Sara Watkins will be on the big screen as a guest on A Prairie Home Companion as the show is broadcast live in movie theaters across North America Thursday, October 21. A high-definition video feed of a special Thursday night performance from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be sent via satellite to movie theaters live at 7 PM CT. Also on the show will be Old Crow Medicine Show, Joe Ely, and Andra Suchy.

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby will appear today on WNYC's Soundcheck. The pair will discuss their songwriting collaboration on their new release, Lonely Avenue, and Folds will perform live. Tune in at 2 PM ET on 93.9 FM or listen online at wnyc.org. The pair performed last night as part of SPIN magazine's Liner Notes series at a benefit for the Housing Works AIDS Charity in New York City. Folds and Hornby continue their New York appearances with a performance on Thursday evening at Barnes & Noble's Union Square location for the series Upstairs at the Square.

Kronos Quartet returns to the Bay Area to perform at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium tonight, following two sold-out shows at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge. The concert marks the Opening Night of the Stanford Lively Arts series. On the program, titled Awakening: A Meditation on 9/11, Kronos reflects on that fateful day in works from a dozen countries, joined on stage by the Cantabile Youth Singers.

There's just one more day to submit your remix of Philip Selway's "Beyond Reason," off his solo debut album, Familial. Final submissions are due at Indaba Music by 5 PM EDT on Thursday. Once all the submissions are in, it's time to start voting. From October 14 to 28, fans and a panel of judges, including Selway, will review the submissions. Indaba will announce the jury’s choices of Grand Prize Winner and two Runners-Up on November 11, as well as the public’s choice of 15 Honorable Mentions.

Steve Reich, Nonesuch Records, and Indaba Music have launched a search for collaborators to remix the third movement of Reich's new piece 2x5, which Gramophone recently described as his "smartest, most sonically nourishing record for years." For four weeks beginning today, remixers can visit Indaba to create their own version of the movement. From November 9 to 23, fans and a panel of judges, including Reich, will review the submissions. Indaba will announce the jury’s choices on December 7, as well as the public’s top ten.

Punch Brothers are back in California, headlining at LA's El Rey Theater with Jon Brion, the producer of their album Antifogmatic, opening. LAist spoke with fiddler Gabe Witcher and says: "Punch Brothers' music is the sound of synapses firing. The band's mix of unpredictability and virtuosity means there's always something new to uncover in their original pieces." Mother Jones spoke with Chris Thile and says: "What the Punch Brothers are doing musically blows the pants off most of their contemporaries."

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby are in New York City this week for a few special events to celebrate their new album, Lonely Avenue, including appearances at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe and Union Square Barnes & Noble, plus a spot on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The Financial Times gives Lonely Avenue four stars, saying of Folds/Hornby, "Both are excellent: witty, sophisticated lyrics about love and loss set to a range of styles." And, finally, Folds and fellow Chatroulette sensation Merton offer a joint public service announcement you can watch here.

AfroCubism is out in the UK today on World Circuit; it's out in North America November 2 on Nonesuch. The Guardian sees the album as "a joyfully ebullient meeting point between traditional Malian music and the kind of Cuban rhythms the Buena Vista Social Club brought to the wider world," and gives it four stars, saying these musicians "have recorded an elegant, gently exquisite album." The Observer calls it "A delight." The Financial Times gives AfroCubism four stars as well; MusicOMH gives it five stars, citing the "wonderful results."

The Black Keys play Austin City Limits Festival, close out tour in Tulsa ... Alarm Will Sound celebrates Lennon's 70th birthday ... Timothy Andres premieres new septet ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play close to home ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica return to the Baltics ... Wanda Jackson plays Brooklyn and New Jersey ... Kronos premieres works in NYC ... Natalie Merchant launches orchestra tour ... Pat Metheny continues Orchestrion tour ... Punch Brothers play Nashville ... Joshua Redman Trio concludes St. Louis residency ... Sara Watkins plays Unplugged in the Park ... and more ...

Rhys Chatham made his Nonesuch debut last month with the release of A Crimson Grail, featuring the 200-guitar version recorded at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. The New York Times says: "It might justly be considered 'music to pray to.’” Now you can experience that music through a short film set to music from the album, shot on rolls of expired, unexposed Kodachrome Super 8mm film. Watch it here.

Wanda Jackson, whose new Jack White-produced album, The Party Ain't Over, in January 25, performs outside Boston tonight. The Boston Globe quotes Rosanne Cash, who described Jackson "as the prototype, the first female rock star," adding that "Jackson is still kicking out the jams." She performs at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on Friday, leading The New Yorker to note "her growly vocals, remarkable energy, and boundless good humor." Jackson spoke with Y'all Wire at last month's Americana Honors & Awards for an interview you can watch here.

De Profundis, the new album from Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, receives five stars from Audiophile Audition. It's a program "of such sheer delight and exquisite beauty that I felt emotionally ravished when it was over," raves the reviewer. "One of the best collections of its kind that I have ever heard." The album is a Pick of the Week on WNYC's Soundcheck and CD of the Week from KBAQ, which says the music creates "a deep feeling of hope."