Joshua Redman joins The Bad Plus in residence at the Blue Note ... Sérgio and Odair Assad join Garrison Keillor for A Praire Home Companion live from NYC's Town Hall ... Alarm Will Sound performs 1969 in Denver ... Tony Allen concludes his North American tour in Minneapolis ... The Low Anthem has sold-out shows with Iron and Wine in DC and Georgia ... Jessica Lea Mayfield is in Texas ... Randy Newman plays SFJAZZ ... Fernando Otero tours Israel with vocalist/composer Sabrina Lastman ... Sara Watkins is in Michigan with the Decemberists ... and more ...

Emmylou Harris brings the music of her forthcoming album, Hard Bargain, to LA's El Rey Theatre tonight. The Los Angeles Times says Harris, on the new album, "very firmly takes center stage with wistful, heartrending tunes." The Wall Street Journal, previewing her album release day show in NYC, says: "Her voice remains an open channel for otherworldly beauty, earthy and ethereal in equal measure, and her style retains a rootsy grounding even when she strays from the confines of country." Harris spoke with ESPN about her music and one of her other passions, baseball.

Wanda Jackson hits the road for her second nationwide tour in support of her latest album, The Party Ain’t Over, which was produced by her friend Jack White. Jackson opens for the young British singer/songwriter Adele for nine sold-out performances in May and June. She says of these shows, “I was thrilled to learn that my music has been an influence on such a talent as Adele. I am looking forward to the concert tour with her. We’re gonna have a party!”

The worldwide celebrations of Steve Reich's 75th birth year have come to NYC, starting with tonight's NY premiere screening of the documentary Steve Reich: Phase to Face at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts; Reich and the film's director will be there. Carnegie Hall presents an all-Reich concert on April 30 featuring Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, eighth blackbird, So Percusssion, and three NY premieres; enter to win tickets and more. Tune in to Q2 this Monday to hear some of the performers discuss the concert.

Ben Folds, who is set to tour Australia and Asia next month, has just announced several new US summer tour dates, including performances in Tulsa, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Tempe, Anaheim, San Francisco, Birmingham, and Minneapolis, as well as sets at the XPoNential Music Festival in Philadelphia and the DMB Caravan in Chicago. Folds has released a cover of Ke$ha's "Sleazy" to support Japanese relief efforts and will join Damian Kulash, Amanda Palmer, and Neil Gaiman at the Rethink Music conference in Boston for a songwriting/recording marathon.

Kronos Quartet joins Bang on a Can for a mini-marathon at MIT ... Tony Allen continues his North American tour ... Laurie Anderson gives a reading in the Hamptons ... The Black Keys headline at Coachella ...  Wanda Jackson heads South ... The Low Anthem tours the Northeast with Iron and Wine ... Jessica Lea Mayfield plays her home state ... Randy Newman performs in the Pacific Northwest ... Punch Brothers play p-Bingo in NYC ... Dawn Upshaw, Donnacha Dennehy conclude Carnegie Hall workshop ... Sara Watkins tours with the Decemberists ... and more ...

The Low Anthem began their US spring tour last night with the first of several sold-out shows with Iron and Wine. This weekend, The Low Anthem can also be heard on NPR stations across the country as their recent performance on Mountain Stage premieres; Lucinda Williams is also on the show. The band closed out its European tour at a sold-out show at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, to which the Guardian and the Independent both gave four stars. You can now watch the video for "Boeing 737" here.

The Black Keys have been nominated for three Billboard Music Awards: Top Alternative Artist and Top Rock Album and Top Alternative Album for their album Brothers. The guys are back on the road, performing at the Mesa Amphitheatre tonight. They play the first of several upcoming festival headlining appearances at Coachella tomorrow, which will be webcast live on YouTube. Additional upcoming performances include headlining sets at The Hangout Festival, Summerfest, Bonnaroo, and Outside Lands. Check out a behind-the-scenes look at their unforgettable "Howlin' for You" video here.

Tell Me, the highly anticipated sophomore release from Jessica Lea Mayfield, is out now on Nonesuch Records. In celebration of the record, Mayfield will continue to tour the US and Europe throughout 2011, including an appearance at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival as well as a newly announced series of special shows with The Avett Brothers.

Legendary AfroBeat drummer Tony Allen will be the guest on WNYC's Soundcheck today. He will talk with the show's host, John Schaefer, and perform songs from his album Secret Agent. "The great Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti had a not-so-secret weapon when he was creating the funk-infused style known as Afrobeat in the 1970s," says WNYC. "That weapon was drummer Tony Allen. A legend among drummers of all styles, Allen is still going strong." Allen launches a North American tour this week with special guest Amp Fiddler.

Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, John Zorn perform in NY's Concert for Japan ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are on Minnesota Public Television ... Ben Folds plays his home state of North Carolina ... Emmylou Harris plays a benefit for Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music ... Kronos Quartet performs Steve Reich's WTC 9/11 in Maryland ... The Low Anthem plays UK, Ireland ... Jessica Lea Mayfield has an all-Kentucky weekend ... Brad Mehldau Trio tours Midwest ... Dawn Upshaw joins National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center ... and more ...

The Brad Mehldau Trio is on tour in the Midwest this week and heads to the West Coast for shows in Seattle and Los Angeles next week. "It's a rare musician who shines in a solo performance," says Minnesota Public Radio of Mehldau's new 2CD/DVD solo album, Live in Marciac. But he "does so remarkably on a diverse collection of tunes that include his original compositions, jazz standards and rock tunes ... In a virtuoso performance, Mehldau builds on architecture and melody, delivering intimate, complex and intense interpretations of each song."