Chris Thile makes his second appearance on The Travel Channel's The Traveler’s Guide to Life tonight. His travels brought him to Iowa last weekend to perform his Mandolin Concerto with the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony. "Thile gave a lively and intense performance of his newly composed concerto," says the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, and a "sublime" encore of Bach. He was home in NYC to perform with guitarist Michael Daves last night and hits the road again with Punch Brothers this weekend. Banjoist Noam Pikelny recently spoke with the A.V. Club about the group's Grammy nominations, among many other things.

Wanda Jackson kicked off her European tour, featuring music from her new album, The Party Ain't Over, over the weekend and continues through Germany and Austria before returning to the States for several shows later this month. Now comes word that Jackson will be extending her US tour with 14 more dates through March and April.

Two shows will be held in honor of the late Kate McGarrigle at New York's Town Hall on May 12 and 13, featuring performances by Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Anna McGarrigle, Emmylou Harris, and others. Kate McGarrigle lost her battle with a rare form of cancer known as sarcoma in January of 2010, age 63. All profits from the concerts will go toward the creation of the Kate McGarrigle Sarcoma Research Fund.

Chris Thile performs his Mandolin Concerto in Iowa ... John Adams conducts Nixon in China at the Met ... David Byrne attends 25th anniversary True Stories screening in San Francisco ... Carolina Chocolate Drops hit upstate New York, Vermont ... Shawn Colvin returns to Yoshi's San Francisco ... Wanda Jackson headlines Rockin’ Race Jamboree in Spain ... Kronos Quartet makes it a two-fer in Minneapolis ... Jessica Lea Mayfield kicks off tour with Justin Townes Earle ... Fernando Otero plays NYC,  Allen Toussaint too ... and more ... 

Jessica Lea Mayfield's new album, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, is due out this Tuesday. You can listen to the album in its entirety now at RollingStone.com. "At 21, Mayfield looks like an ingénue but sings like a worldly-wise veteran," says the magazine. Pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an exclusive signed 7” of the album’s first single, “Our Hearts Are Wrong.” Mayfield launches a ten-day tour with Justin Townes Earle tonight.

Wanda Jackson celebrated the release of her new album, The Party Ain't Over, last month with sold-out shows with producer Jack White in New York and Los Angeles and performances on the Late Show with David Letterman and Conan, as well as her own hometown show in Oklahoma City. She kicks off a month-long tour in Europe and the United States this weekend with the headliner slot at the Rockin' Race Jamboree in Málaga, Spain.

Kronos Quartet performs two concerts at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis this weekend, featuring works from their album Floodplain and Laurie Anderson's Grammy-nominated "Flow." "It's hard to hype the Kronos Quartet," says the Star Tribune. "The group ... really has transformed the face of chamber music; it still makes many younger rivals seem staid." The Winnipeg Free Press gives 4.5 stars to a recent concert by this "new music royalty," exclaiming: "Everything they touch seems to turn to gold."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops’ launch their 2011 tour with a special engagement on Lincoln Center’s prestigious American Songbook series at The Allen Room in New York City tonight. The show follows last week's release of their new four-song EP, a collaboration with the New York City–based Romanian gypsy punk band Luminescent Orchestrii, along with human beatboxer Adam Matta. Another 20 shows follow in the coming months, with Matta and multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins joining the band on the road.

Chris Thile will appear on The Travel Channel's new series The Traveler’s Guide to Life tonight. On the series, guests share stories that shed insight on the important things in life, including, on tonight's episode, "Hometown," and on next week's episode, "Celebrations," also featuring Thile. His own travels continue with a performance of his Mandolin Concerto in Iowa this weekend, followed by a duo show with guitarist Michael Daves close to home in New York, and the next leg of his tour with Punch Brothers next week.

Ben Folds's US tour came to close one day earlier than expected when his concert in Tulsa tonight had to be postponed due to a major snowstorm blanketing the region. Throughout the tour, Folds has enlisted the help of audience members to perform an a cappella version of the song "Working Day" off Lonely Avenue, his collaboration with Nick Hornby. You can see this new a cappella work in progress come together in video clips on Folds's YouTube channel; watch the first one here.

Sara Watkins kicked off her tour with The Decemberists last week and continues through the coming months. Prior to the launch of the tour, Watkins was given the very special opportunity to serve as guest host of the beloved radio show A Prairie Home Companion. Her appearance on WNYC's Soundcheck, in which she discusses her guest-hosting gig, was originally slated to air last week but will air today instead.

There's just one more week to go before the release of Jessica Lea Mayfield's Nonesuch debut album, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. "Auerbach brings out the best" in Mayfield, says the Cleveland Scene; "this is Mayfield’s strongest record, an alt-country torch storm that rivals Neko Case’s best." Pre-order here with an exclusive signed 7” of the album’s first single, “Our Hearts Are Wrong.” Mayfield kicks off a tour with Justin Townes Earle this weekend.