Sara Watkins's self-titled debut is set for its Nonesuch release next Tuesday, April 7, and the new album "is quietly authentic as it mesmerizes," says the Huffington Post. "Sara's strong yet sometimes whispered vocal approach on these tracks conveys all it needs to without one ounce of overkill ... picture Emmylou Harris with touches of Edie Brickell and Rickie Lee Jones." Sara offers her own interpretation of songs by a diverse range of writers and as many of her own self-penned tunes, which the review calls "musically engaging, and they also reveal Sara as a serious lyricist with a mission ... Sara Watkins firmly establishes the woman as folk's newest herald, and a future force of nature to be reckoned with." Q magazine lists the album track "Give Me Jesus," arranged by Sara and Chris Thile, among the Top 50 Essential Tracks of the month.

Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali, just out in the US on Nonesuch, is a Pick of the Week on WNYC's Soundcheck, which calls the album "another strong showing of their cosmopolitan sound." New Jersey's Star-Ledger says that, with the new album, the couple "show they have opened up to a new era of musical possibilities," featuring "a sophisticated but rough-edged sound that can evoke African village griot storytellers as well as psychedelic garage bands ... By album's end, they have held master classes in rock, funk, reggae and rap, not to mention African styles," concludes the Star-Ledger, and "crowned a long career with an album that effortlessly blends Africa and the West."

Kronos Quartet premieres new Riley work at Notre Dame ... Graz and Giessen ballets continue to dance to Adams works ... Afro-Cuban All Stars offer NYC a "thrillingly autentico survey of the colorful panorama of Cuban music" (Village Voice) ... Laurie Anderson honors documentary film music ... David Byrne brings My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' "sound collage of spiky funk rhythms" (Daily Telegraph) and other Eno joints to the UK ... Shawn Colvin solos at RootsFest Denver ... Christina Courtin backs Marianne Faithfull on violin ... Toumani Diabaté and Béla Fleck's Africa Project tour the East Coast ... Philip Glass & Friends Pierce Turner, Zack Glass, Suzanne Vega play City Winery ... Richard Goode plays Bach, Chopin outside DC ... Glenn Kotche joins the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Terry Riley for Marathon concert ... k.d. lang presents at the Junos ... Brad Mehldau plays Jazz fests in Europe ... Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone play Newark's NJPAC ... Punch Brothers go Georgian ... Joshua Redman swaps bassists in Europe ... Jeff Tweedy performs solo for Clearwater benefit ... Sara Watkins opens for John Prine ... and more ...

Amadou & Mariam are good at what they do, says NPR music critic Robert Christgau in an All Things Considered album review, and "never better than on their brand-new Welcome to Mali." He says the Damon Albarn–produced opening track, "Sabali," is "terrific" and shows that "Amadou and Mariam absorb ideas from anywhere and sound like they're having a ball." Entertainment Weekly says Albarn's "splendidly atmospheric keyboards and production" move the couple "beyond their comfort zone—much as globalist rocker Manu Chao did for the duo's 2005 breakthrough, Dimanche à Bamako." The Chicago Tribune says the new album "is bolder still" than their last, calling Welcome to Mali "an album that throws its arms around the world, and invites everyone to dance. It succeeds joyously." Flaunt says Amadou & Mariam "capture a feeling absent from many releases in the early 2000s: genuineness."

k.d. lang joins fellow Canadians Feist, Diana Krall, and (by marriage) Elvis Costello in presenting at Canada's Juno Awards this Sunday. k.d. has also been nominated as both the Artist of the Year and Producer of the Year for her 2008 Nonesuch release, Watershed. Also this weekend, k.d.'s North American tour takes her to California and Nevada. Her recent Portland, Oregon, performance led The Oregonian to exclaim: "There are a lot of good singers out there. kd lang is a great one." London's National Portrait Gallery might agree, having named k.d. among the Gay Icons in its exhibit of that name, opening this summer, which also includes David Hockney, Harvey Milk, Walt Whitman, Tchaikovsky, and Nelson Mandela.

Dan Auerbach performed three songs off his Nonesuch solo debut, Keep It Hid—"Trouble Weighs a Ton," "When the Night Comes," and "Goin' Home"—in his appearance on today's episode of NPR's World Café. He also spoke with the show's host, David Dye, about the new record, on which, says Dye, Dan has "expanded stylistically ... its songs conceal a melancholy and introspective side ... Driven by reverb and riffs, Auerbach's solo work sounds authentic, blunt and powerful." In other news, Justin Timberlake has made it known he's a fan of The Black Keys. "I really love their Attack and Release," he says. "I thought that was a really great record."

Sara Watkins, whose self-titled solo debut album is due out from Nonesuch on April 5, is the subject of a feature article in the Charlotte Observer. She's set to play two shows in North Carolina opening for John Prine this weekend: at Charlotte's Ovens Auditorium tomorrow night and Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville the following night. The Observer says that on the new album, Sara "continues to explore different genres from torchy, playful western swing (Jimmie Rodgers' 'Any Old Time') to pop-rock (Davíd Garza's 'Too Much') to the aching chamber folk (Jon Brion's 'Same Mistake')." Three additional songs from the album are now streaming on Nonesuch Radio.

Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali was released in the States yesterday, and the complete album is streaming today on spinner.com. On the new record, says Vanity Fair , "traditional African beats and melodies underly everything from electronic synth-pop to hip-hop tracks featuring Somali rapper K’Naan." The Root calls the couple "global pop’s band to watch—M.I.A. be damned—as heirs to the storied West African musical throne and as embodiments of the worldly, cosmopolitan flair that defines 21st century hipness ... Before it’s done, the album moves through hip-hop, R&B, rock, traditional Malian and more—often simultaneously." It's all mixed "with an accessible poppy feel," says The Root, "and the result is just plain cool."

Dan Auerbach "broadens his style" on Keep It Hid, says NPR's Fresh Air, "to include folk, country and even psychedelic elements." Rock critic Ken Tucker says that, while the solo disc offers Auerbach space to change things up from the full-throttle sound of The Black Keys—the album being "all about creating intimacy"—that's not to say Dan has shied away from his blues-rock roots. Even so, Tucker says it's easy "to appreciate the floating, airy atmosphere of Keep It Hid." Rolling Stone's Smoking Section calls the album "unbelievably awesome ... We can’t stop playing it, top to bottom."

Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali makes its US debut with its Nonesuch release today. Details cites "the mind-blowing" Damon Albarn–produced opening track as "a soulful and modern masterpiece"; Time Out New York calls it the album's "jewel in its crown." Blurt describes the album as one of "pure sensual joy, a raft of infectious-rhythmed, ebulliently performed funk-rock-desert-electro-dance songs ... in a music so generous, so inclusive and celebratory that you cannot help feeling a wave of optimism." And in difficult times, "It's just what you need ... really ... Welcome to Mali is for the good times, even in bad times."

Joshua Redman and one of two trios featured on his recent Nonesuch release, Compass, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson, played a three-night residency at Ronnie Scott's club in London through last weekend. The Guardian gives the sets four stars, describing Redman as "a compelling builder of extended stories, and his pacing is masterly." The Trio gave the audience, which "howled their appreciation," "a demonstration of peerless sax mastery and group empathy." The Financial Times gives four stars as well, asserting: "Redman’s trio deliver an intense and fiery chamber jazz ... The fractured breaks, snatches of improv and twists and turns seemed as spontaneous as the applause they immediately won."

Wilco's forthcoming as-yet-untitled Nonesuch release is featured in Rolling Stone's Spring Music Preview, a look "inside 45 of the Year's Biggest Albums." The magazine talks to Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline about the recording process for the new record. "After the live, urgent feel of 2007's Sky Blue Sky," says Rolling Stone, "Wilco is exploring more studio experimentation ... anchored once again by Tweedy's sly, insightful and often heartbreaking lyrics." The article suggests, "An early preview of the disc gives off a strong country vibe, with lots of pedal steel and acoustic guitar."