The CBC recently assembled a panel of its producers and hosts to compose a list of its country’s 25 greatest singers ever, selecting k.d. lang for the top spot. “Apologies to Jeff Buckley, but lang’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ is now the definitive version and everyone needs to stay away from singing it forever and ever. It will never get better than this," says the CBC. "lang sings from the gut and the heart, and it’s perfection." On April 21, lang will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame during the 42nd Annual Juno Awards; she also will perform that evening.

Nonesuch Records and Tzadik simultaneously release guitarist Pat Metheny’s recording of John Zorn’s Tap: The Book of Angels, Vol. 20 from Zorn’s Masada Book Two on May 21, 2013. This album is the first collaboration between the two artists, considered among their generation’s most innovative musicians. Besides his frequent collaborator, drummer Antonio Sanchez, Metheny plays all other instruments—guitars, sitar, tiples, bass, keyboards, orchestrionics, electronics, bandoneón, percussion, flugelhorn, and more—himself.

Fatoumata Diawara, whose debut album, Fatou, was released in North America last summer on World Circuit / Nonesuch Records, kicks off a month-long US tour with an Afropop Spectacular with Zimbabwe's Oliver Mtukudzi at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, California, on Saturday. The 13-city tour includes a two-night run in Seattle, shows in Chicago, Minneapolis, Austin, Albuquerque, El Paso, New Orleans, and sets at the Houston and Louisiana International Festivals. Diawara returns to the US later this spring to perform at Bonnaroo.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell bring their North American tour, featuring music from their new album, Old Yellow Moon, to NYC's Beacon Theatre tonight. Harris spoke with the New York Times about the album, her storied career, life on the road, and so much more. The Boston Globe writes, in a review of Saturday's show: "Old Yellow Moon collects songs old and new, cutting across honky-tonk, classic country, ballads, and hell-raisers." The artists "sound inspired by their recent reunion, and their chemistry shows ... [T]heir voices meshed seamlessly at the Orpheum, his a rangy croon, hers as ethereal as smoke rings." Listen to their recent SXSW performance for WFUV here.

Lianne La Havas kicked off her month-long North American tour last week in Dallas, followed by sold-out shows in LA, San Francisco, and Seattle and sets this week in Portland and Vancouver. The 19-city tour heads next to Boulder and on to the Midwest. While she was in LA, La Havas performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and while in Portland, she stopped by the Bing Lounge at 101.9 KINK FM to perform three songs, which you can watch here.

Tuareg guitarist, singer, and songwriter Bombino's Nonesuch debut album, Nomad, is due out next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: it's streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen. NPR calls Bombino's pairing with producer Dan Auerbach "inspired." "The fuzzy, loose and wide-open sounds will be familiar to Black Keys fans—and totally complement the singular honey-and-sand texture of Bombino's voice," says NPR; Bombino's "sound and style are alluring on a global scale." Nomad earns four stars in Mojo and the Financial Times, which calls it "a revelation." The BBC World Service says it's “utterly, utterly fantastic.” 

Iron and Wine, whose Nonesuch Records debut album, Ghost on Ghost, is due out on April 16, hit SXSW last week, performing at several showcases throughout Austin. One such set was at the SXSW Radio Day Stage, where Sam Beam and band performed songs from the new album and more. You can now listen to the entire set, including "Grace for Saints and Ramblers" and "Winter Prayers" from Ghost on Ghost, streaming here via WFUV.

Devendra Banhart will mark the release of his new album, Mala, with a series of spring tour dates in the US and Canada in May and June. The tour starts in Aspen on May 4 and includes stops all along the West Coast, in the Midwest, and on the East Coast. Tickets for most of the shows go on sale Friday. The Guardian calls Mala a "triumph." Magnet, which calls it "the best thing he's done since his debut," features Banhart on the cover and as guest editor of its website. He recently spoke with WNYC's Soundcheck from SXSW; you can listen to the show here.

Alarm Will Sound will perform a program of new works, featuring Steve Reich's Radio Rewrite and scenes from Donnacha Dennehy's The Hunger, at Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis on Wednesday. The group gave the US premiere of Radio Rewrite at Stanford University last Saturday and gives the NY premiere of The Hunger at Carnegie Hall on April 6. Dennehy has been named composer-in-residence for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra next season, which will include performances of his That the Night Come. Crash Ensemble and Dawn Upshaw will perform the piece at The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall this May.

Rokia Traoré has announced a series of new tour dates in the UK for May. She celebrates the April release of her new album, Beautiful Africa, with a tour of France, Switzerland, and Luxembourg and will perform at a number of European summer festivals, including Roskilde and a return to the UK for Glastonbury and WOMAD. Traoré is on the cover of Songlines, which gives Beautiful Africa a perfect five stars. The Chicago Reader says the new album "marks a major transformation and a huge step forward artistically." The LA Times says "Beautiful Africa ... confirms the album title's truth."

The 27th South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference gets under way in Austin, Texas, as 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 Devendra Banhart, Nataly Dawn, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Lianne La Havas, and Iron and Wine.

Devendra Banhart makes his Nonesuch debut with the release of Mala, his eighth studio album, out now. Pitchfork calls it his "best record in nearly a decade." It's earned four stars from Mojo, the Times (UK), and Q, which calls it a "career-best LP ... surprising and enthralling." Record Collector gives it a perfect five stars, exclaiming: "The prospect of sitting down and listening to Mala as a whole is a thrilling, private and all-too-rare feeling." Banhart performs at SXSW this week.