Randy Newman's recent appearance on Words and Music from Studio A from New York's NPR member station WFUV is now available to stream on NPR Music at NPR.org. Newman performs songs from his latest Nonesuch release, Songbook Vol. 2, and talks with host Claudia Marshall about the project. "He is, simply, one of America's greatest songwriters," Marshall exclaims, "and the hour or so we spent together is among the most enjoyable radio interviews I've ever done." Newman launches his two-week tour of Australia this Friday.

Nonesuch Records releases Modern Music, a collaboration between pianists Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli, all longtime friends, on September 20, 2011. The album features pieces written by each of the three musicians as well as works by Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, and Philip Glass, performed by the two pianists in arrangements by Zimmerli. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an instant download of the title track.

Emmylou Harris brings her North American summer tour to NYC for a special performance, in which she joins the Levon Helm Band for a concert in Central Park to benefit SummerStage. She performs on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Tuesday night. "The Road," the opening track on her new album, Hard Bargain, is the Free MP3 of the Day today at MP3.com. The New York Times, recommending tonight's show, calls Harris "the reigning queen of smart, fluent Americana."

Carolina Chocolate Drops, Wanda Jackson, Emmylou Harris celebrate the Green River Festival's 25th ... Cleveland Orchestra pairs John Adams with Bruckner at Lincoln Center Festival ... Björk closes out Manchester Biophilia residency ... Ben Folds plays Vegas ... Kronos Quartet, Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman are in France ... k.d. lang hits the Appalachian Summer Fest ... Jessica Lea Mayfield goes Northwest with the Avett Brothers ... Punch Brothers perform in Winter Park ... Allen Toussaint celebrates Louisiana in Denver ... Sara Watkins joins the Paul F. Tompkins Show in LA ... and more ...

There's no denying The Black Keys' have kept themselves busy since the May 2010 release of their Grammy-winning album Brothers. Now the band tells SPIN that they've also recorded their next studio album. The new album, due out later this year on Nonesuch, was recorded in Dan Auerbach's studio in Nashville and produced by Danger Mouse. "It's the fastest we've ever played," Auerbach tells SPIN. "The new album doesn't sound like Brothers. It doesn't have that open soul feel to it. It's way more driving and the tempos are really fast."

Muscle Shoals Sound, the historic Alabama studio where The Black Keys recorded their Grammy-winning album Brothers, is featured in a new video from Oxford American's SoLost series. As with countless musicians who’d ventured there before them, The Black Keys were attracted to the legacy—and the atmosphere—of the studio. SoLost talks with Muscle Shoals owner Noel Webster about his work to "reclaim its original, irreproducible sound." Watch the piece and The Black Keys video shot at Muscle Shoals here.

John Adams is the guest on WNYC's Soundcheck today. He'll discuss the Lincoln Center Festival's Bruckner (R)evolution series, in which the Cleveland Orchestra "audaciously couples" (New York Times) his work with four of Anton Bruckner's symphonies. The series began last night, with his Guide to Strange Places, and continues tonight and Sunday with his Violin Concerto and Doctor Atomic Symphony. The Wall Street Journal, previewing the series, calls Adams "one of America's supreme composers." Watch Adams and Cleveland Music Director Franz Welser-Möst discuss Adams's "musical DNA" in a video here.

Emmylou Harris is the subject of a feature interview in Relix magazine, in which she discusses her new record, Hard Bargain, and the many unforgettable artistic collaborations Harris has made over the years, not least with Gram Parsons, about whom she wrote the album's opening track, "The Road." She is currently touring North America. Of her set at the Dave Matthews Band Caravan, the Chicago Tribune writes: "Achy, sympathetic and warm, Harris' quivering whippoorwill voice was the most effortlessly beautiful sound heard at the festival."

Chris Thile and Michael Daves have a number of live performances in the coming weeks, starting with a set at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival this Thursday. Audiophile Audition gives their album Sleep with One Eye Open a perfect five stars, saying: "If the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack raised the mainstream awareness of bluegrass, then Sleep with One Eye Open delivers on its promise." Sequenza21 calls it "beautifully simple ... an object lesson in how to do it right."

Laurie Anderson recently participated in a lecture/performance and discussion at the Venice Biennale titled "A Short Talk on Places." She also sat down for a video interview on a wide range of subjects, including technology, music, the cultural ties that connect the world's cities, the art scene, the nature of dreams, the power of language, and her husband, Lou Reed. Watch the talk and the interview here. Laurie Anderson performs at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival in NYC next month.

The Black Keys will be among the headliners at the Virgin Mobile Freefest, taking place September 10 in Maryland. The line-up also includes TV on the Radio, Cee Lo Green, Patti Smith, and more. Free tickets will be given out this Friday. Despite heavy rain at the Ottawa Bluesfest last Friday, The Black Keys' audience was given "a night for the Bluesfest history books," says the Ottawa Citizen. The National Post, reviewing Thursday's show at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre says: "The set is bigger. The lights are bigger. But it’s their sound and their showmanship, which used to rattle the walls of little clubs, that is now shaking stadiums."

John Adams is "this summer's hottest composer," says Q2, with recent stagings of two of his operas and, this week, a Lincoln Center Festival series in which the Cleveland Orchestra pairs his orchestral works with Bruckner symphonies. Watch Adams and Cleveland Music Director Franz Welser-Möst discuss the creative process in a video here. Tune in to Q2's The New Canon for a live chat about Adams with soprano Jessica Rivera (A Flowering Tree) and flautist Eric Lamb (Son of Chamber Symphony).