Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile and guitar maven Michael Daves launch a week-long duo tour of the US West Coast, featuring music from their 2011 album Sleep with One Eye Open, with a performance at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco tonight, followed by shows in LA, Portland, and Seattle; they reunite in July for the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in upstate New York. The duo makes for "a rip-roaring partnership," says the New York Times. "Bluegrass, in their hands, gets roughed up in the best possible way, with skill and fervor, and a touch of abandon." Thile and his fellow Punch Brothers perform at a number of bluegrass festivals starting later this month.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell have kicked off their European tour in support of their new duets album, Old Yellow Moon. These special "An Evening With Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell" shows feature the acclaimed artists (and longtime friends) performing material spanning their vast catalogues. Following last night's concert in Manchester, England, the tour makes additional stops throughout the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland before concluding in Hamburg, Germany, on May 31. The next leg of their US tour begins on June 15. 

Joshua Redman, whose latest album, Walking Shadows, was released this week, kicks off a tour of Europe with his Quartet, featuring Aaron Goldberg on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Gregory Hutchinson on drums in Le Mans, France, tonight, followed by additional stops in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany. Redman also heads to the UK to perform with bassist Christian McBride at Wigmore Hall in London. He returns to the States for a June 4 show at NYC's Town Hall with the quartet featured on Walking Shadows—Brad Mehldau, Larry Grenadier, Brian Blade—and an orchestra.

The Black Keys play two shows in Tennessee before helping to close out New Orleans Jazz Fest ... Kronos Quartet premieres new works at Carnegie Hall ... Jeremy Denk joins Renée Fleming at Carnegie Hall ... Devendra Banhart kicks off tour in Colorado ... Bombino plays Belgium and Germany ... Lianne La Havas is at Cheltenham Jazz Festival ... Gidon Kremer joins Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich ... Brad Mehldau Trio and The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman perform in LA ... Sara Watkins kicks off tour of US West ... and more ...

Devendra Banhart kicks off a six-week tour of the United States and Canada this weekend, featuring music from his recently released Nonesuch debut album, Mala. The tour begins with two shows in Colorado this weekend and heads next to Arizona and to the West Coast for a run up California, Oregon, and Washington; then to the Midwest, Canada, and the East Coast, culminating in a concert at The Town Hall in New York City on June 12. Banhart begins a five-week tour of Europe on June 26.

Brad Mehldau holds residency at the new SFJAZZ Center, performing with Kevin Hays, Mark Guiliana, and his Trio ... The Black Keys launch four-city tour with special guests The Flaming Lips in Kansas City ... New Orleans Jazz Fest gets under way with Dr. John, Joshua Redman, Allen Toussaint ... Fatoumata Diawara performs at New Orleans' House of Blues ... Bombino continues European tour in Oslo ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play sold-out shows in Wisconsin ... Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter are out west ... Richard Goode performs Beethoven in Georgia ... Iron and Wine is on Jimmy Fallon ... Lianne La Havas is at Tobago Jazz Festival ... Gidon Kremer performs in Paris and back home in Riga ... Kronos Quartet plays in Portsmouth ... Rokia Traoré is on Jools Holland ...

The 2013 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, gets under way today as the first of two consecutive weekends of music unfolds. Included among this weekend's performers are Joshua Redman with his Quartet and New Orleans native sons Dr. John and Allen Toussaint. The Black Keys help close out the festival next weekend. Also in New Orleans this weekend is Fatoumata Diawara, who performs at the House of Blues. 

Bombino brought his European tour, featuring music of his new album, Nomad, to London's Village Underground last night, where the crowd cheered the Tuareg guitarist "as if he were a rock star," reports the Guardian in a four-star review. Bombino's "performance from the start was energetic and full-tilt ... He was clearly enjoying himself, and his enthusiasm was contagious." The Independent, previewing the concert, describes Bombino as "brilliant" and Nomad as "a bone-shaker of a new album." The tour continues in Europe then heads to the States in late May for headline dates, festival sets, and opening spots with Amadou & Mariam, Gogol Bordello and Robert Plant. 

Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, has announced its 2013–14 concert season, which will feature performances from a number of Nonesuch artists: Kronos Quartet, which celebrates its 40th anniversary with two concerts at Zellerbach Hall; Joshua Redman, whose Quartet performs songs from his new album, Walking Shadows; and Richard Goode, performing music by Janáček, Schubert, and Debussy. Additionally, Cal Performances and the Ojai Music Festival present Ojai North!, of which pianist Jeremy Denk is this season's music director.

The line-up for the 2013 Festival d’été de Québec, which runs July 4 to 14, has been announced and includes performances from The Black Keys on the Plains of Abraham and Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell at Parc de la Francophonie, as well as free sets from Dr. John, Amadou & Mariam, and Fatoumata Diawara at Place Metro in Place d’Youville.

Kronos Quartet and Laurie Anderson give the West Coast premiere of Anderson's Landfall at Stanford ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play festivals in Texas and North Carolina ... Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter tour Washington state ... Fatoumata Diawara traverses Texas to play iFest ... Dr. John is in Cleveland for Tri-C JazzFest ... Gidon Kremer joins Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra for three concerts ... Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau conclude their duo tour in Chicago and Austin ... Rokia Traoré concludes three-night Paris run ... and more ...

The line-up for the 2013 Luminato Festival in Toronto has been announced, and included among this year’s performers are Bombino, Amadou & Mariam, Laurie Anderson, and Carolina Chocolate Drops. All of these artists will give free concerts in David Pecaut Square at the Hub of the Festival, which runs from June 14 to 23. Among the Luminato Festival’s other highlights will be a multi-artist, two-night tribute to Joni Mitchell at Massey Hall.