Bill Frisell launches an 11-city European tour featuring the music of his last Nonesuch album, Disfarmer, in Hamburg, Germany, tonight. Joining him on tour are steel-guitar player Greg Leisz, bassist Viktor Krauss, and violinist Carrie Rodriquez. In the multimedia piece, inspired by the life, work, and subjects of eccentric photographer Mike Disfarmer, projected images of Disfarmer's portraits illuminate Frisell's musical perspectives on this fascinating character.

Emmylou Harris, who is in Austin, Texas, this week to perform at the SXSW Music Conference, has announced a series of European tour dates in May and June in support of her forthcoming album, Hard Bargain. The European shows include two previously announced dates in Norway along with nearly a dozen new shows in Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, the UK, Netherlands, and Germany. Prior to the tour, Harris will take part in a TimesTalk in New York City.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang performed what Variety calls "a sublime set" outside the John Varvatos boutique in West Hollywood on Sunday for some 1,500 attendees at the John Varvatos 8th Annual Stuart House Benefit. Last month, lang and the band were in San Diego to give a performance at Sunset Sessions, which included five songs from their forthcoming album Sing it Loud, as well as some classic hits. The complete set was captured on video, which you can watch here.

Steve Reich talks to The State of Things from NPR member station WUNC today about Kronos Quartet's premiere of his latest work, WTC 9/11, in an all-Reich program Saturday at Duke University, where Reich and Kronos are artists-in-residence this week. Saturday's concert includes all three quartets Reich has written for Kronos. The Quartet gives the NY premiere of WTC 9/11 in an all-Reich program at Carnegie Hall on April 30, with Bang on a Can All-Stars, Glenn Kotche, eighth blackbird, and So Percussion.

The SXSW Music Conference gets under way in Austin, Texas, this week as thousands of bands and music lovers from all over the world descend on the live-music capital for several days of non-stop music making. Nonesuch artists will be well represented among them, with a dozen performances to come from Emmylou Harris, Jessica Lea Mayfield (one of SPIN's 35 Must-Hear Acts at SXSW), and Wanda Jackson. Many of the events will be broadcast live on the radio and online for fans around the world to hear.

The Low Anthem plays the pasta sauce factory of Smart Flesh fame ... Carolina Chocolate Drops head home to North Carolina ... Shawn Colvin joins Loudon Wainwright III in New England ... Philip Glass Festival unfolds in Southern California ... Emmylou Harris celebrates Canadian Music Week ... Wanda Jackson plays her home state of Oklahoma ... k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang take to the streets of LA for John Varvatos benefit ... Jessica Lea Mayfield is in Texas for the 35 Conferette ... Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Timothy Andres play Carnegie Hall ... Randy Newman conquers Colorado ... Punch Brothers play in Alaska ... Stephen Sondheim receives the Olivier Special Award ... and more ...

Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Timothy Andres and others join forces for the world premiere of Mehldau's Rock 'n' Roll Dances No. 3 and 4 at Carnegie Hall and at the Sanders Theatre in Cambridge this weekend; Mehldau and Andres also perform excerpts from Andres's Shy and Mighty. The BBC says of Mehldau's "excellent" new album, Live in Marciac: "After repeated hearings, the music sounds as fresh as ever ... His music is so rich that at times it is possible to believe two players are at work." All About Jazz says it "stands out as a signpost on Mehldau's evolutionary path." PopMatters calls it "100 minutes of pure uninterrupted piano virtuosity" through which "Mehldau is able to show off the full scope of his sickening talents."

Wanda Jackson's new album, The Party Ain't Over, "secures Jackson's place as a 21st-century entertainer," says a new review from NPR's All Things Considered. Producer Jack White "cleverly matches Jackson's infamous vocal growl with huge arrangements, creating an instant party on the first track," says NPR. "White coaxes a performance from Jackson that fits her as well today as it did in 1958." Tune in to CMT's Insider this weekend for a look at the collaboration. Jackson performs at the Robson PAC in Claremore, Oklahoma, tonight to benefit the Akdar Shrine Center.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops' and Luminescent Orchestrii's performance of "Knockin'," off their self-titled, four-song EP, has been named Song of the Day by NPR. "Knockin'' is the perfect song to capture the two groups' individual and combined gifts," says NPR. It "offers a new way to hear the Carolina Chocolate Drops. The group has long bridged the sounds of American roots music for modern audiences, but between 'Knockin'' and 'Hit 'Em Up Style,' it's exciting to hear [Rhiannon] Giddens sing with so much verve and conviction."

Stephen Sondheim spoke with playwright Tony Kushner at New York's Public Theater last fall, upon the publication of Finishing the Hat, Sondheim's first-ever collected lyrics. The evening, part of the Public Theater's Public Form discussion series, was hosted by NEA chairman Rocco Landesman. You can now watch excerpts from the event in a new video from the Public, posted here. Sondheim will receive the Olivier Special Award in London this Sunday.

Laurie Anderson's recent performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will be rebroadcast tonight on NBC. She performed an excerpt of "Another Day in America," off her album Homeland, with her male alter ego, Fenway Bergamot, contributing vocals. Prefix, in a recap of the performance, says: "Anderson’s command of drama is still palpable. Respek!" She speaks about her work with Robert Storr, dean of the Yale University School of Art, at New York's 92nd Street Y tonight.

Nonesuch releases its first recording of music by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy, Grá agus Bás, on May 3. The album includes the title piece, which translates as Love and Death, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come. The Dublin–based Crash Ensemble—which Dennehy co-founded—performs both works, conducted by Alan Pierson. Irish singer Iarla O’Lionáird is the soloist for Grá agus Bás; Dawn Upshaw is featured on That the Night Come. The album is currently available to pre-order here.