The 2010 South by Southwest Music and Media Conference (SXSW) gets under way in Austin, Texas, today, with several performances by Nonesuch artists slated during the festival's run through the weekend from The Low Anthem, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Christina Courtin, who kicks things off in a performance with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider at St. David's Sanctuary tonight at 11 PM, just before Suzanne Vega goes on.

The Low Anthem is in the midst of its first-ever headlining tour of the US and will make a pre-SXSW stop in Texas at the Granada Theatre in Dallas tonight, with Admiral Radley and The Fox and the Bird opening.

After last weekend's show in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Adams said the band "spun a kind of frontier reverie, evoking the frosty beauty of Leonard Cohen and the woodshedding eclecticism of the Band." JamBase reviewer Jake Krolick says: "They did what they do best and produced dreamlike music that crept into our heads like a slow, delicate fog rising from melting evening snow."

The band makes the first of a whopping five scheduled Austin appearances in the coming days at the Galaxy Room Thursday afternoon at 4 PM for the Paste magazine party. That night, at 10 PM, it's off to the Beauty Bar Ballroom at The Palm Door for a slot at the official Rolling Stone showcase, which the San Antonio Express calls a "must-see showcase." Friday is even more full for The Low Anthem, as they hit three events in one day: the HearYA Day Party at Beauty Bar Outside; an in-store performance at the Barton Creek Apple Store; and a late-night spot (technically first thing Saturday, at 12:30 AM) at St. David's Sanctuary, closing a bill that includes performances from their touring partner Lissie and from Jakob Dylan and Three Legs, featuring Neko Case and Kelly Hogan.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are slated to play the ASCAP showcase at The Driskill's Victorian Room on Friday, March 19. Spinner spoke with band member Don Flemons about the band's history and what the SXSW audience can expect. "It's good-time music and it's dance music," says Flemons, "so when people come to see us just be ready to have a good time and kick your shoes off."

For more information on all of this week's Nonesuch performances at SXSW, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

Also at SXSW this week are the world premiere screenings of two films featuring Nonesuch artists. Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, which follows the singer-songwriter and the band over ten years of music-making, got its first official screening (following a recent sneak peek at the San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival) at the Alamo Lamar 1 on Monday night and will be screened again at the Alamo Ritz on Thursday and Saturday. A new concert film documenting David Byrne's 2008-09 tour The Songs of David Byrne & Brian Eno called Ride, Rise, Roar received its world premiere on Monday as well, at Austin's Paramount Theater. Screenings for both films continue on Thursday and Saturday.

For more on what's on tap at South by Southwest, visit sxsw.com/music.