Today is release day for Recollection, the first-ever career retrospective from k.d. lang. The four-disc deluxe edition includes favorites like "Constant Craving" and "Hallelujah," tracks never before on k.d.'s albums, previously unreleased tracks, and a DVD of music videos and TV appearances. The first 500 orders in the Nonesuch Store include a limited-edition, signed print of k.d. To celebrate the release, kdlang.com has been updated with a new look and new content spanning k.d.'s 25-year career.

Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté's last album together, Ali and Toumani, was recently named CD of the Week by WNYC's Soundcheck and has received a stellar 8.3 on Pitchfork. The site says the album's recordings "are uncommonly beautiful," captured with "uncompromising intimacy," giving "the feel of two of the world's greatest musicians in a room together, having a conversation and creating a document that will carry their legacy into the future."

Christina Courtin, having just completed a short tour with Josh Rouse, is now set to hit the road again for two weeks with Mike Doughty, the former front man of the band Soul Coughing. Courtin will join Doughty starting a week from Saturday, at Poor David's Pub in Dallas, Texas, on February 20, then head through the Southwest and into California, rounding things out at Slim's in San Francisco on March 6.

Pat Metheny's Orchestrion tour continues to wind its way through Europe. In advance of a show at London's Barbican Hall in London, Pat spoke with the BBC Radio 3's Jazz Line-up and with Jazz FM about the album the Observer calls "extraordinary," with the music "gripping as usual." The Edmonton Journal gives the album 3 1/2 stars, citing Pat's "brilliant guitar playing."

With one more day to go before the release of Recollection, the first-ever k.d. lang retrospective, the singer-songwriter is featured on NPR Music. Citing Tony Bennett, who compares her to Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, and Hank Williams, NPR agrees: "It's prestigious company that k.d. lang deserves to keep." k.d. spoke with BBC Radio 4's Today and with the New Zealand Herald, which states: "The words 'true professional' should only be applied to a handful of people in the music business. And k.d. lang is one of them."

Mardi Gras has come early in New Orleans as the city celebrates the Saints Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts. To mark the team's first-ever Super Bowl win and the final score of 31-17, the Nonesuch Store is taking 31% off the list price of The Bright Mississippi, New Orleans native Allen Toussaint's ode to the city's rich jazz heritage, on CD and vinyl.

The Magnetic Fields cross into Canada ... Carolina Chocolate Drops close out UK tour ... Christina Courtin opens for Josh Rouse in NYC, Philly ... Bill Frisell unveils his Baghdad/Seattle Suite in Minneapolis ... Richard Goode, Jonathan Biss give duo recital in Boston ... Kronos performs in Chicago, New Jersey ... The Low Anthem continues European tour ... Brad Mehldau goes solo at Harvard ... Pat Metheny sets up in Scandinavia ... Punch Brothers play benefit in LA ... Joshua Redman's James Farm plays Istanbul, Milan ... Sara Watkins winds down UK tour ... Wilco kicks off world tour in Montana ... and more ...

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim have paired up for Here Lies Love, a 22-track song cycle about the life of former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos. Due April 6, the album includes two CDs, a DVD, and a 100-page book detailing the project. In addition to Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love features performances by Santigold, Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), Sia, Steve Earle, St. Vincent, Natalie Merchant, Tori Amos, Sharon Jones, Nicole Atkins, and many others.

Kronos Quartet performs at the McAninch Arts Center outside Chicago tonight. On the program are pieces from the group's latest release, Floodplain, including Aleksandra Vrebalov's ... hold me, neighbor, in this storm ..., which the Seattle Weekly recently called a "compelling, emotionally far-ranging tone poem." The A.V. Club Chicago spoke with Kronos's David Harrington about introducing audiences to new sounds. "The things that we do," he says, "are, hopefully, the beginnings of explorations for other people."

The Low Anthem's European tour continues through next week. In a recent performance, says The Guardian, the band gave "a real barn-burner, swapping instruments with giddy abandon, and ­rattling through a set-list that swayed ­between tender, harmonious folk songs and ramshackle rock 'n' roll with sweaty, unstudied authenticity." The paper profiles the group and examines its success at respecting the past while creating something new.

Tune in to Soundstage on PBS stations across the country, starting tonight, to catch Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, and Buddy Miller in an in-the-round performance of their touring team, Three Girls and Their Buddy. The set list includes songs like Colvin's "Polaroids" and Harris's "Michelangelo," "Hold On," and "Love and Hapiness," the last of which you can watch online in a video preview of the episode at pbs.org.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops' tour of the UK brings the band to London for a performance at Bush Hall tonight. The concert is a Critics' Choice from Time Out London, which finds the band "drawing on Carolina's vibrant musical heritage to play high energy bluegrass with a jazzy twist." The Guardian, in a four-star review of a recent show, says "it is the interaction between the members, swapping ­instruments and harmony lines on the fly, that makes them such a joy to watch."