The Brad Mehldau Trio began a four-night residency at Yoshi's in Oakland last night. Mehldau recently returned to the US after an extensive European tour and kicked things off with a solo show at Largo in LA. The Los Angeles Times says any solo set from Mehldau "promises to be an adventurous treat" and finds the pianist to be "at the peak of his powers," calling his latest album, Highway Rider, "one of the most striking jazz releases of the year."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have been on a roll on their current tour of the US, playing sold-out sets along the way, including one tonight at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina. Tune in to North Carolina Public Radio's The State of Things live at 12 PM ET to hear a chat with the band. The Raleigh News & Observer says "the best thing the Chocolate Drops have going for them is freshness, an ability to make old music sound and feel relevant."

The Low Anthem concludes the West Coast leg of its tour at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe tonight, before heading inland for shows from Salt Lake City to Chicago before it's back East. The band walked Paste through the recording space for its next record and spoke with the San Francisco Chronicle about it, after playing a number of new tunes for KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic in LA.

The Black Keys will support their forthcoming Nonesuch release, Brothers, due out May 18, with a summer tour beginning June 2 in Salt Lake City, including a newly added second show at Central Park’s SummerStage. Pre-sale tickets for the tour go on sale tomorrow, Tuesday, March 30, through the band's site and include include a copy of Brothers upon release and an instant download of two tracks.

The release of Natalie Merchant’s Leave Your Sleep is just over two weeks away. The Sunday Times (UK) calls it "the biggest, most musically ambitious" project of her career. Merchant will start release day, April 13, with a performance on Good Morning America. The following week, on April 21, she'll play The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In between those appearances and in the weeks that follow, Merchant will give several intimate performances, including newly added dates in New York, Los Angeles, Boulder, Boston, and DC.

The Low Anthem tours West Coast ... John Adams leads all-Adams program in Paris ... Carolina Chocolate Drops do Black Banjo Gathering ... Christina Courtin opens in NYC ... Bill Frisell plays Baghdad/Seattle Suite in New Mexico ... Kronos takes A Chinese Home to Notre Dame ... The Magnetic Fields bring Realism to Berlin ... Brad Mehldau plays Mexico City ... Portland, Maine, hosts Chris Thile and Punch Brothers sets ... Allen Toussaint plays Bern Jazz Fest ... Wilco continues sold-out tour ... and more ...

Tune in to Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight to catch Emmylou Harris and Sarah McLachlan perform McLachlan's hit song "Angel." The two are among the many female singer-songwriters and performers slated to tour the US this summer for Lilith Fair 2010. Ticket pre-sales for eight of the tour's 36 cities are available now for subscribers to the Lilith Fair newsletter. Harris's dates have yet to be announced.

The Low Anthem's West Coast tour will begin one day later than planned, at LA's Bootleg Theatre tomorrow. Now comes word that The Low Anthem will return to the Newport Folk Festival for the third year in a row, playing the main stage on July 31. Label mates Punch Brothers perform the next day. Discounted tickets are available through Friday. Chris Thile performs at the Savannah Music Festival tonight and will join up with Punch Brothers in Portland, Maine, this weekend.

The Magnetic Fields' Realism tour made its way through England and continues on the Continent for the next week. BBC Manchester spoke with Stephin Merritt, "a brilliant songwriter," for "one of the most honest interviews from a songwriter about how hard it is to work on the art of it." The band's set at London's Barbican Centre elicited "well earned applause," says the Evening Standard's four-star review. The Arts Desk called it "a delightful show ... what a great band; and what a lovely, sad, funny evening."

The Low Anthem's headlining tour of the US is in full swing again following a five-concert run at SXSW in Austin last week. The band performs along the West Coast, starting at Largo in LA. Today is release day for the special limited-edition vinyl 7-inch single of "Charlie Darwin," featuring the Oh My God, Charlie Darwin track plus new and unreleased material. The LAist says the album "spans the gamut of everything you'd want in Americana inspired music." The San Jose Mercury News calls it "hauntingly beautiful."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a smash hit at SXSW last week, have returned to their home state of North Carolina and to their roots: the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina, where the band first met back in 2005. The Drops will join in on workshops and performances all week. Rolling Stone says that, as a result of their SXSW performances, "Their newgrass cover of 'Hit ‘Em Up Style' has been upgraded from 'must hear' to 'must experience.'"

Wilco begins its 16-concert run of Eastern US cities at The Filmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater tonight. The concerts, presented as An Evening with Wilco, will feature extended, varied sets exploring material from each of the sextet’s seven studio albums. You can relive the live experience with the 2005 live album Kicking Television in a new deluxe, four-LP box set, due out April 17 and now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.