Natalie Merchant will give her first UK performance in over seven years at Conway Hall in London November 16, showcasing material from her forthcoming Nonesuch debut. The previous Friday, Natalie will join the London Jazz Festival Orchestra at the Barbican for the London Jazz Festival's Opening Night; a week later, she'll perform at the Crossing Border festival in The Hague. This Friday, UK fans can catch Natalie on a special episode of BBC Two's Newsnight.

Allen Toussaint and Amadou & Mariam are featured guests on the American broadcast of the famed UK performance show Later ... with Jools Holland. The episode, which previously aired in the UK, is being shown for the first time in the US tonight on the cable arts channel Ovation TV, at 9 PM. And tune in next month to catch The Carolina Chocolate Drops on the show November 5.

 

Wilco kicked off its North American tour last night at the University of Iowa and is at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota, tonight. The band stays on in St. Paul for a live broadcast performance of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor on Saturday. Wilco plays the annual Farm Aid benefit concert, which will be broadcast live on DIRECTV and online on Sunday. Jeff Tweedy tells the Austin Chronicle about the joy of playing live, connecting with the audience: "I can't find anything better than that. You can feel it when a song means something to people."

"If you asked a room full of music critics to list the greatest American rock bands performing today, chances are a large majority of them would mention Wilco," says CBS Sunday Morning in its profile of the band. Rolling Stone's Austin Scaggs tells CBS that Wilco's "got it all ... great lyrics, great melody, great emotion," placing Jeff Tweedy among the "true songwriters," like Bob Dylan.

Wilco is on the road in Europe, but US fans are getting some close-up time as well: a feature profile of the group is slated to air on CBS Sunday Morning this weekend. With the Europe tour closing next week in Dublin, Jeff Tweedy spoke with the Irish Times about the joys of making music, concluding: "Music is part of your life, and it enriches your perspective and appreciation for being alive."

Amadou & Mariam bring their US tour with Coldplay to a close tonight in St. Louis. Welcome to Mali, the couple's latest release, comes in at number six on SPIN's list of The 20 Best Albums of 2009 ... So Far. After tonight's final tour performance, the music keeps playing, as CNN's African Voices, airing Saturday, takes a closer look at the husband-and-wife musical team. With their "positive and mesmeric vocals and [Amadou] Bagayoko's guitar playing," says CNN, "the duo have been feted by musicians across the world." Learn why by watching this weekend.

Wilco was joined by Feist to sing "You and I" at Monday night's concert at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn and on Tuesday night's performance for the Late Show with David Letterman. Stereogum posts video of the latter and reports: "Jeff [Tweedy] and Feist enjoy a laid back but engaged rapport onstage that matches the dulcet mesh of their voices, one of those rare collaborative dynamics that enhances the song's meaning as much as it raises the song's profile." Billboard says of Monday's concert: "The sight was American rock 'n' roll at its finest, with one of the genre's most powerful live acts at the helm." WFUV's Rita Houston says: "Great show in a great setting on a beautiful night in Coney Island. Magic was all there."

Wilco, fresh off last night's rocking sold-out set at Coney Island's Keyspan Park, is set to perform on Late Show with David Letterman tonight. The group will play "You and I," the Wilco (the album) duet with Leslie Feist, who will join the band for the show, as she did on Coney Island last night. Following last week's concert at Wolf Trap, outside DC, the Washington Post says the band offered "something for everyone ... all delivered in the tightest possible package." France's Télérama gives the album a perfect "four keys." The Daily Telegraph gives four stars to the new album, "a collection of unflaggingly high-quality, Beatles-y tunes ... with a yearning, uplifting summery spirit." The Scotland Herald says, "The whole album is beautifully produced and suffused with a kind of mature smarts ... It's great to have them back, America's best band."

Wilco is in Los Angeles this week for a three-night stint of sold-out shows at the Wiltern Theatre. Before tomorrow's final set at the venue, the band is taking tonight to perform on a different stage, on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Tune in on NBC starting at 11:35 ET tonight to see the band perform "You Never Know" off the forthcoming Wilco (the album). Glide magazine gives the record four stars, saying, "with every new Wilco album, there is fortunately always something new to discover. And once again, the chances that Tweedy and Co. take ... don’t let us down," making it "another solid offering from one of America’s best bands."

Amadou & Mariam performed for a frenzied, sold-out crowd last night at New York's Webster Hall. They also stopped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to perform "Africa" off their new album, Welcome to Mali, on last night's episode, with The Roots' Black Thought. Last Saturday, the couple performed for a sold-out crowd in Boston. Reports the Boston Globe: "[I]f Amadou and Mariam each shone individually, they practically glowed when they performed together." Previewing tomorrow's show outside DC, the Washington City Paper describes the new album as "wonderful" and says it's "Amadou’s rhythms that drive their songs forward, and his joyous-feeling choruses that make the tunes transcendent."

Amadou & Mariam have made their way to NYC after playing a sold-out set at Boston's Paradise Rock Club on Saturday. While in New York to perform at Webster Hall tonight, the Malian couple will stop by the set of NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where they'll be joined by members of The Roots in performing a song off Welcome to Mali. The show airs tonight starting at 12:35 AM ET. The tour heads next to Philly, and then outside DC. The Washington Post Express calls the new album "the type of record that is so joyous and positive that it feels like it could bring together warring factions ... but it's really more of a sonic Evite to explore the diverse country in Northwest Africa."

Amadou & Mariam, having turned up the heat during their Welcome to Mali tour opener in Chicago on Tuesday, are set to do the same in Toronto tonight and Montreal tomorrow. Toronto's Globe and Mail spoke with Amadou about his life with Mariam and their love of Canada. The National Post describes the duo's live show: "Amadou unleashes sparkling licks on his gold electric guitar, and Mariam wails joyously and busts out infectious seated dance moves. The audience is rapt." Special offer for fans in NYC: enter to win seats surrounding the stage for the couple's Monday night appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.