè Mela in Wenatchee, WA.

The Seattle Weekly called Shannon Stephens the “Best Female Vocalist of 2012,” and those clear, warm vocals come with a wry and often dark songwriting sensibility. She led the band Marzuki along with Sufjan Stevens, and her music has been covered by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, who also sings on her latest album. Pull It Together, her third LP, came out last year on Asthmatic Kitty, and Stephens has begun writing songs for a fourth.

[youtube width=”542″ height=”305″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyUySbnhMVY[/youtube]