The Black Keys began their months-long tour last night at The Depot in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that "dirty grooves were unleashed all night" and says the band's new album, Brothers, "has added more swagger—in other words, rock 'n' roll—to the duo's foundation of bluesy, R&B-influenced soul explorations, and the band is all the better for it." The Boston Phoenix says the duo is "making quintessentially American music."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are featured on the latest episode of PRI's Studio 360 with Kurt Anderson. The show caught up with the trio when they "returned as stars" to the site of their first meeting, the Black Banjo Gathering, and delves into the history of that gathering's focal instrument, the banjo. The band performs two sets at the Bonnaroo festival next week.

Timothy Andres's debut album, Shy and Mighty, recently released on Nonesuch, is a Pick of the Week from WNYC's Soundcheck. Says host John Schaefer: "He’s a young composer but he seems to have already worked through his influences—the rock ones and the classical ones like Brahms, Mahler, and Philip Glass—and developed a personal voice. It’s an impressive debut from the composer Timothy Andres."

Natalie Merchant brought the UK leg of her tour to a close Sunday night at the Brighton Dome, to which the Independent gives four stars, calling Merchant "a solo artist of rare maturity and depth." Her latest release, Leave Your Sleep, is "a hugely ambitious and beautifully realised double album," reads the review. "Thirty years into her career, this is Merchant at her most vital."

Congratulation to Randy Newman, who is set to receive his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this morning. Pixar's John Lasseter and Monty Python's Eric Idle are due to speak. The Independent described Newman's recent London performance as "riveting ... as a lyricist he's right up there with Cohen, Lennon and Dylan."

Emmylou Harris is scheduled to perform at an all-star tribute to Paul McCartney at the White House today. The concert will take place in the East Room of the White House, where McCartney will receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress. Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, Jack White, and others are due to perform as well. The event will air on PBS July 28.

The Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed-curated Vivid LIVE festival continues at the Sydney Opera House, with performances from Anderson through the weekend. Nonesuch is counting down to the June 22 release of her album Homeland with the second in a five-video series featuring Fenway Bergamot, Anderson's male alter ego. In today's segment, "Pictures and Things," he talks about the cultural shift toward abstraction and what Nixon has to do with it.

Punch Brothers' new album, Antifogmatic, is due out on Nonesuch Records two weeks from today, on June 15. Fans who sign up for the band's newsletter receive a free download of the album track "Alex" now. Just prior to the album's launch, Punch Brothers perform at Bonnaroo and begin their run of shows opening for Steve Martin. On release day, the band will give a free performance and sign copies of the new album at the Twist & Shout music store in Denver.

Natalie Merchant's tour of the UK and Ireland comes to a close at The Helix in Dublin tonight; her US summer tour gets under way next month at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, New Jersey. In the mean time, fans in the US can catch an encore presentation of her performance of "Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience," off Leave Your Sleep, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are gearing up for their performances at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, next weekend, after what the Albany Times Union calls a "joyous, raucous and educational" set at MASS MoCA. The Times Union exclaims: "The Carolina Chocolate Drops are just brilliant. Who else could make a straight-up folk festival workshop feel like a hoedown for hundreds?"

The Carolina Chocolate Drops celebrate Memorial Day weekend in Maryland and Massachusetts ... Laurie Anderson launches Vivid LIVE festival in Sydney ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica bring the Seasons to Berlin and Moscow ... Brad Mehldau, Anne Sofie von Otter perform his Love Songs in Oslo ... Natalie Merchant continues UK tour ... Sara and Sean Watkins headline the Strawberry Jamboree Music Festival ... Wilco closes out Europe tour ... and more ...

Vivid LIVE, the two-week festival of music, theater, and visual arts curated by Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed in Sydney, Australia, kicked off last night with a special lighting of the iconic Sydney Opera House featuring Anderson's art. Homeland, her forthcoming Nonesuch release, earns four stars in Uncut, which calls it "hauntingly powerful." Q picks the album track "Only an Expert," available now as a 12" vinyl single, as a Q50 Essential Track.