Emmylou Harris's will appear on PBS's Tavis Smiley tonight to discuss her career and her new album, Hard Bargain, out Tuesday. "Harris is admired as much for her straightforward songwriting as for her expressive singing," says the show. "Forty years into her career, she's still doing both with ... Hard Bargain." She performs on three BBC Radio shows in the coming days. The Daily Mail gives the album four stars, calling it " a wonderfully immediate collection." Billboard says she still "a still-luminous voice that can make the phone book sound like Puccini." Fans in the US can enter to win an Epiphone EJ-200 signed by Harris.

Ben Folds, who is set to tour Australia and Asia next month, has just announced several new US summer tour dates, including performances in Tulsa, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Tempe, Anaheim, San Francisco, Birmingham, and Minneapolis, as well as sets at the XPoNential Music Festival in Philadelphia and the DMB Caravan in Chicago. Folds has released a cover of Ke$ha's "Sleazy" to support Japanese relief efforts and will join Damian Kulash, Amanda Palmer, and Neil Gaiman at the Rethink Music conference in Boston for a songwriting/recording marathon.

The Low Anthem and Iron and Wine will release their Daytrotter Sessions as a limited-edition, split 12" vinyl on May 17. The LP, limited to 1,000 copies, is being sold exclusively through "mom and pop" record stores, with a few copies available through the Daytrotter website and the bands' websites. This will be the first-ever vinyl release to feature a full Daytrotter Session. The two bands are on tour together now. The Low Anthem's side of the LP features a live performance of six songs from their album Smart Flesh, which Daytrotter proclaimed is "without question a contender for album of the year."

The worldwide celebrations of Steve Reich's 75th birth year have come to NYC, starting with tonight's NY premiere screening of the documentary Steve Reich: Phase to Face at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts; Reich and the film's director will be there. Carnegie Hall presents an all-Reich concert on April 30 featuring Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, eighth blackbird, So Percusssion, and three NY premieres; enter to win tickets and more. Tune in to Q2 this Monday to hear some of the performers discuss the concert.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves' upcoming release, Sleep with One Eye Open, is still three weeks away, but you can learn more about the album now at the newly launched thiledaves.com. This debut from mandolin virtuoso Thile and guitar-maven Daves was recorded live to tape in at Jack White’s Third Man studio in Nashville and features 16 traditional bluegrass tunes by legends like The Monroe Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and Flatt & Scruggs. The new site features tour and album info, as well as two videos: a discussion between Thile and Daves about Sleep with One Eye Open, and a live performance of the title track.

k.d. lang and her new album, Sing it Loud, were featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday this past weekend. lang spoke with host Liane Hansen about the making of the album and collaborating with co-writer and producer Joe Pisapia. "The second everybody walked into the room, the energy was palpable. It was an amazing session," says lang, of the July 4th recording session, with her band in Nashville with her band, the Siss Boom Bang. k.d. lang is currently in London celebrating the local release of Sing it Loud, with live interviews on television, and a review in the Observer describes the album as "jazz and country-flecked songs [that] brim with confidence."

Kronos Quartet joins Bang on a Can for a mini-marathon at MIT ... Tony Allen continues his North American tour ... Laurie Anderson gives a reading in the Hamptons ... The Black Keys headline at Coachella ...  Wanda Jackson heads South ... The Low Anthem tours the Northeast with Iron and Wine ... Jessica Lea Mayfield plays her home state ... Randy Newman performs in the Pacific Northwest ... Punch Brothers play p-Bingo in NYC ... Dawn Upshaw, Donnacha Dennehy conclude Carnegie Hall workshop ... Sara Watkins tours with the Decemberists ... and more ...

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang round out a week of celebrations marking the release of their new album, Sing it Loud, with a performance of the album's opening track, "I Confess," on ABC's The View this morning; watch it here. The song is today's Free Song of the Day at Amazon. They stop by WFUV to talk with host Rita Houston this evening and head next to the UK for a week of appearances marking the release of the new record there.

The Low Anthem began their US spring tour last night with the first of several sold-out shows with Iron and Wine. This weekend, The Low Anthem can also be heard on NPR stations across the country as their recent performance on Mountain Stage premieres; Lucinda Williams is also on the show. The band closed out its European tour at a sold-out show at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, to which the Guardian and the Independent both gave four stars. You can now watch the video for "Boeing 737" here.

Carolina Chocolate Drops were featured on Wisconsin Public Television's 30-Minute Music Hour last Saturday. You can watch the performance here. The band is launching a worldwide campaign to find the perfect Carolina Chocolate Drops logo to be included in their new summer merchandise. Everyone is encouraged to enter; fans will be able to vote on the top five designs.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang have moved the celebration of their new album's release to the East Coast, performing "I Confess," the opening track to Sing it Loud, on Good Morning America this morning, which you can watch here, and appearing on The View tomorrow. They perform the entire album at New York's Poisson Rouge tonight. USA Today says "lang ranks among our finest purveyors of dreamy, creamy, country-tinged torch songs, picking up the mantle from Roy Orbison and Peggy Lee with these perfect vehicles for her vibrant voice." KCRW named the album's title track yesterday's Top Tune, saying lang "sounds as strong as ever." The Arts Desk has named Sing it Loud Album of the Day, and MusicOMH gives it four stars.