The Sing-Off, NBC's a cappella singing competition, continues tonight, with performances from the remaining eight teams and keen-as-ever insight from judge Ben Folds. He has added six new concerts in the US Midwest next month in support of Lonely Avenue, which the Aquarian Weekly says "is rich and filled with life’s great texture." The newly-added dates go on sale December 10; the Ben Folds Fan Club can access presale tickets now.

Christina Courtin launches a four-city tour with Aoife O'Donovan of the Crooked Still in Boston tonight, followed by stops in New Hampshire and Vermont, before hitting Courtin's home base of New York City with a Saturday night show at Rockwood Music Hall. Courtin's voice has been described by the New York Times as "uniquely otherworldly." Her self-titled Nonesuch debut album, which the Huffington Post called "a wonderful concoction," is now just $10.71 in the Nonesuch Store as part of the store-wide 3rd anniversary sale.

The Black Keys' album Brothers has landed at No. 2 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Best Albums of 2010. "The duo boil it down on their best record yet: vivid tunes stripped bare and rubbed raw, with hot splashes of color and hooks popping through like compound fractures," raves Rolling Stone. "It's rock minimalism pushed to the max." The magazine also places the album track "Everlasting Light" at No. 11 on the list of the Best Singles of 2010.

Punch Brothers were recently nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Best Country Instrumental Performance for the song "New Chance Blues," a bonus track off their latest Nonesuch album, Antifogmatic. To celebrate the great news, you can now download a the Grammy-nominated track "New Chance Blues" for free here. The band has added a number of new 2011 tour dates to their schedule, as has Chris Thile, all of which are listed here.

Ben Folds and his band are set to tour Australia in May 2011 in support of Lonely Avenue, his collaborative album with Nick Hornby. Folds will play Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in May 2011. Tickets go on sale beginning at 9 AM local time on Tuesday, December 14. The Ben Folds Fan Club will have the opportunity to purchase presale tickets beginning Wednesday, December 8, at 2 PM AEDT.

The Black Keys appear on Fuse's SPIN25 show, tour Florida ... John Adams conducts El Niño with San Francisco Symphony, Dawn Upshaw ... Timothy Andres accompanies a serial-killer song-cycle in Brooklyn, appears on NPR's From the Top ... Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Low Anthem tour the South together ... Ben Folds shows his photos at National Geographic in DC ... Audra McDonald plays ARTrageous benefit in Arizona ... Allen Toussaint heads New Orleans Artists Against Hunger and Homelessness benefit ... and more ...

The Low Anthem—fresh off a string of shows with Emmylou Harris and just as the band launches a five-date tour with the Carolina Chocolate Drops this weekend—has confirmed an initial run of 2011 worldwide tour dates in support of the band's forthcoming album, Smart Flesh, due out February 22. The band is offering the song "Ghost Woman Blues," from Smart Flesh, as a free download beginning today. You can download it here.

Jessica Lea Mayfield's Tell Me, due out February 8 and available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store, is among Stereogum's picks of the 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2011. USA Today's Pop Candy blogger Whitney Matheson calls it the "Best thing I heard" this week. "I'm already a fan," she writes. "Love her." In addition to her previously announced tour dates with Justin Townes Earle, Mayfield has signed on for the 35 Conferette taking place March 10–13.

Just in time for the holidays, John Adams will conduct the San Francisco Symphony in three performances of his Nativity oratorio, El Niño, at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall, starting tonight, launching Adams's two-week residency there. Dawn Upshaw will reprise the role she originated and performed on the Nonesuch recording, tonight and Saturday. Jessica Rivera, who starred in Adams's A Flowering Tree, will perform the soprano role on Friday. Michelle DeYoung and Jonathan Lemalu will appear in all three performances.

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby's Lonely Avenue is CD of the Week at Minnesota Public Radio's The Current. Folds will appear on A Different Spin with Blink 182's Mark Hoppus on Fuse tonight. On Friday, Folds, an accomplished photographer, will present some of his images in the series Music on ... Photography at the National Geographic Society's Washington, DC, headquarters. Season 2 of NBC's The Sing-Off gets under way on Monday, with Folds returning to judge the a cappella competition; he has begun blogging about it at nbc.com.

Celebrations of Steve Reich's 75th year in 2011 continue to mount, with Sweden's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra kicking things off in January with Tonsättarfestivalen: Steve Reich, a five-day festival of Reich's music in Stockholm, and the Sónar festival's just-announced all-Reich Opening Night concert in Barcelona in June. Already on tap are musical celebrations at Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, the Sacrum Profanum festival in Kraków, Cité de la Musique, and more.

Carolina Chocolate Drops kick off the latest leg of their world tour, this time back in the US, following their recent tour of Europe. The band will soon be joined by The Low Anthem for a five-show swing through the South, after which The Low Anthem will join Emmylou Harris on the Grand Ole Opry at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. The Charlotte Observer includes the Carolina Chocolate Drops' Genuine Negro Jig in its 2010 Holiday Gift Guide.