Punch Brothers are back in California, headlining at LA's El Rey Theater with Jon Brion, the producer of their album Antifogmatic, opening. LAist spoke with fiddler Gabe Witcher and says: "Punch Brothers' music is the sound of synapses firing. The band's mix of unpredictability and virtuosity means there's always something new to uncover in their original pieces." Mother Jones spoke with Chris Thile and says: "What the Punch Brothers are doing musically blows the pants off most of their contemporaries."

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby are in New York City this week for a few special events to celebrate their new album, Lonely Avenue, including appearances at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe and Union Square Barnes & Noble, plus a spot on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The Financial Times gives Lonely Avenue four stars, saying of Folds/Hornby, "Both are excellent: witty, sophisticated lyrics about love and loss set to a range of styles." And, finally, Folds and fellow Chatroulette sensation Merton offer a joint public service announcement you can watch here.

The Black Keys play Austin City Limits Festival, close out tour in Tulsa ... Alarm Will Sound celebrates Lennon's 70th birthday ... Timothy Andres premieres new septet ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play close to home ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica return to the Baltics ... Wanda Jackson plays Brooklyn and New Jersey ... Kronos premieres works in NYC ... Natalie Merchant launches orchestra tour ... Pat Metheny continues Orchestrion tour ... Punch Brothers play Nashville ... Joshua Redman Trio concludes St. Louis residency ... Sara Watkins plays Unplugged in the Park ... and more ...

Wanda Jackson, whose new Jack White-produced album, The Party Ain't Over, in January 25, performs outside Boston tonight. The Boston Globe quotes Rosanne Cash, who described Jackson "as the prototype, the first female rock star," adding that "Jackson is still kicking out the jams." She performs at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on Friday, leading The New Yorker to note "her growly vocals, remarkable energy, and boundless good humor." Jackson spoke with Y'all Wire at last month's Americana Honors & Awards for an interview you can watch here.

Natalie Merchant's latest album, Leave Your Sleep, has been endorsed by the organizers of National Poetry Day in the UK, which is being celebrated today in schools, libraries, and bookshops across the country. On the album, Merchant sets the work of both well-known and obscure British and American poets to music. She kicks off a Northeast US tour tomorrow, performing with full symphony orchestras.

The Black Keys have been on a roll on their sold-out headlining US tour, which concludes this weekend. At this week's stop in Portland, The Oregonian says, "the whole show rocked." The crowd at Sunday's show in Vancouver "couldn't have asked for more," says the Vancouver Sun. "The Keys were unrelenting, sweaty and wild right from the very beginning ... Mind-blowing stuff." Following Saturday night's Seattle set, Seattle Weekly says the songs off their new album, Brothers, "were sensual and shit-kicking all at once."

San Francisco's Golden Gate Park was teeming with hundreds of thousands of music fans this past weekend for the 10th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. Among the artists contributing to what Rolling Stone called an "eclectic and vital" event were T Bone Burnett, Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Randy Newman, and Emmylou Harris. You can see several photos from their performances at nonesuch.com/media.

Joshua Redman Trio are in residence at New York's Jazz Standard ... Hardly Strictly Bluegrass brings three days of music from T Bone Burnett, Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Randy Newman, Emmylou Harris to San Francisco ... Laurie Anderson concludes Delusion at BAM ... Ben Folds joins the Colorado Symphony ... The Black Keys play Seattle, Vancouver ... Wanda Jackson headlines Ruffneck Days ... Pat Metheny kicks off Orchestrion tour ... Dawn Upshaw joins Crash Ensemble in Dublin ... Sara Watkins plays Midwest ... and more ...

San Francisco's Golden Gate Park hosts the 10th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival this weekend, and several Nonesuch artists will be there performing: T Bone Burnett and Punch Brothers kick things off on Friday; Carolina Chocolate Drops are up next with a Saturday afternoon set on the Banjo Stage; and Randy Newman and Emmylou Harris close things out on Sunday. The San Francisco Chronicle calls Harris, who has performed every year, "the silver-haired poster girl for San Francisco's favorite annual live music event."

The Black Keys have kicked off their sold-out headlining tour, performing the first of two consecutive shows at the Hollywood Palladium last night. LA Weekly says Dan "Auerbach's guitar grabbed the crowd by the throat and refused to let go." Pat Carney's drumming "danced nimbly about like a lion tamer lovingly controlling his beast." Together, they "tore through a set that pleased both the purists and the newcomers ... Just two men making hot, dirty blues tunes that growled and crawled up the hips of every person in that place."

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby will co-headline "Liner Notes," an event at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in New York City on Tuesday, October 12 to explore the cross-pollination of music and literature while raising funds for Housing Works, a New York-based HIV/AIDS service organization. Presented by SPIN and moderated by the magazine’s deputy editor, Steve Kandell, the event will be broadcast SIRIUS XM radio in November.

Carolina Chocolate Drops honor Mike Seeger ... Laurie Anderson does Delusion at BAM ... The Black Keys launch headlining tour ... Emmylou Harris plays Ventura Hillsides benefit ... Wanda Jackson talks music at Oklahoma State ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica perform in Italy ... Kronos Quartet kicks off Berkeley's Fall Free for All! ... Randy Newman joins Louisville Orchestra ... Fernando Otero plays in NYC ... Mandy Patinkin performs Mamaloshen in Queens ... Punch Brothers play two Virginia shows ... Allen Toussaint continues Gulf Coast benefits with Neil Young ... and more ...