PAUL Weller, the Modfather, will play York Barbican on March 20 next year on a 14-date tour of a "more varied selection of towns than the usual run of arenas".

The itinerary will coincide with the spring release of Weller's as-yet-unnamed 12th studio album.

Tickets will go on sale on Friday at 9am, available online at yorkbarbican.co.uk, on 0844 854 2757 and in person from the Barbican box office, 10am to 2pm, Monday to Friday.

In June this summer, Weller performed in the woodland at Dalby Forest, near Pickering, as part of the Forestry Commission's 2014 Forest Live concert programme, repeating the success of his sold-out Dalby debut in 2009.

The former leader of The Jam and The Style Council, now 56, has enjoyed a chart career stretching back to 1977.

This year, the Woking musician released a new compilation, More Modern Classics, that took up the solo Weller story from Modern Classics 16 years ago with tracks from 2000's Heliocentric, 2002's Illumination, 2004's Studio 150, 2005's As Is Now, 2008's 22 Dreams, 2010's Wake Up The Nation and 2013's Sonik Kicks.

Through the years, he has won a long list of awards, among them the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2006 and an Ivor Norvello award for Lifetime Achievement in 2010.

Weller completed half the recordings for next year's album by the time of this summer's festival season and his American tour and returned to the studio in September, setting himself a finishing date of Christmas, "because I want it out in spring next year," he said.

"It's moving on from Soni Kicks, more groove-based and funky, but still good melodies."

Next summer, he will be a special guest of of Mod forefathers The Who at Hyde Park, London, on June 26.