Sara Watkins kicked off her tour with The Decemberists last week and continues through the coming months. Prior to the launch of the tour, Watkins was given the very special opportunity to serve as guest host of the beloved radio show A Prairie Home Companion. Her appearance on WNYC's Soundcheck, in which she discusses her guest-hosting gig, was originally slated to air last week but will air today instead.

The Black Keys will be the guests on today's episode of NPR's Fresh Air to talk about their music, not least their latest Nonesuch release, 2010's Brothers, which is nominated in six categories at next month's Grammy Awards and recently garnered the band a Gold record. On The Black Keys' tour schedule are two sold-out shows in Las Vegas and the Coachella festival. Rolling Stone placed Patrick Carney at No. 3 among the 50 Top Tweeters in Music.

Tune in to NPR's Fresh Air today to hear Wanda Jackson's 2003 interview on the show. Consequence of Sound gives Jackson's new Jack White-produced album four stars, saying "The Party Ain’t Over proves to be a bold success." The Louisville Courier-Journal calls Jackson "the hottest thing that ever came out of Oklahoma, counting oil-well fires and Wayne Coyne," and says with her new album, she "proves there's no age limit on fun." Jackson gives a free concert in her hometown of Oklahoma City tonight.

With just over a week to go before the Metropolitan Opera premiere of John Adams's Nixon in China and the Nonesuch reissue of the original cast recording, Q2— the online new-music stream of New York public radio station WQXR—celebrated last week with a weeklong immersion in long-form works by the composer. The series proved so popular, Q2 will air an encore presentation starting today, featuring El Niño, A Flowering Tree, Doctor Atomic Symphony, Nixon in China, and The Death of Klinghoffer.

Wanda Jackson's new Jack White-produced album, The Party Ain't Over, is due out January 25; until then, you can listen to the album streaming in its entirety as an NPR First Listen on npr.org. "Jackson's partnership with White proves to be exciting and imaginative, but also entirely appropriate," says NPR. "Both musicians are true innovators who set a new standard for cool. It's like hearing a collaboration between 1958 and 2011, and they get along great."

Sara Watkins is no stranger to NPR's A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. She has appeared as a guest on the show several times and joined Keillor and cast on tour last summer. This weekend, Watkins embarks on a historic first for both her and the show as its first-ever guest host. "I've never gotten to see the show myself," says Keillor. "I've always been standing in the wings and thinking about what I'm supposed to do next. For once in my life, I want to stand in the back of the hall and watch for a few minutes. And Sara is a smart and funny and hugely gifted young woman." Watkins calls it "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Carter Burwell will be the guest on Soundcheck from New York public radio station WNYC today. In today's episode, titled The Western Frontier, Burwell talks about his score for True Grit, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen starring Jeff Bridges, and the 19th-century hymns that inspired it. Also on the air today, the Coen brothers will appear on NPR's Fresh Air to discuss the new film.

The Low Anthem will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck today, performing songs from their forthcoming album, Smart Flesh. The band is in New York to play a sold-out concert for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, then heads West to perform at the Sundance Film Festival and to Los Angeles for a show with Iron & Wine. Following an intimate set for a home-state crowd this past weekend, the Visible Voice blog says Ben Knox Miller "is leading the pack in a new generation of songwriters."

Youssou N'Dour has been named among the world's 50 Great Voices according to NPR, a diverse list that also includes Björk, Asha Bhosle, Billie Holiday, Maria Callas, Robert Plant, and dozens of others—"awe-inspiring vocalists from around the world and across time." On NPR's All Things Considered, contributor Banning Eyre says that throughout his long and varied career, "N'Dour has remained on top, without question Senegal's most beloved singer."

Sara Watkins and her brother Sean were featured on NPR's Folk Alley over the holiday week. Sara discussed the many projects with she has been involved since her earliest days in Nickel Creek, not least her 2009 self-titled Nonesuch debut album, from which the two perform a number of songs live. She will guest-host A Prairie Home Companion on January 15 and will tour with The Decemberists starting later this month.

AfroCubism was featured on NPR's All Things Considered on Sunday. "The group features musicians from Cuba and Mali," says host Guy Raz, "and it's a kind of hybrid of the best sounds from these two musical traditions." Guest Betto Arcos of Global Village says "every song is just fantastic." AfroCubism makes the year's best lists in the Boston Globe, as does David Byrne/Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love and The Black Keys' Brothers, which tops a Minneapolis Star Tribune list. The Star Tribune 's classical music critic lists Steve Reich's Double Sextet / 2x5 and Gidon Kremer's De Profundis. The Los Angeles Times picks Brad Mehldau's Highway Rider among the best in jazz.

Stephen Sondheim was the subject of a feature article in the Guardian, in which he discusses is his first-ever book of collected lyrics, Finishing the Hat, which has topped many a year's-best list, not least the New York Times Sunday Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2010. Finishing the Hat is the Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4; Sondheim will read from it throughout the week. He was on The Colbert Report last week. His 80th birthday concert makes the Minneapolis Star Tribune's list of the Top 10 TV Moments of the Year, topping the year's "great musical moments."