Nataly Dawn, who is currently touring the US, recently appeared on WNYC's Soundcheck to perform a few songs from her new album, How I Knew Her, and talk with host John Schaefer. You can listen to the episode here. The latest video shot at the recording sessions for How I Knew Her at Prairie Sun Studios, for "Why Did You Marry," is now available to watch here as well, via Dawn's YouTube channel. 

The new musical of Here Lies Love, which explores the life of former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos, with concept and lyrics by David Byrne and music by Byrne and Fatboy Slim, receives its world premiere at the Public Theater in New York City tonight. The production, directed by Alex Timbers, will run through May 19. In 2010, Nonesuch Records released a double-disc recording of the song cycle of Here Lies Love, featuring Tori Amos, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper, Natalie Merchant, Florence Welch, Santigold, and St. Vincent; the Boston Globe calls it a "superb ... sumptuous double album."

Björk is set to bring her live Biophilia show back to North America this spring and summer. The dates include three shows outside San Francisco and two at the Hollywood Palladium where the venues have been set to her original Biophilia specifications as audio-visual shows in an intimate, in-the-round setting. In addition to her Biophilia performances Björk will also appear at the Hollywood Bowl and at Echo Beach in Toronto, along with three festival appearances: Pitchfork Festival, Bonnaroo, and the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. The Biophilia Education Program for students will also come to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Carolina Chocolate Drops, whom Paul Krugman recently featured briefly in his New York Times Friday Night Music column, launch a months-long spring tour of the United States with a performance at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia, tonight. The extensive, nationwide tour includes shows in New York, Boston, Charlotte, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, and more, as well as sets at festival like DelFest and ROMP.

The Black Keys begin their week-long South American tour headlining Lollapalooza Brazil ... Shawn Colvin hits the Byron Bay Bluesfest on Australia tour, as does Allen Toussaint ... Nataly Dawn plays Philadelphia and DC ... Fatoumata Diawara kicks off US tour at Berkeley ... Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell are in Maryland and North Carolina ... Lianne La Havas heads from Boulder to Minneapolis ... Brad Mehldau concludes Mehliana tour in Paris ... Sara Watkins plays the mid-Atlantic ... and more ...

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell were guests on today's episode of NPR's Fresh Air, talking with host Terry Gross about their long friendship and their new album, Old Yellow Moon. "Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell are such good solo singers," says Gross, "it's wonderful to hear them together, duetting on the new album Old Yellow Moon." Reviewing last night's show at the Beacon Theatre, the New York Times says they "reminisced, harmonized, sketched their kind of country canon and extended it to reflect on the present." Harris and Crowell "reclaimed the close harmonies they had in the 1970s, and their band was impeccable."

Fatoumata Diawara, whose debut album, Fatou, was released in North America last summer on World Circuit / Nonesuch Records, kicks off a month-long US tour with an Afropop Spectacular with Zimbabwe's Oliver Mtukudzi at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, California, on Saturday. The 13-city tour includes a two-night run in Seattle, shows in Chicago, Minneapolis, Austin, Albuquerque, El Paso, New Orleans, and sets at the Houston and Louisiana International Festivals. Diawara returns to the US later this spring to perform at Bonnaroo.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell bring their North American tour, featuring music from their new album, Old Yellow Moon, to NYC's Beacon Theatre tonight. Harris spoke with the New York Times about the album, her storied career, life on the road, and so much more. The Boston Globe writes, in a review of Saturday's show: "Old Yellow Moon collects songs old and new, cutting across honky-tonk, classic country, ballads, and hell-raisers." The artists "sound inspired by their recent reunion, and their chemistry shows ... [T]heir voices meshed seamlessly at the Orpheum, his a rangy croon, hers as ethereal as smoke rings." Listen to their recent SXSW performance for WFUV here.

Lianne La Havas kicked off her month-long North American tour last week in Dallas, followed by sold-out shows in LA, San Francisco, and Seattle and sets this week in Portland and Vancouver. The 19-city tour heads next to Boulder and on to the Midwest. While she was in LA, La Havas performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and while in Portland, she stopped by the Bing Lounge at 101.9 KINK FM to perform three songs, which you can watch here.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell bring their Old Yellow Moon tour to Toronto and Boston ... John Adams's The Gospel According to the Other Mary receives its French premiere ... Nataly Dawn plays two nights in Chicago ... Jeremy Denk returns to Carnegie Hall ... Lianne La Havas has sold-out shows in San Francisco and Seattle ... Kronos Quartet performs Sun Rings in Long Beach ... Brad Mehldau takes Mehliana to Scandinavia ... Natalie Merchant sings with Charlotte Symphony ... Joshua Redman plays Puerto Rico JazzFest ... Sara Watkins tours Northeast ... and more ...

Devendra Banhart will mark the release of his new album, Mala, with a series of spring tour dates in the US and Canada in May and June. The tour starts in Aspen on May 4 and includes stops all along the West Coast, in the Midwest, and on the East Coast. Tickets for most of the shows go on sale Friday. The Guardian calls Mala a "triumph." Magnet, which calls it "the best thing he's done since his debut," features Banhart on the cover and as guest editor of its website. He recently spoke with WNYC's Soundcheck from SXSW; you can listen to the show here.

Alarm Will Sound will perform a program of new works, featuring Steve Reich's Radio Rewrite and scenes from Donnacha Dennehy's The Hunger, at Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis on Wednesday. The group gave the US premiere of Radio Rewrite at Stanford University last Saturday and gives the NY premiere of The Hunger at Carnegie Hall on April 6. Dennehy has been named composer-in-residence for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra next season, which will include performances of his That the Night Come. Crash Ensemble and Dawn Upshaw will perform the piece at The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall this May.