This Sunday is Grammy Sunday, with the 55th Grammy Awards set to take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast live on CBS Sunday night from 8 to 11:30 PM ET/PT. Tune in to see The Black Keys make their debut performance on the Grammy telecast. The band’s latest Nonesuch album, El Camino, is nominated for five awards: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Album. The Black Keys will also be joined on stage by Dr. John, who is up for Best Blues Album for his Dan Auerbach-produced album Locked Down, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Also nominated for Grammy Awards this year are Amadou & Mariam (Best World Music Album, Folila), Dan Auerbach (Producer of the Year), Björk (Best Alternative Music Album, Best Recording Package, Biophilia), Carolina Chocolate Drops (Best Folk Album, Leaving Eden), Ry Cooder (Best Folk Album, Election Special), Brad Mehldau (Best Improvised Jazz Solo, Ode), and Pat Metheny (Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Unity Band).

---

Emmylou Harris, whose new duets album with Rodney Crowell, Old Yellow Moon, is due out February 26 on Nonesuch Records, helps kick off Grammy weekend with a performance at the sold-out MusicCares Person of the Year gala honoring Bruce Springsteen tonight. This year's gala, hosted by Jon Stewart, also features performances from Elton John, Patti Smith, Mavis Staples, Sting, Alabama Shakes, John Legend, and Neil Young.

On Saturday, Emmylou Harris joins Rodney Crowell for another sold-out show, at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. The duo gives the intimate audience an early listen to songs from Old Yellow Moon, their first official collaboration since Crowell joined Harris' Hot Band in the mid-’70s.

---

Carolina Chocolate Drops are in their home state of North Carolina to perform with South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela in Memorial Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tonight.

In advance of the concert, Chocolate Drops founding member Rhiannon Giddens recently appeared on the WUNC radio show The State of Things. She spoke with host Frank Stasio and performed a few songs live from the Triad Stage in Greensboro, North Carolina. You can listen to the show at wunc.org.

---

Pianist Jeremy Denk begins his two-day residency as Visiting Artist at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey, with a recital in Bristol Chapel Saturday evening,. The concert includes Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111, which is featured on Denk’s 2012 Nonesuch debut album, Ligeti/Beethoven, as well as works by Liszt, Bartók, and Bach. On Sunday afternoon, Denk gives a master class for piano students at the college. Admission for both events is free.

---

Members of Kronos Quartet give a series of master classes in the music department of the University of California at Berkeley this afternoon, including a class with violist Hank Dutt, followed by a listening party and a Skype conference with David Harrington. 

---

Punch Brothers continue their month-long US tour with the second of two nights at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, tonight. Anaïs Mitchell opens, as she does for the remainder of the tour.

Fans around the country can hear the Punch Brothers' performance on Mountain Stage, recorded last year; it will also be broadcast on NPR stations across the US this weekend. The episode also includes performances from Joan Osborne, Leftover Salmon, and more.

---

Also in Washington, DC, Joshua Redman continues his four-day residency at Blues Alley through Sunday. His Trio, featuring Reuben Rogers on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums, plays two sets each night this weekend.

---

Just in time for Mardi Gras, New Orleans favorite son Allen Toussaint returns to Yoshi's in Oakland, California, for two-night run with two consecutive sets Saturday night and a third set Sunday evening. Toussaint spoke with the San Jose Mercury News in advance of the performances; read the article at mercurynews.com.