Wilco's North American tour winds its way north after several stops in the South, including Friday night's show at the Palladium in Dallas, Texas. "Wilco (the album) has garnered considerable critical acclaim for bridging the extremes of this wonderfully ambitious group," says the Star-Telegram. "As Friday’s excellent performance demonstrated, letting in a little light—and calmness—cements Wilco’s standing as one of America’s finest rock bands."

Shawn Colvin begins a four-night residency at Yoshi's in San Francisco tonight. Part of a larger tour across the United States, this week's sets take on added meaning as they mark a return to the site where Colvin's recent Nonesuch release, Live, was recorded back in July 2008, featuring 15 tracks from throughout her career.

Carolina Chocolate Drops come home to NC ... Black Keys drummer Pat Carney's band Drummer does NYC ... Shawn Colvin closes three-night stint in San Diego ... Christina Courtin's US tour moves Midwest ... Phillip Glass solos in PA benefit ... Kronos Quartet plays for a hometown crowd in San Fran ... Youssou N'Dour doc opens in DC ... Punch Brothers play Ohio and PA ... Sara Watkins makes it three for three in the Midwest ... Wilco's on for sold-out sets in Dallas and Memphis ... and more ...

John Adams's City Noir receives its world premiere tonight in the Opening Night Concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Inaugural Gala for its new music director, Gustavo Dudamel, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. "I want to make my music an opportunity to extend myself, and my language," Adams tells the Los Angeles Times. The piece will be performed again this fall for the Philharmonic's Adams-curated West Coast, Left Coast festival.

Wilco is still in the midst of its fall tour through the United States, with a breach of the 49th Parallel for two shows in Toronto next week. Come February 2010, the tables will turn for a TransCanada tour, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, with a half dozen stops planned for south of the border. The Canadian leg beings with a free concert for the "Live City" Vancouver celebration of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Christina Courtin begins a three-week tour of the United States with Brooklyn trio Elizabeth & the Catapult in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tomorrow night. Christina spoke with Glide magazine about self-titled Nonesuch debut album. "The truth is that Courtin’s voice and words often steal the show on her debut album," says Glide, featuring "ten songs that are able to sustain a magical level of wonder for the listener."

Punch Brothers' fall tour is headed to the University of Michigan's Power Center in Ann Arbor tonight. Though the band's 2008 Nonesuch debut, Punch, also marks the band's first as Punch Brothers, "they’ve already made their mark on the newgrass/new-acoustic scene," says AnnArbor.com in an interview with fiddler Gabe Witcher, "as they’ve created their own, unique variation on that ambitious hybrid of bluegrass, jazz and classical-music elements."

Brad Mehldau begins the jazz series he's programmed at London's Wigmore Hall in a duo concert with Joshua Redman next week. NPR's jazz blog A Blog Supreme recently listed the pianist's recordings as the best introduction to the jazz of today, citing his 2002 Jon Brion–produced Largo as chief among them. "This album was a big one for me," said one panelist. "It fuses masterful jazz improvisation with modern rock production."

It was a music festival–filled fall weekend with Austin City Limits and San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass featuring a total of six Nonesuch artists: The Low Anthem, Sara Watkins, and Dan Auerbach in Austin; Emmylou Harris, Allen Toussaint, and Amadou & Mariam in San Francisco. And St. Louis welcomed Wilco to the Farm Aid benefit concert for a set Rolling Stone says "brought the crowd to its feet."

Amadou & Mariam, Emmylou Harris, Allen Toussaint hit SF's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass ... Dan Auerbach, The Low Anthem, Sara Watkins are at Austin City Limits Fest ... Laurie Anderson, Bill Frisell join Gavin Friday and friends at Carnegie Hall for (red) ... David Byrne talks bikes in car-centric LA ... Carolina Chocolate Drops drop into Ann Arbor and Chicago ... Christina Courtin plays Boston and Brooklyn ... Kronos performs Crumb's Black Angels in Boulder ... Punch Brothers head South ... Wilco plays Prairie Home Companion and Farm Aid ... and more ...

Wilco kicked off its North American tour last night at the University of Iowa and is at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota, tonight. The band stays on in St. Paul for a live broadcast performance of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor on Saturday. Wilco plays the annual Farm Aid benefit concert, which will be broadcast live on DIRECTV and online on Sunday. Jeff Tweedy tells the Austin Chronicle about the joy of playing live, connecting with the audience: "I can't find anything better than that. You can feel it when a song means something to people."

Alarm Will Sound will celebrate its recent Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, with a free album release party and listening event at New York City's (Le) Poisson Rouge on October 18. "Within three or four measures, the riot is in full swing," San Francisco Classical Voice says of the album. "This is totally engaging stuff ... tons of fun."