Melissa Etheridge will be taking time out from the road to record her new album. She recently told Billboard that more than 20 songs have already been written and she hopes to make it available for fans later this year.

She’ll enter the studio this month to work with producers Jacquire King (Norah Jones) and Steve Booker (Stevie Nicks) before heading back out on tour here in the States. She admits though it was her return to playing for fans in Canada and Europe that inspired the material written for the follow-up to 2010′s “Fearless Love.”

“While I was there, I could see people were still coming out and singing the songs of 25 years ago.” Etheridge told Billboard. “It gave me sort of a new inspiration of my own music and how I just want to write songs that people want to sing, that mean something to me and that people want to make their own. I got the sense of, ‘Oh! This is what I do. This is what makes me special. I can do this.’”

The singer goes on to explain that a broad range of topics will be covered within her new music, more so than it was in her last album. “‘Fearless Love’ was a bit more focused; this is just really, ‘OK, whatever’s there, come to me. Let me pull it out and make the best of it.’ There are a couple of fictional songs, too; there’s one about, like, what if I was still living in Kansas? What would I be doing?’”

And when asked about the musical she’s reportedly working on, Etheridge did confirm it’s halfway done, but it’s still a work in progress as she focuses on touring and recording her new album.

Melissa Etheridge goes back out on tour again starting April 21.

-Heather Stas, CBS Local

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