David Byrne, fresh off two stellar performances at New York's Radio City Music Hall this past weekend, stopped by the Colbert Report last night to chat and perform live in the studio. "You've always been sort of an innovator," offered Stephen Colbert. "When is being on the cutting edge, being innovative and fresh and new and interesting gonna get stale? Because, wouldn't it be more surprising if David Byrne did something ordinary?" Vanity Fair reports from Radio City that it's not likely to be any time soon. Staying "tuned in" is the key to his success, and "If it keeps David Byrne young, just think what it can do for you."

Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe have announced an intimate, three-week tour of Europe to begin with three nights at Dublin's Olympia Theatre in mid-June. Cooder and Lowe’s working relationship began in the late 1980s, and following two benefit performances together at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last year—featuring a selection of work from both their celebrated careers—the pair have decided to take their show on the road. They will be joined by Flaco Jimenez on accordion, Joachim Cooder on drums, and vocalist Juliette Commagere.

Dan Auerbach plays the first of two New York City shows tonight at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, with openers (and backing band) Hacienda plus Those Darlins. They'll all head into Manhattan to play Bowery Ballroom Tuesday. Dan is featured in a profile in the New York Times that examines the influences behind his solo debut, Keep It Hid. American Songwriter says the album's stand-out tracks are those "that flirt with folk and emphasize Auerbach’s unique voice," declaring: "Auerbach’s first forays into folk are successful ones."

Joshua Redman, with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson, featured players on Redman's recent Nonesuch release, Compass, play the Dakota Jazz club in Minneapolis tonight and tomorrow, before starting a European tour later this week. "Redman has made some fine albums in the past," says All About Jazz, "but he's never recorded one with such clarity of purpose as the self-produced Compass." And with its success, "there's the palpable sense that the Redman has opened himself up to all manner of possibilities for future musical endeavors, proceeding directly from the cathartic self-renewal that is Compass.

One half of Joshua Redman’s Compass double trio performs in Chicago ... Adams's Doctor Atomic continues at ENO; New York City Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Stadttheater Giessen Ballett perform works set to his music ... Afro-Cuban All Stars play outside LA ... Dan Auerbach kicks off US tour in DC, Boston ... David Byrne brings tour home to NYC's Radio City ... Shawn Colvin cruises the Caribbean ... Glass performs Leonard Cohen ... Richard Goode leads master class, performs in Manchester ... Glenn Kotche joins Bang on a Can All-Stars in Philly ... Mandy Patinkin plays Tampa ... Doug Varone and Dancers dance to Reich’s Daniel Variations ... Allen Toussaint concludes his Joe's Pub residency .. and more ...

Dan Auerbach kicks off his two-week US tour with songs from his recently released solo debut, Keep It Hid, at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club Saturday night. The Washington Post says The Black Keys' "beyond-the-blues elements are explored much further on the terrific first solo album from the duo's singer-guitarist ... and the broader range reveals a major pop songwriter.” Metro UK gives the album four stars, stating: “Fans of his main concern will find plenty to enjoy; anyone else will simply hear an early contender for 2009's finest solo effort.”

Amadou & Mariam have been touring Europe all year and have made their way to the UK this week. The Scotsman's Scotland on Sunday spoke with "Mali's hottest exports" to discuss what "might just be the longest, most fruitful love affair in music," and how that relationship has contributed to their making "some of the most joyous, melodious funk and bluesy pop you're likely to encounter anywhere in the world." This Malian couple, says the paper, has "done for Mali what Buena Vista Social Club did for Cuba in the Nineties."

Kronos Quartet provides an oasis of music from Central Asia and the Middle East at Stanford ... Graz Opera Ballet premieres dance set to works by Adams, Sibelius, and Tchaikovsky ... Afro-Cuban All Stars tour the West Coast ... Gipsy Kings conclude their winter tour ... Philip Glass plays to Leonard Cohen's words and images in Austin ... Richard Goode performs Mozart at the Barbican ... Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin close out their quartet tour ... Stephen Sondheim chats with Frank Rich in Philadelphia ... and more ...

Amadou & Mariam, whose latest album, Welcome to Mali, is slated for a US release on Nonesuch next month, have just finalized their North American summer tour. The Malian couple will headline six shows in the US and Canada starting with a June 2 show at Chicago's Park West and stopping in Toronto, Montreal, Boston, and New York, with a final show at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 10. They've also been tapped to join Coldplay for two weeks of the British band's own US tour. The Washington Post's rock critic writes of the forthcoming album: "Best thing I've heard this year."

John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic is set to receive its UK premiere next Wednesday, February 25, in the English National Opera's production at the London Coliseum. New Statesman spoke with the composer about the piece, with its "shatteringly powerful" music, and about his place as "the leading American composer of his generation, still in full creative flow, prolific and inventive." The article examines Adams's operas, from his first, Nixon in China, which "transformed the world of opera," to his latest, the "shimmeringly beautiful" A Flowering Tree.

Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble gave a marathon performance of the composer's seminal piece Music in Twelve Parts at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall Monday night. It was the West Coast premiere of the complete work, which had received its world premiere 35 years ago in New York. "I loved it," exclaims San Jose Mercury News critic Richard Scheinin. The piece, "with its youthful energy and imagination, is such a beguiling paradox. At first, it seems so narrow in sound, limited by its minimalist methods. But then, unfolding like time itself, it comes to contain so much. It opens up, grows vast."

John Adams will be a featured composer of the Barbican Centre's 2009–10 season in a special John Adams Focus series next year. It will include six Adams works over six performances next February to July, featuring four UK premieres and two concerts with the composer leading the London Symphony Orchestra. The Times (UK) talks to Adams about his operas, with Doctor Atomic set to receive its UK premiere by the English National Opera next week.