The Belleayre Music Festival in Highmount, New York, has announced its 2011 concert season, and a number of Nonesuch artists set to take the stage there this season: k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, Punch Brothers, and Jessica Lea Mayfield. The festival, situated high atop the Catskills mountains, kicks off on July 3 with a performance from lang and her band. Punch Brothers take the stage on August 27, with Mayfield opening.

Jessica Lea Mayfield has kicked off a headlining tour US tour featuring music from her new album, Tell Me. The tour makes its way up the East Coast this week. Time Out, in recommending Friday's show in New York, describes Tell Me as "a fab showcase for her voice, which somehow seems both lived-in and fresh, youthful and cynical." Mayfield has been named Vogue's Artist of the Week. While Tell Me "is loaded with perfectly forlorn country melodies and melancholy lines," says Vogue, "there is also a hint of mid-nineties alt-rock underpinning all the wistful contemplation, as well as the influence of more modern singer-songwriters, like the late Elliott Smith."

Laurie Anderson is featured in a new exhibition at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) in Rio de Janeiro titled I in U (Eu em Tu). The retrospective show presents original works produced by Anderson from the 1970s to today, featuring installations, photographs, drawings, videos, music, and more. The exhibition opened yesterday and runs through June 26. Anderson performs at Japan Society's Concert for Japan on April 9 and will tour Europe starting in May.

Sing it Loud, the new album from k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, is now streaming in its entirety on Amazon.com till April 12, when the album makes its North American debut. lang and the band have confirmed six shows in the UK this spring, prior to their US summer tour. UK fans can catch lang on TV as well on Later with Jools Holland April 19 and The Alan Titchmarsh Show April 20. Mojo gives the album four stars.

The Low Anthem is currently on tour in Europe and returns to the US in mid-April to head straight out on the road again, first with Iron and Wine, then heading to New Orleans Jazz Fest and launching its own headlining tour. The band performs at LouFest in St. Louis at the end of August, as will The Roots, Cat Power, TV on the Radio, and others. The Low Anthem will be featured on public radio's Mountain Stage on April 15 and can be heard singing their song "To Ohio" with Emmylou Harris on digital versions of Harris's forthcoming album, Hard Bargain, on amazon.com and iTunes.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang are heading Down Under this week to celebrate this Friday's Australian release of their new album, Sing it Loud, due out in North America on April 12. Fans in Australia can catch lang and the band on TV starting release day and throughout April. They'll be able to watch them live in concert later this year on k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang's just-announced tour of Australia this November. Watch an excerpt of their recent performance at the John Varvatos 8th Annual Stuart House Benefit here.

The complete lineup for the 2011 Newport Folk Festival won't be revealed till Wednesday, and tickets won't go on sale to the general public till the following day, but we can now reveal that Emmylou Harris, Wanda Jackson, and the Carolina Chocolate Drops will be performing at the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday, July 31, and fans now have access to special pre-sales and discounts starting right now through an exclusive promo code.

Emmylou Harris, Sara Watkins join Garrison Keillor for A Prairie Home Companion ... Jessica Lea Mayfield kicks off US tour in Nashville ... Timothy Andres performs in Brooklyn ... Bill Frisell brings Disfarmer to France ... Philip Glass discusses his work in Newark ... Wanda Jackson tours Midwest ... The Low Anthem is in Europe ... Brad Mehldau plays Spain and Portugal ... Pat Metheny Trio performs in Mexico City ... Randy Newman heads from Long Island to Toronto ... Dawn Upshaw performs with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra ... and more ...

Steve Reich's 75th birthday year is being celebrated around the world in 2011. Cité de la Musique in Paris has now announced details of its plans for a week of concerts in October to mark the occasion. Dubbed Steve Reich, Pulsations, the festivities features works from throughout Reich's career and even a performance by the composer himself. Reich discusses his career in a new short film from his publisher, an excerpt of which can be seen here.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang will perform “I Confess,” from their album Sing it Loud on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 11, the eve of the record's release. Appearances are also confirmed for Good Morning America and The View. lang and the band will perform Sing it Loud in its entirety at sold-out shows in LA and NYC that week and will kick off an extensive North American tour in June. On March 29, Amazon.com will kick off a countdown leading up to the album’s release, streaming a new track each day.

Wanda Jackson, hot off the heels of her stellar SXSW performances, is set to kick off the latest leg of her US tour at Lincoln Hall in Chicago tonight. The Chicago Tribune says it's a show that "should not be missed." Later in the tour, Jackson will headline the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's Spring Benefit Concert, along Cyndi Lauper, both of whom are featured in the museum's new exhibit, Women Who Rock; tickets go on sale next week.

The 2011 SXSW Music Conference, which brought more than 2,000 bands to Austin, Texas, is now a thing of the past, but its stand-out performances will continue to resonate for some time to come. Among the performers to make such lasting musical memories happen were Emmylou Harris, Jessica Lea Mayfield, and Wanda Jackson. Here, in video, photos, and reviews, we look back at some of the highlights from their time at SXSW.