The Low Anthem began their US spring tour last night with the first of several sold-out shows with Iron and Wine. This weekend, The Low Anthem can also be heard on NPR stations across the country as their recent performance on Mountain Stage premieres; Lucinda Williams is also on the show. The band closed out its European tour at a sold-out show at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, to which the Guardian and the Independent both gave four stars. You can now watch the video for "Boeing 737" here.

Carolina Chocolate Drops were featured on Wisconsin Public Television's 30-Minute Music Hour last Saturday. You can watch the performance here. The band is launching a worldwide campaign to find the perfect Carolina Chocolate Drops logo to be included in their new summer merchandise. Everyone is encouraged to enter; fans will be able to vote on the top five designs.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang have moved the celebration of their new album's release to the East Coast, performing "I Confess," the opening track to Sing it Loud, on Good Morning America this morning, which you can watch here, and appearing on The View tomorrow. They perform the entire album at New York's Poisson Rouge tonight. USA Today says "lang ranks among our finest purveyors of dreamy, creamy, country-tinged torch songs, picking up the mantle from Roy Orbison and Peggy Lee with these perfect vehicles for her vibrant voice." KCRW named the album's title track yesterday's Top Tune, saying lang "sounds as strong as ever." The Arts Desk has named Sing it Loud Album of the Day, and MusicOMH gives it four stars.

The Black Keys have been nominated for three Billboard Music Awards: Top Alternative Artist and Top Rock Album and Top Alternative Album for their album Brothers. The guys are back on the road, performing at the Mesa Amphitheatre tonight. They play the first of several upcoming festival headlining appearances at Coachella tomorrow, which will be webcast live on YouTube. Additional upcoming performances include headlining sets at The Hangout Festival, Summerfest, Bonnaroo, and Outside Lands. Check out a behind-the-scenes look at their unforgettable "Howlin' for You" video here.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that Amadou & Mariam have been appointed Ambassadors against Hunger to raise awareness among Europeans of the problem of global hunger and efforts by WFP and the European Union to combat it. The duo has just returned from Haiti, where they visited WFP projects funded by the EU and performed a concert with Haitian musicians.

Emmylou Harris's new album, Hard Bargain, is due out on Nonesuch April 26, less than two weeks away. A deluxe edition includes a DVD featuring six performances interspersed with interviews. The video for "Goodnight Old World," from the deluxe edition of the album, received its exclusive world premiere on CMT this morning. You can watch the video, directed by Jack Spencer, here.

Dawn Upshaw and Donnacha Dennehy are in the midst of a seven-day workshop at Carnegie Hall, mentoring composers and singers, with two culminating performances this weekend. The New Yorker's Alex Ross has Dennehy's forthcoming album, Grá agus Bás, in current rotation. The Baltimore Sun describes Upshaw's recent Kennedy Center performances as "heavenly." Gramophone declares her 1989 recording of Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 the definitive one, saying, "if you want just one recording of Knoxville, it should be Upshaw's. In no other version is the intimacy of Barber's music so poignantly conveyed."

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang's new album, Sing it Loud, is out today. To celebrate, lang and the band performed the album opener "I Confess" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night. Watch the complete episode here. The Los Angeles Times says: "The big, beautiful voice of k.d. lang swoops, purrs and soars through the 10 songs on Sing it Loud.” With her new band, lang "has found her guitar groove again." The Ottawa Citizen calls the album "a torch-and-twangtinged stunner."

Tell Me, the highly anticipated sophomore release from Jessica Lea Mayfield, is out now on Nonesuch Records. In celebration of the record, Mayfield will continue to tour the US and Europe throughout 2011, including an appearance at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival as well as a newly announced series of special shows with The Avett Brothers.

James Farm, the self-titled debut album from the collaborative band featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland, is due out on Nonesuch on April 26. NPR is streaming the album in full as an NPR First Listen till then. "It's a bit like four of the best in the business just called a 'session' one day, but instead of standards, they each brought in their own music," says NPR. "And this band's labor has clearly proven fruitful."

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang will perform "I Confess" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. The song is the lead single from Sing it Loud, due out tomorrow on Nonesuch Records. USA Today says the album "nods to lang's alt-country roots while reinforcing her reputation as a singer of genre-defying dexterity and beauty." To celebrate its release, lang and her new band will play the album in its entirety tonight at Los Angeles's Troubadour and at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City this Thursday, April 14. They'll appear on Good Morning America on Thursday and The View this Friday morning, April 15.

Legendary AfroBeat drummer Tony Allen will be the guest on WNYC's Soundcheck today. He will talk with the show's host, John Schaefer, and perform songs from his album Secret Agent. "The great Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti had a not-so-secret weapon when he was creating the funk-infused style known as Afrobeat in the 1970s," says WNYC. "That weapon was drummer Tony Allen. A legend among drummers of all styles, Allen is still going strong." Allen launches a North American tour this week with special guest Amp Fiddler.