The Carolina Chocolate Drops were on NPR's Fresh Air earlier this week, talking with Terry Gross and performing songs off Genuine Negro Jig. WNYC's Soundcheck names the album among its CD Picks of the Week. The Winnipeg Free Press gives it four stars, citing the "definite feel-good vibe." The Huffington Post reports from the Chicago show that the band "wrapped you in the sheer joy of this music played out loud."

Punch Brothers play Paducah ... Alarm Will Sound joins Dirty Projectors in LA ... Laurie Anderson does Delusion at Williams College ... Carolina Chocolate Drops tour the Midwest ... Christina Courtin opens in Arizona ... Bill Frisell's at Blue Note ... Richard Goode is in Italy ... Kronos completes four nights in SF ... Low Anthem opens for Avett Brothers ... Magnetic Fields do Noise Pop ... Pat Metheny plays Poland, where Orchestrion is gold ... Joshua Redman opens SFJazz spring season ... Wilco conquers Quebec ... and more ...

The Magnetic Fields have been in the Pacific Northwest all week performing for sold-out crowds in Portland and Seattle. Seattle Weekly called the first Seattle show "a night filled with uncommonly brilliant artistry." The band heads next to the Bay Area for two Noise Pop festival shows in Oakland and San Francisco, a DJ set from Stephin Merritt at Amoeba, and a sneak preview of the documentary on the band, Strange Powers.

Ali and Toumani, the second and final duo album from Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, is out now. Vanity Fair's verdict is "Buy It," saying the pairing "makes for intoxicating and seductive tracks that we all should consider a privilege to add to our record collections." PopMatters gives it a 9 out of 10, calling it "a complete triumph ... profound and powerful." Metro rates the album a perfect five stars, calling it "effortlessly soulful."

Today marks the start of the Carolina Chocolate Drops' US tour, featuring music from the band's Nonesuch debut, Genuine Negro Jig, which landed at No. 1 on Billboard's Bluegrass chart. "To paraphrase Rakim’s immortal words," says Paste, "these Drops ain’t no joke." They are, in a phrase, "the genuine article." There's also a Q&A with band members in North Carolina's Yes! Weekly and a recent appearance on BBC Radio 3's World on 3.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops begin their US tour in Danville, Indiana, this Thursday, playing music from their Nonesuch debut, Genuine Negro Jig, and have now added a number of new dates, including a return to the Black Banjo Gathering, where they first met in 2005. The AP says, "The Carolina Chocolate Drops rise above easy classification ... using the blues as filtered through the unique Piedmont string band movement as a stepping stone to something more," calling Rhiannon Giddens' voice "a revelation, both modern and timeless."

Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté's second and final album together, Ali and Toumani, is out now. The Los Angeles Times calls it "an early contender for the warmest, most life-affirming listen of 2010." The Globe and Mail gives it four stars, hearing a "musical state of grace." The Philadelphia Daily News gives the album an A, calling it "a thing of gossamer beauty ... haunting, genteel, intricate and magical." The Lexington Herald-Leader says it showcases "the hushed, rootsy spiritualism of two pioneers who fashioned the majestic music of West Africa for the world."

Wilco's Trans-Canada tour, a.k.a. the Tundra Tour, is under way with a performance in Hamilton, Ontario, tonight, and is being marked with the poster at left. The band has also added five tour dates in Germany this September. Last weekend's trio of sold-out sets in the Midwest included Wilco's being named an honorary Duluth band by the city's mayor and a show in Madison that The A.V. Club says confirmed: "This version of Wilco is simply the most reliable working rock band we have today."

Out now is Ali and Toumani, the second and last album pairing Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté. NPR's All Songs Considered calls it "breathtaking." The Philadelphia Inquirer gives it four stars, calling it a "moving, peerlessly beautiful album." The New Jersey Star-Ledger says there is "a timeless depth, a gentle profundity" to it. "It’s irresistible." Dusted calls it "timeless" and "transcendent." Popdose says: "You’ll feel it speak to you on a level few pieces of music ever reach."

The Joshua Redman Trio performs at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Center on Sunday. The trio appears on Compass, Redman's latest Nonesuch release, which the Washington Post says "easily ranks among his most rewarding." DCist says, "The music is challenging, but remains accessible even to the untrained ear." The Washington City Paper insists the trio has "one of the surest and most intoxicating sense of melody you’ve ever heard."

Laurie Anderson unveiled her latest multimedia piece, Delusion, at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre this week as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad. "Delusion ranks with Anderson’s best," says the Georgia Straight. It is, above all, "smart, funny, emotionally engaging, and flat-out beautiful—in short, everything you’d expect from an artist of Anderson’s stature and reputation."

Following The Magnetic Fields' sold-out show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, NPR's Carrie Brownstein reported that she "left the concert feeling lucky that The Magnetic Fields exist." That same night, the band's latest Nonesuch release, Realism, was the subject of a feature on NPR's All Things Considered including an interview with the band's Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson and a solo performance from Merritt.