The line-up for the 2013 Festival d’été de Québec, which runs July 4 to 14, has been announced and includes performances from The Black Keys on the Plains of Abraham and Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell at Parc de la Francophonie, as well as free sets from Dr. John, Amadou & Mariam, and Fatoumata Diawara at Place Metro in Place d’Youville.

Kronos Quartet and Laurie Anderson give the West Coast premiere of Anderson's Landfall at Stanford ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play festivals in Texas and North Carolina ... Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter tour Washington state ... Fatoumata Diawara traverses Texas to play iFest ... Dr. John is in Cleveland for Tri-C JazzFest ... Gidon Kremer joins Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra for three concerts ... Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau conclude their duo tour in Chicago and Austin ... Rokia Traoré concludes three-night Paris run ... and more ...

The line-up for the 2013 Luminato Festival in Toronto has been announced, and included among this year’s performers are Bombino, Amadou & Mariam, Laurie Anderson, and Carolina Chocolate Drops. All of these artists will give free concerts in David Pecaut Square at the Hub of the Festival, which runs from June 14 to 23. Among the Luminato Festival’s other highlights will be a multi-artist, two-night tribute to Joni Mitchell at Massey Hall.

Bombino continues a four-night stretch in Netherlands through the weekend on his just-launch European tour ... Carolina Chocolate Drops tour New England ... Jeremy Denk plays Beethoven, Bartók and Bach in Southern California ... Fatoumata Diawara heads from Minnesota to New Mexico ... Lianne La Havas concludes her US tour in DC, Atlanta and Nashville ... Iron and Wine plays a free set at Oklahoma University ... Natalie Merchant joins the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for three nights ... Steve Reich joins So Percussion at Cincinnati’s MusicNOW Festival ... Chris Thile, Brad Mehldau tour East Coast ... Rokia Traoré celebrates Beautiful Africa in Europe ... Dawn Upshaw performs in Austin ... and more ...

Nataly Dawn, who has been touring the United States in support of her critically acclaimed new album, How I Knew Her, will tour Europe for the first time this spring, including two UK headline shows in London and Nottingham and seven shows in the UK supporting Lord Huron. The European tour, which follows additional tour dates on the US West Coast later this month, also includes dates in France, Netherlands, and Germany. Tickets are on sale now.

Bombino, who made his Nonesuch Records debut with the release of his new album, Nomad, last week, has unveiled the official video for the album track “Azamane Tiliade.” The video, directed by Reid Long, premiered via Rolling Stone yesterday and is now on YouTube; watch it here. Rolling Stone says Bombino and producer Dan Auerbach "recorded raw, dialed-up jams rooted in the electric-blues tradition of Bombino’s nomadic, desert-dwelling Tuareg people." Bombino has kicked off a month-long European tour and launches a four-night run in the Netherlands tonight.

Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau kicked off a nine-city US duo tour with a sold-out performance at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom last night. "Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau come from different worlds but the same species, and whatever feels unlikely about their pairing is eclipsed by what feels perfectly natural," writes the New York Times' Nate Chinen. "At every turn, whatever the song, both musicians played with alert intelligence and deep sensitivity, only rarely entering competitive airspace," which then brought "an exhilarating rush." The tour continues with stops in Durham, College Park, Great Barrington, Boston, Knoxville, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Austin. 

Sara Watkins will join Garrison Keillor and the cast of A Prairie Home Companion on tour this summer for the Radio Romance Tour. In July and August, Watkins will join for the Northeast leg of their tour plus three shows in Michigan. Watkins joined Keillor and crew on their inaugural Summer Love tours in 2010 and 2011 and has been one of the most frequent guest artists on the Prairie Home Companion radio show. She recently performed "You and Me," off her album Sun Midnight Sun, for CMT Edge; watch it here.

Nonesuch Records labelmates mandolinist/singer Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau embark on a nine-city duo tour, beginning at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom tonight and includes stops in Durham, College Park, Great Barrington, Boston, Knoxville, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Austin. Their repertoire includes classical transcriptions, pop covers, and original songs. 

Kronos Quartet performs works by Steve Reich, Donnacha Dennehy, and Laurie Anderson in France ... Alarm Will Sound premieres Dennehy piece at Carnegie Hall ... Timothy Andres joins Gabriel Kahane at Library of Congress in DC ... The Black Keys close out Lollapalooza Chile and South American tour ... David Byrne's Here Lies Love continues in NYC ... Carolina Chocolate Drops tour Northeast ... Nataly Dawn heads to Texas ... Jeremy Denk is in New Mexico ... Fatoumata Diawara spans from Chicago to Austin ... Richard Goode plays Beethoven in San Francisco ... Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell close out US tour in Knoxville ... Lianne La Havas hits the Northeast ... Audra McDonald performs in Connecticut ... and more ...

Nataly Dawn, who is currently touring the US, recently appeared on WNYC's Soundcheck to perform a few songs from her new album, How I Knew Her, and talk with host John Schaefer. You can listen to the episode here. The latest video shot at the recording sessions for How I Knew Her at Prairie Sun Studios, for "Why Did You Marry," is now available to watch here as well, via Dawn's YouTube channel. 

The new musical of Here Lies Love, which explores the life of former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos, with concept and lyrics by David Byrne and music by Byrne and Fatboy Slim, receives its world premiere at the Public Theater in New York City tonight. The production, directed by Alex Timbers, will run through May 19. In 2010, Nonesuch Records released a double-disc recording of the song cycle of Here Lies Love, featuring Tori Amos, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper, Natalie Merchant, Florence Welch, Santigold, and St. Vincent; the Boston Globe calls it a "superb ... sumptuous double album."