The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Punch Brothers will be among the performers at the first of four Dave Matthew Band Caravan festivals this summer, which takes place this weekend at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Caravan pulls up in Chicago July 8–10 for the second three-day festival, with Emmylou Harris and Ben Folds performing. The Chocolate Drops, Punch Brothers, and Harris are all playing the ROMP bluegrass and roots music festival in Owensboro, Kentucky, this weekend.

The 2011 ROMP (River of Music Party) Bluegrass Roots & Branches Festival kicks off today at Yellow Creek Park in Owensboro, Kentucky, and continues through the weekend, with three Nonesuch artists scheduled to perform as festival headliners: Punch Brothers on Friday and Carolina Chocolate Drops and Emmylou Harris on Saturday. Each Punch Brothers band member will also lead a ROMP festival workshop targeted to his instrument.

Randy Newman will perform at the new ACL Live at Austin's Moody Theater on September 19; the show will be recorded for future broadcast on PBS's Austin City Limits, launching its 37th season this fall. American Songwriter gives his new album four-and-a-half stars. "You can hardly make a better case that songs can be the equal of any art form than the classics on display in The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2. The album is essential listening for those who care about American music (not just the popular variety)." The Los Angeles Times says that, "like a Picasso line drawing, he can convey mountains of emotion with the simplest of notes, chords and melodic lines ... In committing the bare bones versions to disc, he's preserved them for the ages, which is where they belong."

Chris Thile and Michael Daves will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck on Wednesday, July 20, performing before a live audience at WNYC's Greene Space in downtown Manhattan. Later that night, the duo head out to Brooklyn to perform at the Bell House. Rolling Stone calls the debut album from "mandolin God Chris Thile" and "hot-shit Brooklyn guitarist Michael Daves" a "ridiculously blazing set ... The uptempo jams are wild-picking shred fests, and the ballads cut deep."

Kronos Quartet will give the NY premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11, for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2011 Next Wave Festival, with four nights of performances at the BAM Harvey Theatre, September 21–24, featuring special guests the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, conducted by Dianne Berkun. Watch a preview video here. Next Wave Season Tickets are on sale to the general public now.

Jessica Lea Mayfield's Tell Me tops the Los Angeles Times list of the best records released so far in 2011. "The British-born Adele may be getting all the attention for her merging of soul, rock, r&b and country," says the Times, "but another young singer, Jessica Lea Mayfield, has released an equally assured Muscle Shoals-inspired soul album ... Mayfield’s ability to capture private vignettes and draw them with unguarded honesty makes Tell Me essential listening. It’s rough and honest, strong but also delicate and vulnerable." Mayfield is set to launch her US summer tour next week and has added several new dates through September.

The 38th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival took place this past weekend, and among the highlights were "the dove-like voice of country legend Emmylou Harris and the sharp wit and ridiculous talent of Chris Thile," says Reverb; a "pick-off" launched by The Decemberists with Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and Punch Brothers' Noam Pikelny; and a Punch Brothers set that provided what Reverb calls "one of the fest’s most charming musical moments." For photos, visit nonesuch.com/media.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang kicked off their North American tour at the Rochester Jazz Festival last week, followed by a free outdoor concert at Toronto's Luminato Festival; the tour lands at New York City's Beacon Theatre tonight. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle says lang's "voice was potent from the get-go." The Toronto Sun gives the Luminato set four-and-a-half stars, calling lang's voice "one of the world’s best." The Independent says lang's new album, Sing it Loud, is "an elegant, understated LP that contains nods to the singer's country-pop roots and brims with warmth and contentment."

The Black Keys' Saturday Night Live performance re-airs; band plays Canada's MMVA ... Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer staged in St. Louis ... Laurie Anderson is in Israel ... Timothy Andres, Philip Glass perform at NYC's Bang on a Can Marathon ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play Chattanooga ... Richard Goode leads Marlboro Music Festival ... Emmylou Harris, Chris Thile & Michael Daves, Punch Brothers, Sara Watkins play Telluride Bluegrass Festival ... Wanda Jackson takes the Mountain Stage ... James Farm sets up at NYC's Jazz Standard ... k.d. lang offers free show to Toronto ... The Low Anthem plays Clearwater Festival ... Dawn Upshaw performs at Ojai North! ... and more ...

James Farm kicked off its four-night residency at New York's Jazz Standard last night with two stellar sets featuring songs from their self-titled debut album. The band stopped by WNYC's Soundcheck earlier this week to discuss and perform songs off the new record. You can listen to the segment and watch the band perform "Polliwog" in a video from the show here. You can also listen to a bonus web exclusive performance from the session of "Bijoux."

The 38th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival got under way yesterday 8,750 feet up in bucolic Telluride, Colorado. The music-making continues through the weekend with sets to come from Chris Thile and Michael Daves, Emmylou Harris, and Punch Brothers, plus Sara Watkins sits in with the Decemberists as part of her ongoing tour with the group.

Emmylou Harris kicks off her North American spring and summer tour with a return to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colorado, tonight. The tour will feature songs from Harris's recent Nonesuch release, Hard Bargain, as well as favorites from throughout her career. The tour includes several festival sets like the Dave Matthew Band Caravan, Newport Folk Festival, and Canada's Harvest Picnic; an Austin City Limits Live performance; a show with the Levon Helm Band in New York's Central Park; and stops at more than a dozen indoor and outdoor venues across the US.