Malian duo Amadou & Mariam release a 13-track digital album of remixes today, available exclusively in the US on iTunes. The Remixes collection features favorite singles from their best-selling albums Welcome to Mali and Dimanche à Bamako, along with several new versions, and some previously unreleased mixes, from across their catalog by what Pitchfork calls a "wonderfully random" group of collaborators. Highlights include new versions of the single "Sabali" by Miike Snow and French techno maestro Vitalic; and "Afrika" revisited by Bob Sinclar. 

Wanda Jackson's The Party Ain't Over isn't due out for two weeks still, set for release on January 25, but the BBC review is out now and calling the album "rich, warm, big-hearted and hilarious ... a sumptuous, brassy stew of country and blues." Producer Jack White "may, at this late stage, have brought the very best out of Jackson," says the BBC. Tune in to the Grand Ole Opry this Saturday to hear Jackson and the Third Man House Band, featuring White on guitar.

The Black Keys continued their late-night television run with another rocking performance of "Howlin' for You," off their latest Nonesuch release, Brothers, on the Late Show with David Letterman last night on CBS, following this past weekend's performance of "Howlin' for You" and "Tighten Up" on Saturday Night Live. Watch the Late Show performance here.

The Low Anthem will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck today, performing songs from their forthcoming album, Smart Flesh. The band is in New York to play a sold-out concert for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, then heads West to perform at the Sundance Film Festival and to Los Angeles for a show with Iron & Wine. Following an intimate set for a home-state crowd this past weekend, the Visible Voice blog says Ben Knox Miller "is leading the pack in a new generation of songwriters."

Renée Fleming comes to Carnegie Hall this week, accompanied by Hartmut Höll, for a performance that includes songs from Brad Mehldau's The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, featuring the poetry of Rainer Marie Rilke, as heard on Mehldau and Fleming's 2006 album Love Sublime. The Washington Post said of Fleming's performance at The Kennedy Center on Saturday that the program "showcased her gifts beautifully." Mehldau performs his Highway Rider at Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA next week and offers a solo program at Carnegie Hall later this month.

The Black Keys got the new year off to a rocking good start as musical guests on the first Saturday Night Live episode of the year over the weekend, playing two songs off their Grammy-nominated album Brothers: "Howlin' for You" and "Tighten Up." Watch the performances here. The band performs "Howlin' for You" on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight. In more TV news, the band's set on Austin City Limits airs on PBS on January 22, along with Sonic Youth's. You can watch a preview from the show here as well.

Emmylou Harris kicks off the 2011 Sydney Festival ... John Adams Slonimsky's Earbox featured in LA Phil live cinematic broadcast across the US ... Timothy Andres performs with his brother in Connecticut ... The Black Keys are musical guests on Saturday Night Live ... Björk hosts karaoke marathon in Iceland to fight energy company sale ... David Byrne talks Here Lies Love on MPR's The Current ... Randy Newman joins Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans ... The Low Anthem plays close to home ... Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music closes on Broadway ... Allen Toussaint plays Tokyo ... and more ...

Punch Brothers kick off their 2011 tour schedule next week with two shows in Massachusetts. The Boston Globe spoke with Chris Thile about the band, which it describes as "the rare band of musicians who are all virtuosos in their own right. Progressive bluegrass is the shorthand for what they do, but that doesn’t capture the music’s full scope." The Boston Herald calls them a "progressive bluegrass supergroup" that has "fast become the hottest pickers in the land."

John Adams's 1987 opera Nixon in China receives its Met premiere on February 2, with the composer on the podium and Peter Sellars directing. To coincide with this momentous occasion, Nonesuch will reissue the Grammy-winning original cast recording in a newly redesigned and specially-priced three-CD set with new notes by Adams and Sellars. Among the events marking the production are a conversation with Sellars at the Asia Society; a preview with Adams, Sellars, and cast members hosted by WQXR; and a conversation at the Met with the creators. The February 12 performance of Nixon in China will be broadcast live in movie theaters around the world.

Wanda Jackson has added further live dates to her upcoming, sold-out New York City and Los Angeles record release shows. The newly announced tour dates include a Grand Ole Opry performance in Nashville, a second Los Angeles show, a return to New York, and stops in Philadelphia, Boston, DC, and Dallas. Jackson is scheduled to perform with Jack White & The Third Man House Band on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 20 and Conan on January 25.

True Grit, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, has been winning over audiences since its release last month. The New York Times takes a look at the impact this popularity—its having "shocked Hollywood by burning up the box office"—might have at the Academy Awards. That the film score by Carter Burwell is ineligible for Oscar is a "shame," says the Los Angeles Times, "as Burwell’s work on True Grit is some of his grandest to date." It works "equally well for big-screen vistas and solitary contemplation."

Jessica Lea Mayfield's Nonesuch debut album, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, is due out in just over a month, February 8, and is available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an autographed 7” of the album’s first single. SPIN names Mayfield on of the 5 Best New Artists for January. Pitchfork has included Tell Me in its list of Records to Look Forward to in Winter 2011. American Songwriter has it in its list of Ten Albums We're Excited for in 2011, saying, "It's made up of twelve of Mayfield’s 'personal inner monologues,' and mixes emotional ballads with intelligent pop ditties."