Punch Brothers make their SXSW debut with eight free shows this week, including tonight's Warner Sound showcase, which will stream live at youtube.com/thewarnersound. The SXSW shows follow two nights at the Bluebird Theater in Denver and precede a number of solo shows from Chris Thile. Punch Brothers recently joined Dierks Bentley to perform Bob Dylan’s "Señor," off Amnesty International's new benefit album Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan, on The Ellen Show, which aired yesterday. Watch it here.

The new album featuring works by Krzysztof Penderecki paired with those they inspired by Jonny Greenwood is out now. MusicOMH says: "The four pieces here make an album that carries a powerful impact, as well as recognising the obvious talents of both composers in writing for the string orchestra." The music will be performed at London's Barbican Hall on March 22 by the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, the artists on the recording, with Penderecki conducting his pieces and Marek Moś conducting Greenwood's, as on the album.

In 2004, Caetano Veloso curated a week of special concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall and invited his longtime friend and collaborator David Byrne to join him for the show heard on the new album Caetano Veloso and David Byrne: Live at Carnegie Hall, out now. The album earns four stars from Glide, the Guardian, and the Observer, which calls it "an entrancing showcase of their respective talents ... and even on disc a sense of joy and spontaneity is palpable." The Herald Scotland says the album "leaves the listener grinning from ear to ear." The New York Daily News includes it among the best new albums. The Seattle Times calls the concert "an absolute jewel."

The Black Keys' North American arena tour brought the band to NYC last night for a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden, the band's first-ever headlining show at the venue. They head next to Canada for shows in Montreal tonight and Toronto tomorrow. "The Black Keys are rock stars, and their traditional rock sound electrified Madison Square Garden on Monday night," exclaims the AP, which calls the show "exhilarating, bluesy and loud." Rolling Stone says: "[T]he songs from El Camino cast a spell over the packed arena as Auerbach wound their hooks into broad, euphoric payoffs."

Today marks the start of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference in Austin, Texas, when thousands of bands and music lovers from all over the world descend on the live-music capital for several days of non-stop music making. Nonesuch artists will be well represented among them, with several performances throughout the week from Punch Brothers, Dr. John, and The Low Anthem. The Warner Sound showcase, featuring Punch Brothers and Dr. John, will stream live via YouTube Wednesday night.

Benjamín Escoriza, the Spanish singer and former vocalist of Radio Tarifa, died on March 9, 2012, after a long illness. Benjamín Escoriza was born in Colomera, Granada, in 1953 and moved to Madrid in 1989, where he met Vicente Molino and Fain Sanchez Dueñas. They would form the band Radio Tarifa, which release four albums on World Circuit/Nonesuch Records: Rumba Argelina, Temporal, Cruzando el Rio, and Fiebre.

Carolina Chocolate Drops continued their US tour over weekend with two sold-out shows and could be heard far and wide all over the public-radio airwaves, on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday and PRI's Here and Now discussing their new album, Leaving Eden, and on PRI's Studio 360. "The Carolina Chocolate Drops put new life into old-timey music with their 2010 release Genuine Negro Jig, put a contemporary spin on southern string tunes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries," says Weekend Edition's Scott Simon. "And that collection went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. Now, the Chocolate Drops have returned with their banjos, bare bones and fiddles."

The new album pairing works by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki with the works they inspired by Jonny Greenwood is due out next week. Greenwood is the subject of an extensive feature article in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine that traces the roots of his compositions to his appreciation for Penderecki's music, through his own film scores and to the ever-evolving sounds of Radiohead. "Greenwood cites an early-’90s concert of Penderecki’s music as a conversion experience," says the Times; "he’s obsessed with Penderecki the way a lot of people are obsessed with Radiohead."

Punch Brothers celebrated the release of their new album last month with a special show at NYC's Rockwood Music Hall. Their performance of the song "Movement and Location" from that night has premiered in a video on The New Yorker's site; watch it here. Salon's Seth Mnookin calls the song "a propulsive masterpiece that sets the tone, both musically and thematically, for what’s to come" on the album. "Punch Brothers have achieved a kind of mind-meld that’s only possible when preternaturally talented musicians spend hours pushing themselves, and each other, to explore their passion and creativity." 

Punch Brothers are currently on tour in North America and has made its way to California for shows at The Fillmore in San Francisco tonight and El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles Saturday. The band has "further refined its sound on its latest album," Who's Feeling Young Now?, writes the Los Angeles Times. Its "rich and evocative tracks capture a white-hot musical mind coming into his own and collaborating with stellar peers." Last month, following the release of the new album, the band stopped by the studios of NYC public radio station WFUV to perform a few songs off the record. Watch them here.

As part of their 2011-12 Centennial Season, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony launch a month-long American Mavericks Festival of music by pioneers of the American sound. The Festival begins at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall tonight, with performances there through March 18, followed by a national tour to Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium, and Carnegie Hall in New York through March 30. The American Mavericks Festival explores the music of path-breaking composers like Steve Reich and builds on their visionary spirit with world-premieres, including John Adams's "Absolute Jest." Watch Adams discuss the piece here.

k.d. lang has added a number of new dates to her North American spring and summer tour with her band the Siss Boom Bang, which was announced last month. The newly announced dates include additional stops across the United States and into lang's home province of Alberta, as well as a three-night run at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.The first date on the tour is slated for May 8 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.