Laurie Anderson brought her Homeland tour to The Egg in Albany, New York, this past Sunday and resumes the extensive tour at the Cullen Theater in Houston on October 10. The Albany Times-Union says the new piece "could well be seen as the provocative, pointedly political epilogue" to her monumental 1983 work United States, as well as "a full-fledged musical concert," with songs of "considerable political bite or incisive, poetic observations," and, in the case of "Mambo & Bling," also "laced with welcome humor."

Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile's self-titled debut duo album is due out tomorrow, and their month-long tour of the States in support of the record kicks off Thursday in Boulder, Colorado. New York Times critic Nate Chinen writes that, though "the mandolin ace" and "the accomplished bassist" first came together almost a decade ago as "prodigy with his mentor," the new collection "wisely presents them as equals," featuring "a busy dialogue between bluegrass and classical music, with blinding displays of dexterity as well as stretches of poplike lyricism."

Randy Newman's world tour got under way last week with stops at Carnegie Hall on Friday, Toronto's Convocation Hall on Saturday, and Boston's Symphony Hall on Sunday. Reviewing the Carnegie Hall show, New York magazine says that
Randy "sang about micro and macro American hypocrisy with more sharpness and poignancy than the combined works of Thomas Frank and Maureen Dowd." The Star-Ledger says "the droll raconteur provided more food for thought than a year's worth of media punditry, and he did it with soul." The Toronto Star calls Randy "a graduate cum laude of the master class of mid-1970s American musical poets" and says his latest album, Harps and Angels, "matches the caustic intelligence and musical virtuosity of his classic 1970s albums Sail Away and Good Old Boys." The Boston Globe calls Randy "pop's most incisive, sharp-witted satirist."

John Adams's latest opera, A Flowering Tree, receives its first recording with the Nonesuch release out Tuesday, followed by Hallelujah Junction, a two-CD Adams retrospective and memoirs of the same name. "Adams's sound-world is still expanding," writes The New Statesman. "In this, the composer's seventh decade, his musical fertility still springs anew." Pitchfork gives A Flowering Tree an 8.4, asserting: "There are few living American composers writing works as universal and relevant as John Adams—and that deserves everybody's attention." The Telegraph, in its review of the forthcoming book, declares: "A musician's memoir would probably not be your first choice for light reading, but make an exception for Hallelujah Junction."

Randy Newman's Harps and Angels tour began earlier this week in Peekskill, New York, and continues downstate with two performances in New York City: a free in-store set at the Apple Store in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood tonight at 7 PM and a concert at Carnegie Hall tomorrow. USA Today describes a track off the new album as "sublime even by Newman standards." The Richmond Times Dispatch gives the album four stars, declaring: "He’s still in a class of his own, and Harps and Angels is the kind of album that longtime fans really get to celebrate every few years ... He’s in great voice, and his songwriting strikes the right Newman mix of sweet/sour/scathing that makes Harps a record that could have landed just behind 1974’s classic Good Old Boys and seemed like a natural progression."

Sam Phillips continues her tour of the States with two stops in New York City this week: this evening, a free in-store performance and signing at Sound Fix in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and tomorrow night a concert at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village. The Washington Post says her recent concert, broadcast from Annapolis, Maryland, for NPR's All Songs Considered, was "attuned to the key of imagination ... filled with soulful musings, dreamy love songs, and dispatches from 'the edge of the world.'"

Sam Phillips is on the road with songs from her latest release, Don't Do Anything, as well as past favorites. The BBC says Sam makes "smokey, sassy, sultry, smart-as-a-whip" music, and the new album is "an album to get deliriously lost within." All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen introduced last night's live NPR.org concert broadcast from the tour by calling her songs "miniature pop jewels." The Albany Times Union, reviewing the previous show, says Sam's vocals make "her probing, intelligent lyrics and her vibrant melodies all the more powerful." Previewing tonight's show, the Philadelphia Inquirer describes Sam's sound as "a sophisticated confluence of Kurt Weill, Tom Waits and late-period Marianne Faithfull, without any florid excesses."

Laurie Anderson's Homeland returned to the States with a performance at the Lied Center on the Kansas University, Lawrence. The Lawrence Journal-World & News says it was "an extraordinary concert ... of hard-hitting cultural and political commentaries." Anderson offered these insights "with wit as well as with a broad and penetrating sense of wisdom," providing "an open-ended common ground upon which to construct a perhaps more thoughtful political discourse ..."

Emmylou Harris closed out the UK leg of her European tour this past weekend with stops in Manchester and London. Saturday's performance at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall led the Manchester Evening News to write: "Legend is a term hastily applied in these latter days of talent show revivalism. Emmylou Harris has quietly earned the right to bear the title ... Her clear voice has lost none of its beguiling power—varying from whisper to country power yodel." Following her London show at the Hammersmith Apollo, The Times (UK) described her as "a regal presence" who "sang like an angel."

Randy Newman's tune "A Piece of the Pie," from Harps and Angels, has made its way onto the Boston Globe's list of "The 1 Thing You Must Do, See, or Hear This Week" as "The 1 Great Election-Season Lyric." Calling the record "savagely patriotic," the paper states: "We could go on and on about Randy Newman's rapier wit, but his words speak for themselves." Randy hits the road this week, with a free in-store performance at New York's Apple Store SoHo and a show at Carnegie Hall. The New Yorker calls the new album "a welcome, witty throwback to the days when his songs were snide, ironic, edgy, controversial, and, oh yeah, really funny."

Bill Frisell played the closing sets last night in his two-week residency at New York's Village Vanguard, with Paul Motion and Joe Lovano. This week, Bill heads to Pennsylvania for two shows with Tony Scherr and Rudy Royston. All About Jazz reviews History, Mystery, the latest release from this master of the "haunting, twang-inflected telecaster," comparing to Miles Davis his ability to take the familiar in ever new directions. One reason: "his brilliant orchestrations and ability to streamline what could be an unwieldy ensemble."

Toumani Diabaté has just announced dates for a tour across the US, with music from his latest release, The Mandé Variations. Paste magazine says that with the new record, "Mali’s reigning musical magician uncorks another genie from his bottle ... Diabaté’s magic hands coax an amazing array of voices from his instrument." The Boston Globe calls Diabaté "the uncontested master of the 21-string lute called kora" who "presents his virtuosity in a whole different light" on the new record and tour.