Punch Brothers make their SXSW debut with eight free shows this week, including tonight's Warner Sound showcase, which will stream live at youtube.com/thewarnersound. The SXSW shows follow two nights at the Bluebird Theater in Denver and precede a number of solo shows from Chris Thile. Punch Brothers recently joined Dierks Bentley to perform Bob Dylan’s "Señor," off Amnesty International's new benefit album Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan, on The Ellen Show, which aired yesterday. Watch it here.

The Black Keys' North American arena tour brought the band to NYC last night for a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden, the band's first-ever headlining show at the venue. They head next to Canada for shows in Montreal tonight and Toronto tomorrow. "The Black Keys are rock stars, and their traditional rock sound electrified Madison Square Garden on Monday night," exclaims the AP, which calls the show "exhilarating, bluesy and loud." Rolling Stone says: "[T]he songs from El Camino cast a spell over the packed arena as Auerbach wound their hooks into broad, euphoric payoffs."

Today marks the start of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference in Austin, Texas, when thousands of bands and music lovers from all over the world descend on the live-music capital for several days of non-stop music making. Nonesuch artists will be well represented among them, with several performances throughout the week from Punch Brothers, Dr. John, and The Low Anthem. The Warner Sound showcase, featuring Punch Brothers and Dr. John, will stream live via YouTube Wednesday night.

The Low Anthem is set to join The Chieftains this week as the legendary Irish band marks its 50th anniversary, performing on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS; in concert from WGBH radio, streaming this Friday on NPR Music; and, on Saturday, St. Patrick's Day, live at Carnegie Hall. The Low Anthem will play its own set for SXSW at Austin's ACL Live at the Moody Theater on Thursday. Next week, the band can be heard on The Hunger Games soundtrack.

The Black Keys have brought their North American arena tour to New York City for a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden tonight with special guests Arctic Monkeys, following the weekend's stellar shows in DC and Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Inquirer raves: "They are a big band in these small times, and Saturday night they delivered a smoking-gun performance—which is to say they killed—at the sold-out Wells Fargo Center." The Washington Post exclaims: "Friday night the band thrilled the crowd that packed Verizon Center with nearly two hours of a brand of guitar rock whose demise, judging from this show, has been greatly exaggerated."

The Black Keys continue their North American arena tour with sold-out shows at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC, and the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia ... Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer concludes at ENO ... Laurie Anderson brings Delusion to NYC ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Maine and on NPR ... Richard Goode plays in Kansas City ... Guettel's Floyd Collins is in London ... Kronos Quartet, Billy Childs, and Bill Frisell are in LA ... Brad Mehldau Trio tours Germany, Italy ... Natalie Merchant gives anti-fracking benefit show in upstate NY ... Randy Newman is in Utrecht ... Punch Brothers are in LA ... Steve Reich joins Bang on a Can at MIT ... and more ...

As part of their 2011-12 Centennial Season, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony launch a month-long American Mavericks Festival of music by pioneers of the American sound. The Festival begins at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall tonight, with performances there through March 18, followed by a national tour to Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium, and Carnegie Hall in New York through March 30. The American Mavericks Festival explores the music of path-breaking composers like Steve Reich and builds on their visionary spirit with world-premieres, including John Adams's "Absolute Jest." Watch Adams discuss the piece here.

k.d. lang has added a number of new dates to her North American spring and summer tour with her band the Siss Boom Bang, which was announced last month. The newly announced dates include additional stops across the United States and into lang's home province of Alberta, as well as a three-night run at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.The first date on the tour is slated for May 8 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The Black Keys kicked off the first leg of their months-long North American arena tour with performances in Cincinnati, Detroit, and Columbus and hit the East Coast this week. Friday night's tour opener was "90 minutes of their patented hard-chopping blues," reports MTV. Playing arenas is "an amazing accomplishment for a group that has put in more than their share of road work and had the kind of slow-and-steady climb that rarely happens in this era of rocket-straight-to-the-top pop stars or grind-'em-out club bands." The Columbus Dispatch reports from Sunday's show: "The tunes were loud, the musicianship tight but relaxed and the vibe just right."

Randy Newman continues his tour of Europe with stops in Germany this week, following several shows in the UK and Ireland last week that brought rave reviews, not least five-star reviews of his London show from the Guardian and the Independent. "Newman’s songs express a set of values and concerns that touch on the work of other greats—Toms Waits and Lehrer both spring to mind, likewise Stephen Sondheim—but he remains essentially uncategorisable," says the Independent. "On occasions the experience—a packed auditorium, an artist alone on stage with his piano—was akin to a Schubert recital, so exquisite and so deft was Newman’s rendering of human experience." The Times insists "that Newman's work as a songwriter and social commentator is quite simply peerless."

Carolina Chocolate Drops celebrate the release of their new album, Leaving Eden, with three shows in the Northeast, performing in NYC, Boston, and Fall River ... Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer continues London run ... Laurie Anderson brings Delusion to Taiwan ... Björk performs penultimate NYC Biophilia show, "nothing short of glorious" (NY Times) ... The Black Keys launch US arena tour in Midwest ... Richard Goode plays in Buffalo and Chicago ... Kronos Quartet joins Toronto Symphony Orchestra ... Brad Mehldau Trio tours Europe ... Pat Metheny Trio is in Indonesia ... Randy Newman tours Europe ... Punch Brothers are in the Midwest ... Dawn Upshaw joins Cleveland Orchestra in Florida ... and more ...

The Black Keys launch the first leg of their months-long North American tour with a performance at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, tonight, followed by shows in arenas like New York’s Madison Square Garden, Boston’s TD Garden, and Chicago’s United Center, with special guests Arctic Monkeys opening all along the way. In mid-April, the band headlines two weekends at the sold-out Coachella festival and heads out on the road again for the second leg of the North American tour.