David Byrne, long a bike enthusiast and proponent of this auto alternative, releases Bicycle Diaries, a new book described by the Los Angeles Times as "a two-wheeled travelogue from a keen cultural observer." He also begins an eight-city panel tour—Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around—to discuss these issues. As New York magazine explains, "If the conventional idea of the artist is as a kind of highly specialized genius, Byrne prefers to be an omnivore."

Chris Thile recently premiered his Mandolin Concerto with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and performs it again this weekend with the Oregon Symphony, after which, Thile joins his fellow Punch Brothers for a three-week US tour, including Carnegie Hall. The group’s next record is scheduled for 2010. "The new album is the next step in the natural progression of Punch Brothers," says band member Gabe Witcher, "from a group first assembled to render Thile’s composition, The Blind Leaving the Blind, to a collective compositional entity in its own right."

The Low Anthem closes out its European tour this week with stops in Hamburg, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris, before heading home to the States for Austin City Limits and an extensive US tour with Blind Pilot. And with a performance in Amsterdam this week, it's fitting that The Low Anthem is offering a free copy of its performance of Bob Dylan's "Dignity" recorded in that city when you sign up for the group's mailing list.

Youssou N'Dour talks to BBC Radio 4 ... Kronos premieres Damon Albarn piece in Spain ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica perform Mendelssohn in Germany ... Low Anthem plays in Germany too ... Joshua Redman Trio launches Indy Jazz Fest ... Chris Thile, Colorado Sympohny give encore performances of his "astounding" Mandolin Concerto ... Allen Toussaint plays New York's Joe's Pub ... Laura Veirs tours with The Decemberists ... Sara Watkins plays the Americana Music Festival in Nashville ... and more ...

Bill Frisell's latest Nonesuch release, Disfarmer, is out now. The Christian Science Monitor calls the album "a tour de force of jazz creativity by Bill Frisell," with the guitarist creating "a profoundly eerie merger of old-timey mountain music and jazz."

Chris Thile's first Mandolin Concerto, Ad astra per alas porci, receives its official world premiere this week in three performances with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under Jeffrey Kahane, following a test run of the piece at Interlochen this summer. "I feel like I've done a lot of examining of the mandolin's possibilities," Thile tells violin.com, "but this is the culmination of my efforts in that direction thus far." In an extensive interview with Sequenza 21, he says, "As long as I have something to play, something to sing, something to write, I'll be happy."

Christina Courtin's California concert schedule continues this week with performances in San Francisco and LA. Pop Matters describes the singer as "fearless, profound, and musically fascinating" and her "impressive" new album as "unlike anything else I have heard this year ... Lyrically precocious, and musically varied, Courtin presents herself as a chameleon, shifting through varied terrain from jazz to folk to country to pop and back again."

Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, a musical memorial for September 11, will air on WNYC and be performed in concert by the Phoenix Symphony ... Carolina Chocolate Drops celebrate Chapel Hill library's 50th ... Bill Frisell performs music of Disfarmer ... Kronos begins its season at Poland's Wratislava festival ... Low Anthem plays UK's End of the Road fest ... Brad Mehldau solos in São Paolo ... Nicholas Payton plays NY's Iridium  ... Guggenheim presents dances to Reich's Double Sextet ... Allen Toussaint plays Texas, Maryland, NYC ... and more

Kronos Quartet announces the tour dates for its 2009/10 concert season, a season that will bring the group all over the United States and to seven countries around the globe. Highlights include a Carnegie Hall Perspectives; collaborations with artists like Wu Man, Tanya Tagaq, and Alim Qasimov; the John Adams–curated West Coast, Left Coast festival with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and several world and New York premieres.

Audra McDonald was recently honored with the 2009 NAACP Theatre Award's Trailblazer Award. Next month, Audra will participate in The Actors Fund's fall 2009 benefit concert titled Chance and Chemistry: A Centennial Celebration of Frank Loesser, to be held on Monday, October 26, at the Minskoff Theater in New York.

Carolina Chocolate Drops keep it close to home in the Carolinas bringing their "palpable energy" to the Boone Hall BBQ & Bluegrass Fest ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed play Paris ... Bill Frisell closes out two-week residency at NYC's Village Vanguard with Paul Motian, Joe Lovano ... The Low Anthem's European tour gets under way in Ireland and UK ... Brad Mehldau tours South America solo ... Sara Watkins is out West ...

Christina Courtin begins a weekly series of gigs in California this month, at The Little Room at Largo in Los Angeles tonight. A second Little Room date follows next week, and then a third Largo event, at the Coronet Theater, on the 17th, with Grant Lee Phillips. In between the latter two events, she'll head up north to play San Francisco's Café du Nord.