PORTLAND – Grammy winner and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame nominee John Mellencamp will make a stop Tuesday, Dec. 11, at the Cumberland County Civic Center while touring the East Coast.

Opening will be Los Lobos, the East Los Angeles rock band that has crossed cultural and generational boundaries for more than 30 years,

Tickets – $49.50 and $39.50, reserved seating, all ages – go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 19.

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert are available at the civic center box office, at all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling 775-3331 or 775-3458, and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.livenation.com.

“These shows are all about the music and the songs – that’s the essence of what we’ll be bringing,” Mellencamp said in a prepared statement about the East Coast tour. “The bands and I are really looking forward to getting out there and performing some new songs and, of course, a lot that are familiar to everybody. It’ll be a fantastic experience for the audience and all of us.”

Some of the new songs Mellencamp mentioned are from an upcoming studio effort – his 22nd career album that he has been working on with producer T Bone Burnett. One track, “Jena,” from the as-yet-untitled set is streaming at Mellencamp’s MySpace page, as is the video for the song.

In January, Mellencamp released “Freedom’s Road,” his first album of original material since 2001’s “Cuttin’ Heads.” The politically charged record peaked at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 and spawned crossover hits “Our Country” and “The Americans.”

Meanwhile, Mellencamp is among the nine artists nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year. Five new inductees will be honored at the annual ceremony in New York City next March.

Using musical molds built on the blues, rockabilly, jazz, Latin and their own Mexican-American heritage, Los Lobos subtly challenges fans with conscience-raising songs and thought-provoking lyrics. Their latest Hollywood Records release, “The Town and The City,” is a perfect example.

The epic “The Town and The City” is told in the first-person, with each song serving as an episodic step in a rough journey that is in your face at times, comforting and nostalgic at others.