Tell My Sister, the three-disc set of newly remastered editions of Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Dancer with Bruised Knees, and a third disc of demos, receives four stars in the Irish Times, which says of the self-titled debut: "Its timeless melodies, shimmering voices, songs of honest pain, vulnerability and simple joy and its unabashed pride in roots parlour-room music make it a desert-island disc." Anna McGarrigle talks with the Montreal Gazette about the new collection and hearing her late sister's voice on the demos. “She sounds so fierce in it ... The energy that woman had was so amazing.”

Ben Folds has three more shows in his Australian tour, before heading to Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea. He spoke with 774 ABC Melbourne radio about working with Nick Hornby on their album Lonely Avenue, which The Australian calls "a fine ensemble of adult pop songs ... He has a gift for seizing on the minutiae of everyday life and wrapping them in well-crafted melodies." The Brisbane Times says: "The musician's feel for the rhythm and emotional arc of a good story perfectly complements the novelist's lyrics."

Emmylou Harris will serve along with Tennessee's Governor and First Lady as honorary co-chairs for the 73rd Annual National Folk Festival in Nashville over Labor Day weekend. The festival is free. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reviewing her new album, says: "Few weave stories like Emmylou Harris. Her Hard Bargain is a collection of tales that can make us feel whole again." The Boston Phoenix says Harris is "still singing and writing beautifully after all these years ... Hard Bargain is a gorgeous album."

k.d. lang will appear on the Tavis Smiley show on PBS tonight to discuss Sing it Loud, her new album with the Siss Boom Bang. "Refusing to be labeled," says the show, "k.d. lang has used her expressive voice to build an impressive music career across genres." lang and the band recently performed songs from the new album before a live audience in an intimate set broadcast on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday; you can now watch it in full online.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves are in the midst of their US tour, performing songs from their debut album, Sleep with One Eye Open. The Daily Telegraph gives the album four stars, calling Thile and Daves "a fine vocal duo ... but even more astonishing is their instrumental virtuosity." The Sunday Herald says that "whether they’re working their fingers to the bone or singing their hearts out, this is music of wonderful vitality." Birmingham says "the duo captures the vigorous vibe of the bluegrass jams that originally drew them together and the raucous nature of lives that often inspire such tunes."

Randy Newman performs "Losing You," off his new album, Songbook Vol. 2., on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight on NBC. The Observer says: "'Losing You' is a reminder of what a poignant musician Newman can be. Since his self-titled debut in 1968 he has remained in the highest rank of American lyricists, alongside Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell." Songbook is "a reminder of his singular gifts and enviable longevity."

The celebration of Kate McGarrigle's music continued for a second night at New York's Town Hall on Friday. The New York Times says her "extended musical family and a quietly magnificent catalog" were both featured. She "wrote 20th-century parlor songs: folksy-sounding, latter-day descendants of Stephen Foster tunes, hymns, waltzes and popular arias ... bold and sophisticated, musically and emotionally." Rolling Stone calls the concert "an extraordinarily moving night of music." Entertainment Weekly says: "In spite of the sobering loss, the audience received firsthand evidence that the loving wit Kate personified still lives on through her family."

Donnacha Dennehy's Nonesuch debut album, Grá agus Bás, is "a serious exploration of an Irish folk-music idiom, teased out into a range of fresh sounds," says the Washington Post, which describes the title piece as "an ecstatic vision set in a dreamscape of sound" and says Dawn Upshaw, featured on the song cycle That the Night Come, "has another winner here."Audiophile Audition gives the album four-and-a-half stars, calling it "an absolutely mesmerizing introduction" to Dennehy's music. "This music is nearly impossible to describe. You simply must experience it ..."

Wanda Jackson helped kick off the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's new exhibit, Women Who Rock, in a performance at the Museum's annual spring benefit concert on Saturday. "Jackson got the party started with a feisty set," says the Cleveland Plain Dealer. WEWS calls the concert "a smash hit." Jackson's set was "perfect" and "the exhibit is a must-see," says Huffington Post. "She is called the 'Queen of Rockabilly' but that tag isn't big enough for her pivotal role in music history and in the exhibit."

Kronos Quartet was in Glasgow, Scotland, this past weekend for Kronos in Glasgow, a mini-festival in which Kronos was joined by special guest collaborators, hand-picked by the Quartet, for an international program of events taking place all weekend across Glasgow's Concert Halls. The Herald Scotland gives a perfect five stars to Friday's main Kronos concert in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, which featured "Reich's remarkable multi-layered response to 9/11." STV calls the concert "a triumph ... nothing less than entrancing and massively entertaining from start to finish."

James Farm, the collaborative band featuring Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman, and Eric Harland, launches its world tour this weekend in Tel Aviv, Israel. The tour continues over the next month with performances throughout Europe, before returning to the States for four-nights at NY's Jazz Standard plus summer festival sets at Caramoor, Newport, and Monterey. "The power from these four dynamos throbs beneath the surface," says Arts Journal. Their "album has a fine balance between peacefulness and strength."

Kate McGarrigle, who died of sarcoma last year, will be celebrated in a two-night tribute at New York’s Town Hall tonight and tomorrow, with performances by her children Martha and Rufus Wainwright, her sister Anna, Emmylou Harris, Antony Hegarty, Norah Jones, Teddy Thompson, and others. Tell My Sister, a three-disc set comprising Kate & Anna McGarrigle's first two albums plus previously unreleased songs, is out now. The Philadelphia Inquirer says it "captures the McGarrigles in their prime, when they made their own brand of frisky, tough-minded, and sexy folk music."