Laurie Anderson gives a free performance with bassist/producer Bill Laswell at Castle Clinton in NYC's Battery Park tonight as part of the River to River Festival. "Many musicians might bill a performance as a chance to 'build on new ideas and forms,'" says the Wall Street Journal, "but few could make as good on the prospect as Laurie Anderson and Bill Laswell." The New York Times describes the performers as "unusually fearless; expect something high-concept and possibly explosive."

The Black Keys kicked off their trans-Canadian summer tour with sold-out shows in Vancouver and Calgary. There are several more sold-out Canadian dates to follow in the coming weeks, plus a few select shows in the US. Band mates Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are "in top shape," says the Vancouver Sun of Monday's tour launch. "The Black Keys are a better band than they've ever been ... Auerbach and Carney just nailed it." Vancouver's Straight calls it "a blistering, glorious motherf*cker of a set."

Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and her fellow stars of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) production of the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier, are coming to Broadway following the A.R.T. run in Cambridge and McDonald's own US fall concert tour. The Broadway production will open at the Richard Rodgers Theater on January 12, with previews beginning on December 17.

Jessica Lea Mayfield kicks off her extensive US summer tour with a free set in Chicago's Grant Park this evening for Taste of Chicago. The tour will take Mayfield across the States, including several shows out West with the Avett Brothers, a performance with Punch Brothers, sets at Bumbershoot and the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and a concert supporting John Prine. Metromix names her one of the 25 hottest artists under 25, saying her new album, Tell Me, is "like Loretta Lynn fronting the Bad Seeds."

The Black Keys kick off their trans-Canadian summer tour with a sold-out show outside Vancouver tonight and several more sold-out Canadian dates to follow, plus a few select shows in the States. “Canada loves The Black Keys,” exclaims the Vancouver Sun. Dan Auerbach tells the Toronto Sun: “I’m really excited. We’ve got sort of a big set up, bigger than we’ve ever had.” Following their recent MuchMusic Video Awards performance, the Vancouver Sun proclaimed their set the best of the night, calling the band a “refreshing change of pace.” Check out the video of how tonight's tour poster was made.

The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis concludes its production of John Adams's "gripping and eerily beautiful" (AP) The Death of Klinghoffer ... Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Emmylou Harris perform at the ROMP festival in Kentucky ... Punch Brothers and Chocolate Drops play DMB Caravan in Atlantic City ... Laurie Anderson brings Transitory Life to the Cork Midsummer Fest ... Wanda Jackson performs on NPR's Mountain Stage ... k.d. lang plays the Ottawa Jazz Fest ... The Low Anthem hits the European festival circuit ... Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman duo at Montreal Jazz ... Allen Toussaint plays Stanford Jazz Fest ... and more ...

The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Punch Brothers will be among the performers at the first of four Dave Matthew Band Caravan festivals this summer, which takes place this weekend at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Caravan pulls up in Chicago July 8–10 for the second three-day festival, with Emmylou Harris and Ben Folds performing. The Chocolate Drops, Punch Brothers, and Harris are all playing the ROMP bluegrass and roots music festival in Owensboro, Kentucky, this weekend.

The 2011 ROMP (River of Music Party) Bluegrass Roots & Branches Festival kicks off today at Yellow Creek Park in Owensboro, Kentucky, and continues through the weekend, with three Nonesuch artists scheduled to perform as festival headliners: Punch Brothers on Friday and Carolina Chocolate Drops and Emmylou Harris on Saturday. Each Punch Brothers band member will also lead a ROMP festival workshop targeted to his instrument.

Randy Newman will perform at the new ACL Live at Austin's Moody Theater on September 19; the show will be recorded for future broadcast on PBS's Austin City Limits, launching its 37th season this fall. American Songwriter gives his new album four-and-a-half stars. "You can hardly make a better case that songs can be the equal of any art form than the classics on display in The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2. The album is essential listening for those who care about American music (not just the popular variety)." The Los Angeles Times says that, "like a Picasso line drawing, he can convey mountains of emotion with the simplest of notes, chords and melodic lines ... In committing the bare bones versions to disc, he's preserved them for the ages, which is where they belong."

Chris Thile and Michael Daves will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck on Wednesday, July 20, performing before a live audience at WNYC's Greene Space in downtown Manhattan. Later that night, the duo head out to Brooklyn to perform at the Bell House. Rolling Stone calls the debut album from "mandolin God Chris Thile" and "hot-shit Brooklyn guitarist Michael Daves" a "ridiculously blazing set ... The uptempo jams are wild-picking shred fests, and the ballads cut deep."

Kronos Quartet will give the NY premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11, for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2011 Next Wave Festival, with four nights of performances at the BAM Harvey Theatre, September 21–24, featuring special guests the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, conducted by Dianne Berkun. Watch a preview video here. Next Wave Season Tickets are on sale to the general public now.

Jessica Lea Mayfield's Tell Me tops the Los Angeles Times list of the best records released so far in 2011. "The British-born Adele may be getting all the attention for her merging of soul, rock, r&b and country," says the Times, "but another young singer, Jessica Lea Mayfield, has released an equally assured Muscle Shoals-inspired soul album ... Mayfield’s ability to capture private vignettes and draw them with unguarded honesty makes Tell Me essential listening. It’s rough and honest, strong but also delicate and vulnerable." Mayfield is set to launch her US summer tour next week and has added several new dates through September.