Natalie Merchant's US tour brought her to Texas for three shows, including Thursday night in Dallas. The Dallas Morning News says Merchant's voice "sounds as pure and powerful now as it did 20 years ago" and calls the show "one of the year's most assured performances. Natalie Merchant proved to be nothing less than pure poetry in motion." In Florida, where the tour heads next, the Sun Sentinel says her "voice is simply timeless."

Happy Birthday to Brad Mehldau, who turns 40 years old. Mehldau celebrated a few hours early when he joined John Mayer on stage at the Hollywood Bowl last night. Mehldau's next performs with his Trio at the Chicago Jazz Festival over Labor Day weekend, the last Trio date before the November premiere of Highway Rider with Joshua Redman, Matt Chamblerain, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Kronos Quartet plays the Edinburgh International Festival ... Shawn Colvin plays Denver Botanic Gardens with Loudon Wainwright ... Richard Goode performs a BBC Prom ...  The Low Anthem tours Europe's festivals ... Natalie Merchant does Texas two-stop ... Jeff Tweedy headlines Philadelphia Folk Fest ... Dawn Upshaw joins BSO at Tanglewood ... Sara Watkins continues Summer Love tour with A Prairie Home Companion ... and more ...

Natalie Merchant's performance at the Cambridge Folk Festival earlier this month will be featured on the UK's Sky Arts TV Saturday night, which also includes interviews with Natalie and with Carolina Chocolate Drops, plus performances from the Drops and Rokia Traoré. Merchant's US tour stops in Texas this weekend. The Arizona Republic says: "Her ambitious touring and recording project shows an artist who continues to evolve and push herself."

Though Punch Brothers have a few weeks off from their tour, Chris Thile takes the stage for a solo set at New Yorks' Rockwood Music Hall this Saturday. The band was featured on the BBC World Service's The Strand. Noam Pickelny tells host Mark Coles, "We really are just trying to create something new and bring all of our favorite styles and influences to the table and just throw them into a melting pot."

Natalie Merchant's US summer tour came to California last week for a number of concerts, including stops at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles and the Spreckels Theatre in San Diego over the weekend. Merchant had previously performed in the Bay Area and stopped by 826 Valencia, Dave Eggers' writing program for students. The San Francisco Chronicle described the event as "a kind of 'master class' for high school kids."

Timothy Andres has announced a number of dates for his 2010–2011 season, including a Carnegie Hall concert with Brad Mehldau featuring selections from his piece Shy and Mighty. Fanfare says Andres "conjures up a wonderful 'world of ideas'" on the piece and album. "The music is consistently imaginative, clever, and expressive." The reviewer declares the album "strongly recommended" and "can’t imagine anyone not enjoying this fine music."

Adams's El Niño opens the Edinburgh International Festival ... The Black Keys return to Ohio ... Toumani Diabaté's in residence at Yoshi's ... Glass’ Cello Concerto closes the Cabrillo Festival ... Kronos Quartet plays free show at Lincoln Center Out of Doors ... The Low Anthem tour Europe ... Natalie Merchant heads to Southern California ... Punch Brothers play festivals out West ... Sara Watkins tours with Garrison Keillor ... Wilco throws its first festival ... and more ....

Kronos Quartet performs a free outdoor concert at New York's Damrosch Park for the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series, featuring the world premiere of Christine Southworth's Super Collider, performed with Gamelan Galak Tika on the new Gamelan Elektrika, plus works by Steve Reich, Café Tacuba, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Raz Mesinai. Prior to the concert, Gamelan Galak Tika will lead a free workshop on the kecak, Bali's famed "Monkey Chant."

As Natalie Merchant and her band perform songs from Leave Your Sleep in California this week, new shows have just been added in the Northeast this fall featuring a full symphony orchestra. LA Weekly calls Leave Your Sleep "the most sonically adventurous project of her career." The Atlantic, reviewing the Seattle show, says it "worked—in wondrous ways," calling it "a tour de force ... an artist's creative and courageous venture into new territory altogether."

Punch Brothers' latest Nonesuch album, Antifogmatic, was just released on vinyl, while the band is out West performing songs from the album. Already on the road for a month now, Punch Brothers announce their fall tour, adding several new dates throughout the South. "Most shows are now on-sale," reports Noam Pikelny on the band's newly redesigned website. "People might be lining up outside of these venues already. There's just no way to tell for sure."

Sara Watkins has begun the month-long Summer Love Tour with Garrison Keillor and the cast of A Prairie Home Companion. She tells the Grand Rapids Press: "One of the things I'm looking forward to is getting to hear [Garrison] tell stories every night." Watkins will also perform on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on September 2 and has been nominated as Artist of the Year in the San Diego Music Awards.