The Low Anthem, which is currently on a headlining tour of the United States with music from its latest Nonesuch release, Smart Flesh, will support City and Colour on tour of Canada and the northern US in January and February 2012. The tour starts in Portland, Oregon, on January 16 and ends in St. John, New Brunswick, on February 24. The Low Anthem's current tour makes stops this week in Minneapolis, Denver, and Salt Lake City, before hitting San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival this weekend.

The Low Anthem and Jessica Lea Mayfield almost overlap at Nashville's Soundland festival and Cincinnati's MidPoint Music Festival ... Laurie Anderson performs Transitory Life at the Transart Festival ... The Black Keys play Atlanta's Music Midtown fest ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Harrisburg, PA ... Emmylou Harris joins Don Henley in Santa Barbara ... Wanda Jackson headlines SoCal Hellbilly Fest ... James Farm tours the East Coast ... Kronos Quartet conclude BAM run ... k.d. lang is in New England ... Pat Metheny tours California ... Punch Brothers are on NPR's Mountain Stage ... and more ...

Philip Selway will be the guest on WNYC's Soundcheck Friday afternoon. Selway will perform songs from his new digital EP, Running Blind, and his 2010 solo debut album, Familial. Tune in Friday at 2 PM ET on 93.9 FM in New York and at online at wnyc.org. While in NYC, Selway will work in a few gigs with his band, Radiohead, as musical guests on the season opener of Saturday Night Live, featured on The Colbert Report, and performing two shows at Roseland Ballroom.

Kronos Quartet gives the NY premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11 for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)'s 2011 Next Wave Festival, with four consecutive nights of performances starting tonight. Congratulations to Kronos fan Ross Burlingame, winner of the Nonesuch ticket giveaway to tonight's show. Kronos Quartet gave a preview of the show when they performed live on WNYC's Soundcheck earlier this week. Listen to the performances and interview here.

Randy Newman helped make this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival a success this past weekend. "We still don't know how a 67-year-old turned in our favorite set of this past weekend's Austin City Limits Festival," raves the Houston Press, "but heck if Randy Newman didn't leave us on a musical high ... Newman solo onstage with just his compositions, a smile, and an adoring crowd was one of the most magical things we would see this weekend." Newman stayed on in Austin to record his set for PBS's Austin City Limits, which will air on November 12.

Steve Reich's new album, WTC 9/11, is out this week. The album includes the title piece, Reich's reflection on the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, performed by Kronos Quartet, as well as Mallet Quartet, performed by Sō Percussion, and Dance Patterns, featuring members of Steve Reich and Musicians. BBC Radio 3's CD Review finds the title piece "startling, emotionally charged and moving." BBC Music says "Reich is as eloquent as ever." The Independent gives the album four stars.

Modern Music, a collaboration between pianists Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli is out this week. The album features pieces written by each of the three musicians as well as works by Reich, Coleman, and Glass, performed by the two pianists in arrangements by Zimmerli. The New York Times says the pianists bring "a high sheen to some choice material." The Financial Times gives the album a perfect five stars. MusicOMH calls it "another fascinating and technically remarkable addition to Mehldau’s body of work." The Guardian, reviewing Mehldau's live show with Chris Thile in London on Friday, says their "musicality and sympathy for each other's emerging ideas made it an unexpected tour de force."

Kronos Quartet will give the New York premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11, for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)'s 2011 Next Wave Festival, with four consecutive nights of performances this week. Kronos and Nonesuch Records have partnered with BAM to give away a pair of tickets to the Opening Night performance this Wednesday. Enter here for your chance to see the first New York performance. Kronos Quartet performs live on WNYC's Soundcheck today at 2 PM ET.

Joshua Redman joins James Farm at Monterey Jazz Fest, where he's artist-in-residence ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, John Zorn help open Roulette in Brooklyn ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Dallas ... Ben Folds teams up with the Minnesota Orchestra ... Kronos Quartet premiere new piece in Maryland ... k.d. lang is in Alaska ... The Low Anthem, Jessica Lea Mayfield head South ... Brad Mehldau, Chris Thile join up in London ... Pat Metheny kicks off US tour ... Randy Newman, Wanda Jackson perform at Austin City Limits Music Festival ... Allen Toussaint plays hometown Ponderosa Stomp ... and more ...

Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile have spent the past week in Europe on separate solo tours. The two come together for a special duo show at Wigmore Hall in London tonight, as part of the pianist's curatorship of the venue's Jazz Series. "Mehldau often applies his hypnotic improv approach to Broadway standards, bebop, folk-pop classics or the music of Radiohead," says the Guardian, "and Thile's fast-flowing long lines, and cherishing of catchy themes within the loosest spontaneous flights fit that very compatibly." Also in the Guardian, Mehldau has written an article on wisdom in music.

Pat Metheny launches a month-long, 20-city tour of the United States this weekend, joined by bassist Larry Grenadier. The concerts will take place in intimate settings throughout the US and include songs from Metheny's new solo album, What's It All About, along with new material and favorites from throughout his rich catalog. The tour closes with a special week's engagement at the Blue Note in New York City. Following the US tour, Metheny, Grenadier, and drummer Bill Stewart launch a European tour.

Jessica Lea Mayfield, who is currently touring the United States in support of her Nonesuch debut album, Tell Me, has just added a new set of US tour dates to follow in November, with stops across the South and up to Brooklyn, NY. Mayfield's current schedule also include several festival stops and previously announced dates with John Prine, the Avett Brothers, and the Drive-By Truckers. The deadline to enter the animated music video contest for the Tell Me album track "Blue Skies Again" is Thursday, September 22; the prize includes $500, the album on CD and vinyl, a t-shirt, and concert tickets.