Punch Brothers kick off their 2011 tour schedule with a sold-out show at the Somerville Theater outside Boston. The Secret Sisters join tonight and at this weekend's concerts in Burlington, Vermont, and New York City. The Improper Bostonian spoke with Chris Thile about the band's efforts to "cross bluegrass borders in search of transcendence." Time Out New York calls the band "jaw-dropping" and lists Saturday's show as a critics' pick. Chef Mario Batali includes the band's album Antifogmatic among his favorite listens.

Congratulations to The Black Keys: their latest album, Brothers, has just been certified Gold! The band stopped by the Nonesuch offices in New York  yesterday to receive their Gold records. While in the city, band mates Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have kept themselves busy, performing on Saturday Night Live and the Late Show with David Letterman. Last night, they stopped by The Colbert Report as "leading scholars on The Black Keys" to help Stephen fill out his Grammy ballot for Best Alternative Music Album, one of six categories in which the band is nominated. Watch the segment here.

The Low Anthem are the musical guests on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS and will play "Ghost Woman Blues," off their forthcoming album, Smart Flesh. The band promises "a simple affair, possibly around a single microphone!" The Low Anthem performed three songs from Smart Flesh live on WNYC's Soundcheck yesterday, which you can hear here. They perform at The Allen Room in New York Thursday as a part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series.

Carter Burwell will be the guest on Soundcheck from New York public radio station WNYC today. In today's episode, titled The Western Frontier, Burwell talks about his score for True Grit, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen starring Jeff Bridges, and the 19th-century hymns that inspired it. Also on the air today, the Coen brothers will appear on NPR's Fresh Air to discuss the new film.

Ali and Toumani, the second and last album pairing kora master Toumani Diabaté with the late guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré, has made the Metacritic list of the best-reviewed, highest-scoring albums of 2010, coming in at No. 5. "On Metacritic, we consider 'great' albums—those we label as having 'universal acclaim' from critics—to be those with a Metascore of 81 or greater," says the site. Ali and Toumani received an 89.

Wanda Jackson's The Party Ain't Over isn't due out for two weeks still, set for release on January 25, but the BBC review is out now and calling the album "rich, warm, big-hearted and hilarious ... a sumptuous, brassy stew of country and blues." Producer Jack White "may, at this late stage, have brought the very best out of Jackson," says the BBC. Tune in to the Grand Ole Opry this Saturday to hear Jackson and the Third Man House Band, featuring White on guitar.

Malian duo Amadou & Mariam release a 13-track digital album of remixes today, available exclusively in the US on iTunes. The Remixes collection features favorite singles from their best-selling albums Welcome to Mali and Dimanche à Bamako, along with several new versions, and some previously unreleased mixes, from across their catalog by what Pitchfork calls a "wonderfully random" group of collaborators. Highlights include new versions of the single "Sabali" by Miike Snow and French techno maestro Vitalic; and "Afrika" revisited by Bob Sinclar. 

The Black Keys continued their late-night television run with another rocking performance of "Howlin' for You," off their latest Nonesuch release, Brothers, on the Late Show with David Letterman last night on CBS, following this past weekend's performance of "Howlin' for You" and "Tighten Up" on Saturday Night Live. Watch the Late Show performance here.

The Low Anthem will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck today, performing songs from their forthcoming album, Smart Flesh. The band is in New York to play a sold-out concert for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, then heads West to perform at the Sundance Film Festival and to Los Angeles for a show with Iron & Wine. Following an intimate set for a home-state crowd this past weekend, the Visible Voice blog says Ben Knox Miller "is leading the pack in a new generation of songwriters."

The Black Keys got the new year off to a rocking good start as musical guests on the first Saturday Night Live episode of the year over the weekend, playing two songs off their Grammy-nominated album Brothers: "Howlin' for You" and "Tighten Up." Watch the performances here. The band performs "Howlin' for You" on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight. In more TV news, the band's set on Austin City Limits airs on PBS on January 22, along with Sonic Youth's. You can watch a preview from the show here as well.

Renée Fleming comes to Carnegie Hall this week, accompanied by Hartmut Höll, for a performance that includes songs from Brad Mehldau's The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, featuring the poetry of Rainer Marie Rilke, as heard on Mehldau and Fleming's 2006 album Love Sublime. The Washington Post said of Fleming's performance at The Kennedy Center on Saturday that the program "showcased her gifts beautifully." Mehldau performs his Highway Rider at Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA next week and offers a solo program at Carnegie Hall later this month.

Emmylou Harris kicks off the 2011 Sydney Festival ... John Adams Slonimsky's Earbox featured in LA Phil live cinematic broadcast across the US ... Timothy Andres performs with his brother in Connecticut ... The Black Keys are musical guests on Saturday Night Live ... Björk hosts karaoke marathon in Iceland to fight energy company sale ... David Byrne talks Here Lies Love on MPR's The Current ... Randy Newman joins Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans ... The Low Anthem plays close to home ... Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music closes on Broadway ... Allen Toussaint plays Tokyo ... and more ...