Stella Lefty Announces 'Long Way Home' Tour with Boston Stop at Fenway

Stella Lefty has announced her first headlining tour, the Long Way Home Tour, supporting her debut album of the same name. The tour will include 18 cities total—Boston plus 17 other North American stops—and will kick off Jan. 9 in Detroit, as reported by Billboard.

Lefty, an Illinois native, will play MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston on Jan. 17, a city that holds special significance given her Billboard Hot 100 No. 3 hit, “Boston.” The tour will conclude Feb. 20 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, according to Billboard.

Other announced dates include Montreal, Toronto, Philadelphia, Houston, Nashville, and Chicago. The announcement was made via a heartfelt video on Instagram on Monday (Aug. 24), featuring old family footage of Lefty singing and playing guitar as a child, as well as clips from her recent performances, Billboard reported.

In her caption, Lefty wrote: “LONG WAY HOME TOUR!!! I'm so so excited to be back on the road and sing these new songs with you guys in person! Thank you for the love on my debut album (eek) your support means EVERYTHING to me. I love you and i can't wait to sing and dance soon !!!"

Tickets will go on presale Aug. 27 for those who register via Live Nation, with remaining seats available to the public the following day on Lefty's website, as reported by Billboard.

The tour builds on the momentum of “Boston,” which debuted at No. 95 on the Hot 100 last month after dropping in March, and reached its current peak of No. 3 this summer, according to Billboard. The debut album “Long Way Home” was released just three days before the tour announcement.

Acknowledging the Songwriting Credit and Backlash

Lefty's rise has not been without controversy. A deep-dive profile in Vanity Fair, published as her album came out Friday, chronicled her path to fame and the backlash she has faced for being an alleged “nepo baby” or “industry plant,” given her billionaire father Eric Lefkofsky, co-founder of Groupon, as covered by boston.com.

The profile also addressed the similarities between Lefty's “Boston” and Noah Kahan's viral hit “Stick Season,” which was released in 2022. Kahan was ultimately given a writing credit on “Boston,” and Lefty explained her side to Vanity Fair, as reported by boston.com.

Lefty told Vanity Fair: “I wrote the chorus to ‘Boston,’ posted it, and didn’t think about it at all. I woke up the next morning and [the video] had done relatively well.”

She added, “When I was writing the song, I wasn’t thinking about Noah Kahan. I was literally thinking about nothing at all.” She didn't categorize the similarity at first, but eventually Kahan's representation reached out. “We think this sounds similar,” she remembered them saying. She and her team decided to give Kahan a writing credit before the song's official release to avoid any risk of legal action.

“I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes, but I'm like, if this sounds like that, whatever, all good,” Lefty said in the article.

Boston Connection and Upcoming Performances

Beyond the Long Way Home Tour stop in Boston, Lefty's Massachusetts ties run deep. Earlier this summer, she performed “Boston” at Lorretta's Last Call, as reported by boston.com.

She is also scheduled for another Boston-area date: she will perform at Royale on Nov. 17, prior to the Jan. 27 Fenway show.

The tour announcement already follows a string of festival appearances, positioning Lefty as one of country music's rising stars.