The Carolina Chocolate Drops begin a months-long spring and summer North American tour this weekend with a free shows in New York City as part of Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concert Series. The Knoxville News Sentinel says "the trio reclaims string band music with a sense of passion and fun that is infectious ... The members trade banjos, fiddles, guitars, other instruments and vocal duties with ease."

Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman kick off a two-and-a-half-week tour of duo performances in Burlington, Vermont, tonight. At one recent duo date, "the twosome played with an unerring touch," says the Albany Times Union. All About Jazz insists that anyone with "the opportunity to see these two jazz masters should not pass it up." Mehldau spoke with PBS NewsHour about his new album, Highway Rider, which also features Redman.

Audra McDonald performed with the San Francisco Symphony Monday night and brought out "one gem-like number after the next," says the San Jose Mercury News, which describes her voice as "Full and mellow, elegant and sexy, lush, plush, brassy, growling, howling across her gigantic range, or expressing starry-eyed enchantment." This summer, she will reprise her role in 110 in the Shade, for a limited run in Utah; make her Tanglewood debut; and perform at Aspen and at the Ravinia Festival's Sondheim celebration.

Natalie Merchant and her new album, Leave Your Sleep, were featured on the PBS NewsHour. The Daily Beast chose the album for its Yes List, saying "Merchant’s voice is both soothing and electric on the album." Pop Matters says "this labor of love (so exhaustively researched, so musically collaborative, so many years in the making) is ... just beautiful and special." The LAist says "Merchant's voice was in top form" at a recent tour stop in LA.

Rokia Traoré kicks off a ten-day UK tour in London tonight, with Sweet Billy Pilgrim opening all along the tour. Traoré spoke with The Times, which calls her latest album, Tchamantché, "easily one of the best albums of 2008," and the Evening Standard, which calls it "a wondeful work" that "deserves to belong in every home." Time Out recommends the live show, as does the Guardian, which calls her band "both intricate and melodically accessible, her impressive singing voice pointing the way."

The CBS Sunday Morning profile of Pat Metheny and his Orchestrion album and tour, scheduled to air on yesterday's episode of the program, has been postponed to an unspecified later date. In the mean time, Metheny's Orchestrion tour continues its western run this week. The Santa Cruz Sentinel, in a preview of tonight's show, says "Metheny's one-of-a-kind genius takes another evolutionary step forward with his latest project."

The Black Keys are on a bill with Snoop Dogg ... Shawn Colvin, Allen Toussaint are in New Orleans ... Christina Courtin opens for Mike Doughty in NYC ... Bill Frisell, Punch Brothers play Seattle ... Richard Goode, Joshua Redman play in Chicago ... Kronos Quartet comes to Carmel ... The Low Anthem plays Portland, Maine ... Natalie Merchant takes Leave Your Sleep to eTown ... Pat Metheny's Orchestrion tour continues in California ... Sara Watkins guests with Garrison Keillor in NYC ... Wilco tours Tokyo ... and more ...

Pat Metheny and his Orchestrion are due to be the subject of a profile on this weekend's CBS Sunday Morning. The tour continues this weekend after a performance in LA Variety described as "more fun visually than pretty much any jazz show one might attend," creating "a remarkably pure and organic musical sound." After last week's show in Austin, the American-Statesman describes it as "a musical happening of the highest order—a jaw-dropping confluence of jazz, technology and visual art."

Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep was released last week to a number of milestones, including the No. 17 slot on the Billboard pop chart and No. 1 on the folk chart. Merchant continues to tour this weekend, including a live-audience taping of NPR's eTown. Utah's The Spectrum calls the album "a rich collection of music and poetry," on which "there's not a bad apple ... For an album this big that's quite an accomplishment." The Cleveland Scene recommends the complete album, declaring it "well worth the investment."

Wilco begins a two-week tour of Japan, New Zealand, and Australia with a set at the Big Cat in Osaka tonight. All five shows in Australia feature an opening set from Liam Finn. The latest tour begins less than two weeks after what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the "slam-bang finish" of the band's fully sold-out US tour in Pittsburgh.

The Low Anthem is back on its home turf tonight to perform a special free set at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, with suggested donations going to benefit United Way's Rhode Island Flood Recovery Fund. The band's recent performance in Brooklyn led the New York Press to rave: "Tender, introspective and at times genuinely uplifting, it was an enthralling performance."

Caetano Veloso closes out his US tour with music from zii e zie at the Fillmore in Miami Beach tonight. He spoke with the Miami New Times , which, after acknowledging comparisons to Dylan and Cohen, recognizes him as "a man as unique as a sunset's flash of green, who sings songs as beautiful as blue moons." Variety says the recent tour stop in LA was a "rock-centric effort" set against "the supple sweetness of Veloso's pristine voice." Sete was there and has footage and feedback from the event.