James Farm and their self-titled debut album are featured on NPR's All Things Considered today. "New bands don't come along every day in jazz," says NPR's Tom Moon. "But listen to these unusual compositions, and to the lively exchanges that erupt inside of them. Even though these players can only make a partial commitment of time to James Farm, they're fully committed musically." The Los Angeles Times says: "While the term 'supergroup' may be a loaded concept, it's hard not to consider James Farm one ... The new ground covered by [Joshua] Redman and cohorts casts a spell of its own."

Randy Newman is the guest on Words and Music from Studio A from New York's NPR member station WFUV tonight. Newman performs songs from his new album, Songbook Vol. 2, and talks with host Claudia Marshall about the project, which takes a fresh look at both classic and more recent work in new solo takes on 16 of his celebrated songs. Newman is the subject of a week-long series of articles from Filter, which says of the Songbook albums: "These stripped-down versions expose the complexity of Newman’s piano phrasing and put his lyrics at the forefront."

Jessica Lea Mayfield is the guest on today's episode of NPR's World Cafe. She and her band perform four songs off her new album, Tell Me, and Mayfield talks with the show's host, David Dye, about the album, which was produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. Mayfield is currently on a cross-country tour of the United States. Starting this coming Sunday, Mayfield joins up with The Avett Brothers for more than a week's worth of tour dates out West.

Wanda Jackson's performance on NPR's Mountain Stage will be broadcast on public radio stations across the US this weekend. Jackson's set includes several songs from her Jack White-produced album The Party Ain't Over. Also featured on the program are Jimmie Dale Gilmore & the Wronglers, Joe Ely, the New Rope String Band, and Carolyn Wonderland. Catch a preview of Jackson's set and go backstage for an interview with the Queen of Rockabilly in a video posted here.

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."

James Farm kicked off its four-night residency at New York's Jazz Standard last night with two stellar sets featuring songs from their self-titled debut album. The band stopped by WNYC's Soundcheck earlier this week to discuss and perform songs off the new record. You can listen to the segment and watch the band perform "Polliwog" in a video from the show here. You can also listen to a bonus web exclusive performance from the session of "Bijoux."

James Farm, featuring Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman, and Eric Harland, is today's guest on WNYC's Soundcheck. The quartet sets up shop at the NY's Jazz Standard this week for a four-night residency. The New York Times says the band members "share a fondness for sleek convolution and introspective groove. As on their impressive new debut, self-titled and on the Nonesuch label, they’ll reach here for a cohesive and conscientiously eclectic sound."

Kronos Quartet will be the featured guests on CBC radio arts program Q Wednesday morning. Kronos will be joined on the program by pipa virtuoso Wu Man, who also joins the group in the fourth and final concert of its residency at the Luminato Festival in Toronto Wednesday night. The concert features the Canadian premiere of the multimedia piece A Chinese Home. The Toronto Star says of Sunday's free outdoor concert from Kronos: "This is what makes Luminato special."

Randy Newman is the guest on American Public Media's Dinner Party Download this weekend, the show's 100th episode. The Christian Science Monitor says of Newman's latest album, Songbook Vol. 2: "As a gift to us and the world at large, Newman has recorded his sardonic, hilarious, and often moving repertoire in the studio, solo at the keys ... the next best thing to seeing this unique artist and American treasure live."

Composers Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, and Philip Glass, and Nonesuch Records President Robert Hurwitz have all contributed to the BBC Radio 3 documentary 50 Years of Minimalism in Music, which aired this past Saturday night. They and a number of other music pioneers spoke with American conductor Richard Bernas in this look back at five decades of Minimalism, "the musical language of our time." The program is available online at bbc.co.uk.

Timothy Andres will appear on today's episode of The New Canon on Q2, the online stream from New York's WQXR dedicated to new music, along with fellow composer/performer Gabriel Kahane, to discuss the blurring line between classical and pop musics. The show will also include recordings of their music, as well as that of Sufjan Stevens and Chris Thile. Andres will perform a solo concert at Brooklyn's Bargemusic on Thursday.

Jonny Greenwood's orchestral piece Doghouse, featuring music used in his Norwegian Wood film score, received its US premiere in concerts with works by Philip Glass and György Ligeti at the NY Society for Ethical Culture last weekend. The concert is now available online at npr.org. "As with so much of Glass' output, there's something innately cinematic about Greenhouse's work," says NPR, "as well as a regal self-containment that evokes his hero Ligeti and is matched with a thrillingly dark tension." NPR calls it a concert "rich with ideas and emotions." The New York Times calls Doghouse "consistently involving."