Lauryn Hill Announces 'Intimate' Winter Shows

Lauryn Hill will embark on an intimate North American tour, it was announced on Wednesday (Dec. 22).

Kicking off at New York City's Highline Ballroom on Dec. 27 -- one of six local shows at multiple venues including legendary jazz club The Blue Note, where Hill will play for three nights, and Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg -- the trek will then take the reclusive R&B singer down the East Coast and to Canada.

In a statement, Hill acknowledges that she "may never play venues of this size again," and promises a live band, big sound and a set list heavy on hits from her Grammy-winning, game-changing 1998 solo album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."

Hill has spent much of the past few years playing a number of international festivals but making relatively few domestic stops. She's slowly come out of her shell more recently, however, giving an extensive interview to NPR over the summer in which she explained her eight-year absence.

"Oftentimes, the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds," she told reporter Zoe Chace. "It's important that people be given the time that they need to go through, to grow, so that the consciousness level of the general public is properly affected. Oftentimes, I think people are forced to make decisions prematurely. And then that sound radiates."

Hill's new slate of shows, 17 announced so far, are expected to sell out swiftly. 

Here are Lauryn Hill's tour dates: 

Dec. 27: New York, N.Y. (Highline Ballroom) 

Dec. 28: Brooklyn, N.Y. (Music Hall of Williamsburg)

Jan. 1: New York, N.Y. (Bowery Ballroom)

Jan. 3: New York, N.Y. (The Blue Note)

Jan. 4: New York, N.Y. (The Blue Note)

Jan. 5: New York, N.Y. (The Blue Note)

Jan. 8: Charlotte, N.C. (Amos' Southend) 

Jan. 9: Asheville, N.C. (The Orange Peel)

Jan. 12: Charleston, S.C. (The Music Farm)

Jan. 14: Atlanta, Ga. (Centerstage)

Jan. 16: St. Lous, Mo. (The Pageant)

Jan. 18: Minneapolis, Minn. (First Avenue)

Jan. 20: Chicago, Ill. (House of Blues)

Jan. 22: Toronto, Ontario (Sound Academy)

Jan. 23: Montreal, Quebec (Metropolis)

Jan. 29: Atlantic City, N.J. (House of Blues)

Feb. 4: Montclair, N.J. (The Wellmont Theatre)