Randy Newman performs three song off his newly release Songbook Vol. 2 on BBC Two's Later ... with Jools Holland tonight: "Birmingham," "Laugh and Be Happy," and "Same Girl." Newman posed on the set for the photo at left with fellow guest Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. He appeared on the BBC World Service show The Strand last night and is on BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris Sunday this weekend. Newman performs on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday; enter to win up-close seats to the NYC performance.

The Metropolitan Opera's premiere production of John Adams's Nixon in China, conducted by the composer and staged by director Peter Sellars in their Met debuts, will air on PBS on Wednesday, June 1, at 9 PM ET, as part of THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met series. Watch a preview here. To coincide with the Met premiere of Nixon in China, Nonesuch Records reissued the Grammy-winning original cast recording in a newly redesigned three-CD set, available now.

Randy Newman's Songbook Vol. 2 is out today on Nonesuch. On the new album, Newman takes a fresh look at both classic and more recent work in new solo takes on 16 of his celebrated songs, surveying 40 years of recordings. MusicOMH calls it "an invigorating celebration of the power of music, and a delicate declaration of the power of one man and his piano." Newman performs on Later ... with Jools Holland this Friday and on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday.

Randy Newman's Songbook Vol. 2 is out on Nonesuch next week."Newman never sounds more quintessentially Newman than when experienced, as here, alone at the piano," says the Independent four-star review, "with the lyrical intricacies and ironies of his songs dependent on just his laconic delivery and trenchant accompaniment for their effect." Newman appeared on BBC One TV's The One Show, where sand artist Jamie Wardley designed the sand rendering of Newman pictured here.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang performed two songs from their new album, Sing it Loud, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this week: "I Confess" and "Sugar Buzz." Watch them here. Also this week, lang appeared on The Monocle Weekly. The BBC says the album is "instantly striking," with songs that are "rich, masterful and seductive." The LA Times, reviewing last weekend's Stagecoach festival, describes lang as "wondrous," and her "performance provided an eminently satisfying conclusion."

Audra McDonald helps Carnegie Hall celebrate its 120th birthday as part of an all-star gala benefit concert tonight featuring the New York Philharmonic, performing songs by Duke Ellington. Pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Gil Shaham, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma join the Philharmonic as guest soloists in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, and the orchestra performs Dvorák’s Carnival Overture and Gershwin’s An American in Paris. The concert will air on PBS’s Great Performances on May 31.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang are musical guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight on ABC and will perform a song off their new album, Sing it Loud. Tonight's performance comes one night after lang and the band closed out the Stagecoach festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. They launch their summer tour at the end of this month, starting in the UK, then return home for a North American tour in June. The Ottawa Citizen gives the new album four stars, saying: "Rarely has lang sounded more engaged and been more engaging than on this collection of pop and country-inflected tunes."

Emmylou Harris performed "Six White Cadillacs," off her new album, Hard Bargain, on the Late Show with David Letterman last night. Letterman called her "an icon, one of the greats, if not the best in country music and, just generally, popular music as far as a composer and a singer and an artist." She performed the album's title track on the Today show this morning. Yahoo! Music's Ram Country series features a video interview with Harris and performances of three songs off the album: "Six White Cadillacs," "Home Sweet Home," and "Darlin' Kate." Watch all of these videos here.

Emmylou Harris celebrated the release of her new album, Hard Bargain, with a special performance of the complete album at NY's Bowery Ballroom last night. She performs "Six White Cadillacs" on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight and will appear on the Today show tomorrow morning. NPR's Fresh Air calls the new album "the most eclectic and loose-fitting album Emmylou Harris has made in a long time," one that "deserves a wider audience." WNYC's Soundcheck names it a Pick of the Week.

Emmylou Harris performed songs from her forthcoming album, Hard Bargain, at LA's El Rey Theatre last night, with Ryan Adams offering a surprise guest opening set. She performs at New York's Bowery Ballroom with another surprise special guest opener on Tuesday. Harris appeared on PBS's Tavis Smiley show earlier this week. "Harris is admired as much for her straightforward songwriting as for her expressive singing," says the show. "Forty years into her career, she's still doing both with ... Hard Bargain." Watch the show here.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang bring to a close their weeklong celebration of the UK release of their new album, Sing it Loud, with an appearance from lang on The Graham Norton Show tonight on BBC One and an encore presentation of their performance on Later ... With Jools Holland tonight on BBC Two. Last night, BBC Radio 2 In Concert aired a full concert from lang and the band; watch "I Confess" from the show here and see a whole gallery of photos from the event at nonesuch.com/media.

Emmylou Harris's will appear on PBS's Tavis Smiley tonight to discuss her career and her new album, Hard Bargain, out Tuesday. "Harris is admired as much for her straightforward songwriting as for her expressive singing," says the show. "Forty years into her career, she's still doing both with ... Hard Bargain." She performs on three BBC Radio shows in the coming days. The Daily Mail gives the album four stars, calling it " a wonderfully immediate collection." Billboard says she still "a still-luminous voice that can make the phone book sound like Puccini." Fans in the US can enter to win an Epiphone EJ-200 signed by Harris.