Randy Newman is set to take the stage in Austin's Zilker Park as a headliner at the Austin City Limits Music Festival this weekend. The Austin American-Statesman calls him "a friend to anyone who appreciates impeccably crafted songs." Newman will stay in town for another day to record his performance on PBS's Austin City Limits, which will air for the show's full hour on Saturday, November 12.

Chris Thile launches his solo tour of the UK and Ireland with a concert at Borderline in London tonight. The tour includes songs from Thile's duo album with guitarist Michael Daves, Sleep with One Eye Open. Today also marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, whose songs are featured on Sleep with One Eye Open; Thile spoke with NPR's All Things Considered for a piece celebrating the occasion. NPR counts Thile and Daves "among the hot young pickers" carrying on the tradition set by the Monroe Brothers.

Natalie Merchant will perform two shows in upstate New York next month as part of Radio Woodstock's 13th annual Pink October Fundraiser, benefiting breast cancer research at the Dyson Center for Cancer Care at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie. Merchant will also join the Nashville Symphony in concert in November and will be honored as a 2011 New York Public Library Lion, along with Jonathan Franzen, Ian McEwan, Tony Kushner, Stacy Schiff, and Isabel Wilkerson.

Björk brought the music of Biophilia, her forthcoming album, to Britain's Isle of Wight last night, where she headlined the four-day Bestival's closing night. Q magazine says "it's clear from the off, the Icelandic singer does not do 'average' festival sets." She was the featured guest on the full hour of the CBC radio show Q. "Few artists can lay claim to being the greatest cultural export of their home country," says the show, citing her "trailblazing" new album. Björk also spoke with Studio 360 about her memories of September 11, 2001, and the ways in which the world has changed since. Listen to her comments here.

The Black Keys have announced a headline tour of Europe in January and February 2012, including dates in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, and the UK. The tour follows the most successful two years in the band’s career to date, with the release of their breakthrough album, Brothers, and all that followed. The Black Keys are currently putting the finishing touches to their seventh, as-yet untitled album. It will be released, for the first time worldwide, on Nonesuch Records.

As the world pauses to reflect once more on the tragic events of September 11, 2001, on the occasion of their tenth anniversary this Sunday, many will turn to music in remembrance. Included in the many events marking this anniversary are works by and performances from a number of Nonesuch artists, including Steve Reich, John Adams, Laurie Anderson, and Ingram Marshall. Here are a few of them, followed by our regular listing of events taking place this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists.

Steve Reich is in Kraków, Poland, for the ninth annual Sacrum Profanum festival, which gets under way on Sunday with an inaugural concert broadcast on Polish Radio 2. The week-long festival offers a retrospective of some of the composer's most iconic works, along with newer additions to his repertoire, and features performances by Jonny Greenwood, Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Modern, Aphex Twin, Tom Verlaine, and the composer himself.

Brad Mehldau, whose new album with pianist Kevin Hays and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli, Modern Music, is due out on September 20, launches a brief solo tour of Europe at the Montlouis Jazz Festival in France tonight. Label mate Chris Thile launches his own solo tour as well. Along the way, the two will meet up for a very special duo concert with at London's Wigmore Hall, part of the jazz series Mehldau has curated there. Michael Daves, who was due to join Thile on tour, is unable to do so due to an illness in the family.

Randy Newman will perform before a live studio studio audience at the new ACL Live at The Moody Theater in Austin, Texas, on September 19, recorded for future broadcast on PBS's Austin City Limits upcoming season. The show is giving away a limited number of passes to the taping. Enter to win by this Monday, September 12. Those chosen will receive an e-mail notification from the show with details about the taping and how to get their passes.

This Labor Day weekend, The Low Anthem hits the final installment of the Dave Matthews Band Caravan in WA ... Carolina Chocolate Drops return to their home state for the inaugural Triad Music Fest ... Wanda Jackson headlines Muddy Roots Festival in TN ... Jessica Lea Mayfield plays the Bumbershoot festival in WA ... Audra McDonald is Bess at A.R.T. in Cambridge ... Punch Brothers have three shows out West ... Caetano Veloso is Guest Director at Telluride Film Festival ... Sara Watkins joins Garrison Keillor at the Minnesota State Fair ... and more ...

Ry Cooder's new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, receives perfect five-star reviews from the Guardian and the Independent. "Magnificent," exclaims the Guardian. "Cooder returns with a solo project that is as refreshing, brave and original as his early recordings in the 70s." The Independent says he offers "the modern-day equivalent of the kind of dust-bowl ballads with which Woody Guthrie once hymned the poor and skewered the wealthy." The Boston Herald finds it's "just what America needs in these uncertain times." The Morton Report says "it's obvious there isn't anything he can't do ... and the way Cooder builds his own musical world continues to thrill." The San Francisco Chronicle, reviewing Cooder's two sold-out shows there this week, says "Cooder is a true master of the guitar."

Wanda Jackson, who recently joined British songstress Adele on her tour, launches her own headlining tour that will take her to venues and festivals across the United States, Europe, and the UK through the fall. The Queen of Rockabilly's sets are sure to include songs from her Jack White-produced Third Man / Nonesuch Records debut album, The Party Ain't Over, along with favorites from throughout her decades-long career.