The Black Keys play two shows in Tennessee before helping to close out New Orleans Jazz Fest ... Kronos Quartet premieres new works at Carnegie Hall ... Jeremy Denk joins Renée Fleming at Carnegie Hall ... Devendra Banhart kicks off tour in Colorado ... Bombino plays Belgium and Germany ... Lianne La Havas is at Cheltenham Jazz Festival ... Gidon Kremer joins Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich ... Brad Mehldau Trio and The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman perform in LA ... Sara Watkins kicks off tour of US West ... and more ...

Devendra Banhart kicks off a six-week tour of the United States and Canada this weekend, featuring music from his recently released Nonesuch debut album, Mala. The tour begins with two shows in Colorado this weekend and heads next to Arizona and to the West Coast for a run up California, Oregon, and Washington; then to the Midwest, Canada, and the East Coast, culminating in a concert at The Town Hall in New York City on June 12. Banhart begins a five-week tour of Europe on June 26.

The schedule for this summer’s Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival has been announced. Featured among its 100 free performances in the plazas of NYC's Lincoln Center is Kronos at 40, curated in collaboration with Kronos Quartet to mark its 40th anniversary. This five-day "festival within a festival" launches the larger festival on July 24 and includes 28 concerts and events with daily appearances by Kronos plus performances by other artists. Kronos Quartet performs at Carnegie Hall this Friday, May 3, and will receive an honorary degree from Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts later this month.

Iron and Wine was featured on the latest episode of NPR's All Things Considered. Singer-songwriter Sam Beam, whose fifth album under that pen name, Ghost on Ghost, was released on Nonesuch Records / 4AD earlier this month, spoke with host Melissa Block about the new album, his songwriting process, and the cohesive feel that ties the songs together. 

Bombino is featured on the latest episode of the BBC World Service program Outlook, which explores "extraordinary personal stories from around the world." "Traditional music is one of the forces which has united the Tuareg people who are now scattered across many African countries," says host Matthew Bannister, "and that music has been updated for a new generation by the guitarist Omara 'Bombino' Moctar." On the show, Bombino discusses the power of music to affect change. "I hope my songs can present part of a solution," he says. "The guitar can pass on the news."

The new musical of Here Lies Love, which explores the life of Imelda Marcos, with concept and lyrics by David Byrne and music by Byrne and Fatboy Slim, has opened to rave reviews and Outer Critics Circle and Drama League award nominations. "Boogie on down—and you must—to the glittery new dance palace at the Public Theater," implores the New York Times, to hear this "insidiously infectious set of songs." Vogue calls it "a life-giving, roof-raising, booty-shaking blast of pure joy from start to finish." The Daily News exclaims: "Finally—a new musical that’s so exhilarating and such a great time that it’s easy to recommend it without hesitation." The New York Observer declares Here Lies Love "the must-see event of the season." 

Iron and Wine was the musical guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Friday night. Singer-songwriter Sam Beam and his band gave what Consequence of Sound calls a "spirited rendition of 'Grace for Saints and Ramblers,'" a track off the new album Ghost on Ghost. They also gave a web-exclusive performance of another album track, "Grass Widows." Watch both performances here.

Brad Mehldau holds residency at the new SFJAZZ Center, performing with Kevin Hays, Mark Guiliana, and his Trio ... The Black Keys launch four-city tour with special guests The Flaming Lips in Kansas City ... New Orleans Jazz Fest gets under way with Dr. John, Joshua Redman, Allen Toussaint ... Fatoumata Diawara performs at New Orleans' House of Blues ... Bombino continues European tour in Oslo ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play sold-out shows in Wisconsin ... Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter are out west ... Richard Goode performs Beethoven in Georgia ... Iron and Wine is on Jimmy Fallon ... Lianne La Havas is at Tobago Jazz Festival ... Gidon Kremer performs in Paris and back home in Riga ... Kronos Quartet plays in Portsmouth ... Rokia Traoré is on Jools Holland ...

Iron and Wine is the musical guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC tonight at 12:35 AM. Sam Beam and his band perform “Grace for Saints and Ramblers,” off the just-released album Ghost on Ghost. Beam stopped by New York public radio station WNYC yesterday to perform a few songs from Ghost on Ghost on Soundcheck and talk with host John Schaefer about the new album, which was recorded over two weeks in Brooklyn. You can listen to the complete episode, including solo acoustic performances of three album tunes, here.

The 2013 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, gets under way today as the first of two consecutive weekends of music unfolds. Included among this weekend's performers are Joshua Redman with his Quartet and New Orleans native sons Dr. John and Allen Toussaint. The Black Keys help close out the festival next weekend. Also in New Orleans this weekend is Fatoumata Diawara, who performs at the House of Blues. 

Bombino brought his European tour, featuring music of his new album, Nomad, to London's Village Underground last night, where the crowd cheered the Tuareg guitarist "as if he were a rock star," reports the Guardian in a four-star review. Bombino's "performance from the start was energetic and full-tilt ... He was clearly enjoying himself, and his enthusiasm was contagious." The Independent, previewing the concert, describes Bombino as "brilliant" and Nomad as "a bone-shaker of a new album." The tour continues in Europe then heads to the States in late May for headline dates, festival sets, and opening spots with Amadou & Mariam, Gogol Bordello and Robert Plant. 

Sam Amidon is featured in the latest episode of the Guardian's Music Weekly podcast, discussing the often unexpected inspirations behind his forthcoming album, Bright Sunny South, which host Maddy Costa says she's "been listening to ... slightly obsessively for the past month." Amidon explains: "For me, folk music is not really so much connected to certain instruments. It's more just a quality a melody could have, or a quality a lyric could have. You can find that anywhere." He closes the interview with a performance of the Bright Sunny South track "As I Roved Out."