That’s because the duo–Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer/pianist Marketa Irglova–plan on working on solo projects after they finish their current tour.

“I’ll go back to The Frames, and Mar will make her own record at some point,” Hansard told Spinner. “This band will eventually naturally end.”

He added: “Getting together and making music with Mar was a side thing for me, but it felt absolutely right. I followed through on it even when it felt like I might’ve been abandoning [The Frames] a bit. But I had to follow through. I knew there was something in this that I had to follow through on.”

In September, they have tour dates scheduled in Brazil, followed by stops in France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Solvakia, the United Kingdom and Iceland in October.

Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers will be rocking the banjo tonight, kicking off the festival weekend.  Show time is 8pm at The International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino.  It features an open air stadium with both covered and non covered seating.

Saturday and Sunday’s events will be hosted at the Fort Adams State Park. Venue operation schedule follows:

Gates open at 10am
Parking lots open at 8am, shuttle service will start at 9am
Water taxi begins at 7am
Food and Crafts start at 10am
Music performances spanning three stages awaken at 11:30am

Other artists joining in on the fun include Andrew Bird, April Smith and the Great Picture Show, Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore, Blitzen Trapper, Levon Helm, Brandi Carlile, Calexico, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Richie Havens, Tao Seeger Band, The Avett Brothers, and many more!

And if your not local to the Newport area, you’re in luck!  NPR Music will be steaming live webcasts, chats, artist interviews and photo streams.

Keep checking back for more Swell Season news.

The tour just kicked off May 15th at The State Theatre in Kalamazoo, MI.  The Swell Season will be traveling coast to coast through August 2010.  The duo has no scheduled performances in June, taking a month long short break.  Joining Glan and Marketa on the road are Glan’s former band-mates, violinist Colm Mac Iomaire, bassist Joe Doyle and guitarist Rob Bocknik of The Frames.  Theswellseason.com provides a complete list of dates and cities.

The Swell Season are most recognized for their Oscar winning tune, “Falling Slowly.”  The song was written for indie film “Once,” in which the duo also starred in.  Since the film, The Swell Season have released their sophomore album, “Strict Joy,” last fall.

Keep checking back for more Swell Season news.

On Tuesday, January 19th they will perform at Radio City Music Hall and will appear on the Late Show with David Letterman.  On January 20th, they will perform a Benefit Concert for Haiti at the City Winery in NYC. After that, you’ll have to chase them across the Atlantic because they’re touring Europe for a while.

“Strict Joy” was released last year, following “The Swell Season CD” –the follow-up to the “Once Soundtrack CD,” which gained them international fame.