Emmylou Harris's Hard Bargain, due out April 26, is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an exclusive manuscript lyric sheet of the album's opening track, "The Road," a number of which will be autographed by Harris. On "The Road," Harris looks back on the formative time she spent with Gram Parsons at the beginning of her career. In April, Harris will perform at special intimate shows in Los Angeles and New York and on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Nonesuch will release the self-titled debut album from James Farm, a collaborative band featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland, on April 26. The band uses traditional acoustic jazz quartet instrumentation for its song-based approach to jazz and incorporates the members’ myriad of influences: rock, soul, folk, classical, and electronica, among many others. The band will be touring the U.S. this summer in support of the album.

Randy Newman's North American tour brought the singer-songwriter to the New York area for several performances, including Saturday's show at The Town Hall in New York City. Time Out New York exclaims: "The Town Hall is across the street from the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, whose namesake, along with Bob Dylan, gives this great American songwriter his only real competition." The Village Voice concurs, calling him "the greatest living songwriter not named something that rhymes with Smob Smylan."

The Low Anthem brings its US winter tour to a close this week before heading to Europe, with shows in Portland, New York, and in the abandoned pasta sauce factory where they recorded their new album, Smart Flesh. The Boston Globe says The Low Anthem hit "a high note" in its Friday show at the Old South Church, "a galvanizing 90-minute performance that was masterful and even magical at times."

The Society of London Theatre has announced that Stephen Sondheim will be the recipient of the Olivier Special Award 2011. He will accept the Award in person, given in recognition of his contribution to London theatre, at the Olivier Awards this Sunday, March 13, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The Awards ceremony will conclude with a tribute to Sondheim. The whole evening will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 2; there will be live televised coverage via the BBC’s Red Button.

The Low Anthem performs two sold-out shows in Massachusetts with hand-screened shirts on hand ... John Adams makes Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut ... Timothy Andres joins Gabriel Kahane for Ives-inspired evening ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play two shows in PA ... Ben Folds continues European tour ... Emmylou Harris, John Prine play Alabama ... Fred Hersch, Joshua Redman do duo in NYC ... Kronos Quartet tours Taiwan ... Brad Mehldau holds master classes in NYC ... Natalie Merchant performs Bard benefit ... Randy Newman hits NYC ... Punch Brothers play Utah ... and more ...

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang will perform at the eighth-annual Stuart House benefit held at the John Varvatos store in West Hollywood, on Sunday, March 13. Varvatos closes the street and opens the door of his boutique for an afternoon of live music, shopping, auctions, great food, and kids’ activities. Proceeds benefit Stuart House, a program serving the special needs of child victims of sexual abuse and their families.

The soundtrack for Norwegian Wood, the new film based on Haruki Murakami’s bestselling novel, featuring a score by Jonny Greenwood, is out next week. Greenwood spoke with BBC 6 Music about finding inspiration for the score in Murakami's novel, his acclaimed score for There Will Be Blood, and future plans for Radiohead. MusicOMH says Greenwood's new score "shows how the string orchestra remains a descriptive force in the right hands." The Evening Standard says it "creates a powerful atmosphere" for the film.

Natalie Merchant performs a benefit concert for the Bard College Conservatory of Music Saturday night. She will be joined by the conservatory orchestra in performing songs from her latest album, Leave Your Sleep, and throughout her career. Merchant will preview the event with an intimate, live "Parlour Session," broadcast on WKZE today at noon. She recently spoke about the Bard event with WAMC, which calls Leave Your Sleep "just plain beautiful."

Jessica Lea Mayfield is in the UK this week, bringing the music of her new album, Tell Me, to the British airwaves—on BBC 6 Music's Marc Riley and Nemone earlier this week, XFM's X-Posure tonight, and BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends on Saturday—and a live in-store performance today in London. Mayfield then returns to the States to launch her extensive US tour, which includes several events at SXSW and has now been extended into May with some 18 new dates added.

Wanda Jackson will be the guest on NPR's World Cafe today, performing songs from her new album, The Party Ain't Over, and talking with host David Dye about recording the album with producer Jack White. Jackson resumes her US tour later this month and will be featured in a new exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame titled Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power, opening in May.

The work Laurie Anderson created while living in downtown New York City in the 1970s is inextricably linked to the place and time in which it was made. These are the focus of a new exhibit opening today at the Barbican Art Gallery in London titled Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown, Gordon Matta-Clark: Pioneers of the Downtown Scene, New York 1970s. Anderson will be speaking about her work with Robert Storr, dean of the Yale University School of Art, at the 92nd Street Y in New York City next Thursday.