The Low Anthem is featured on the cover of the inaugural issue of Paste magazine's new weekly digital, multimedia mPlayer, which includes a cover story on the band, exclusive photos, a download of "Boeing 737" off the band's new album, Smart Flesh, and a short documentary video shot at the band's album release concert at the Rhode Island pasta sauce factory in which the album was recorded. The Independent says the band was "kicking up a storm" at Glastonbury this weekend, "enjoying themselves to an almost fevered extent ... Playing to this audience seems to be as special as being in it."

Jessica Lea Mayfield kicks off her extensive US summer tour with a free set in Chicago's Grant Park this evening for Taste of Chicago. The tour will take Mayfield across the States, including several shows out West with the Avett Brothers, a performance with Punch Brothers, sets at Bumbershoot and the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and a concert supporting John Prine. Metromix names her one of the 25 hottest artists under 25, saying her new album, Tell Me, is "like Loretta Lynn fronting the Bad Seeds."

The Black Keys kick off their trans-Canadian summer tour with a sold-out show outside Vancouver tonight and several more sold-out Canadian dates to follow, plus a few select shows in the States. “Canada loves The Black Keys,” exclaims the Vancouver Sun. Dan Auerbach tells the Toronto Sun: “I’m really excited. We’ve got sort of a big set up, bigger than we’ve ever had.” Following their recent MuchMusic Video Awards performance, the Vancouver Sun proclaimed their set the best of the night, calling the band a “refreshing change of pace.” Check out the video of how tonight's tour poster was made.

The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis concludes its production of John Adams's "gripping and eerily beautiful" (AP) The Death of Klinghoffer ... Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Emmylou Harris perform at the ROMP festival in Kentucky ... Punch Brothers and Chocolate Drops play DMB Caravan in Atlantic City ... Laurie Anderson brings Transitory Life to the Cork Midsummer Fest ... Wanda Jackson performs on NPR's Mountain Stage ... k.d. lang plays the Ottawa Jazz Fest ... The Low Anthem hits the European festival circuit ... Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman duo at Montreal Jazz ... Allen Toussaint plays Stanford Jazz Fest ... and more ...

The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Punch Brothers will be among the performers at the first of four Dave Matthew Band Caravan festivals this summer, which takes place this weekend at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Caravan pulls up in Chicago July 8–10 for the second three-day festival, with Emmylou Harris and Ben Folds performing. The Chocolate Drops, Punch Brothers, and Harris are all playing the ROMP bluegrass and roots music festival in Owensboro, Kentucky, this weekend.

Wanda Jackson's performance on NPR's Mountain Stage will be broadcast on public radio stations across the US this weekend. Jackson's set includes several songs from her Jack White-produced album The Party Ain't Over. Also featured on the program are Jimmie Dale Gilmore & the Wronglers, Joe Ely, the New Rope String Band, and Carolyn Wonderland. Catch a preview of Jackson's set and go backstage for an interview with the Queen of Rockabilly in a video posted here.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves' next live duo set is slated for mid-July at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, with Thile touring with Punch Brothers until then. In the mean time, you can watch videos of the duo perform five songs off their recently released Nonesuch album, Sleep with One Eye Open, in a session at the Paste offices that "captured two musicians who continue to be at the top of their game."

The 2011 ROMP (River of Music Party) Bluegrass Roots & Branches Festival kicks off today at Yellow Creek Park in Owensboro, Kentucky, and continues through the weekend, with three Nonesuch artists scheduled to perform as festival headliners: Punch Brothers on Friday and Carolina Chocolate Drops and Emmylou Harris on Saturday. Each Punch Brothers band member will also lead a ROMP festival workshop targeted to his instrument.

Randy Newman will perform at the new ACL Live at Austin's Moody Theater on September 19; the show will be recorded for future broadcast on PBS's Austin City Limits, launching its 37th season this fall. American Songwriter gives his new album four-and-a-half stars. "You can hardly make a better case that songs can be the equal of any art form than the classics on display in The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2. The album is essential listening for those who care about American music (not just the popular variety)." The Los Angeles Times says that, "like a Picasso line drawing, he can convey mountains of emotion with the simplest of notes, chords and melodic lines ... In committing the bare bones versions to disc, he's preserved them for the ages, which is where they belong."

Chris Thile and Michael Daves will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck on Wednesday, July 20, performing before a live audience at WNYC's Greene Space in downtown Manhattan. Later that night, the duo head out to Brooklyn to perform at the Bell House. Rolling Stone calls the debut album from "mandolin God Chris Thile" and "hot-shit Brooklyn guitarist Michael Daves" a "ridiculously blazing set ... The uptempo jams are wild-picking shred fests, and the ballads cut deep."

Kronos Quartet will give the NY premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11, for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2011 Next Wave Festival, with four nights of performances at the BAM Harvey Theatre, September 21–24, featuring special guests the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, conducted by Dianne Berkun. Watch a preview video here. Next Wave Season Tickets are on sale to the general public now.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang kicked off their North American tour at the Rochester Jazz Festival last week, followed by a free outdoor concert at Toronto's Luminato Festival; the tour lands at New York City's Beacon Theatre tonight. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle says lang's "voice was potent from the get-go." The Toronto Sun gives the Luminato set four-and-a-half stars, calling lang's voice "one of the world’s best." The Independent says lang's new album, Sing it Loud, is "an elegant, understated LP that contains nods to the singer's country-pop roots and brims with warmth and contentment."