The celebrations of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday continue with tonight's New York City Center Gala honoring the composer, featuring the stars of A Little Night Music—just nominated for three Outer Critics Circle Awards—along with a host of performers who, collectively, have appeared in over 75 Sondheim shows. John Doyle directs. The benefit will help fund New York City Center’s artistic and education programs and Young Playwrights Inc.

The Black Keys are on a bill with Snoop Dogg ... Shawn Colvin, Allen Toussaint are in New Orleans ... Christina Courtin opens for Mike Doughty in NYC ... Bill Frisell, Punch Brothers play Seattle ... Richard Goode, Joshua Redman play in Chicago ... Kronos Quartet comes to Carmel ... The Low Anthem plays Portland, Maine ... Natalie Merchant takes Leave Your Sleep to eTown ... Pat Metheny's Orchestrion tour continues in California ... Sara Watkins guests with Garrison Keillor in NYC ... Wilco tours Tokyo ... and more ...

Pat Metheny and his Orchestrion are due to be the subject of a profile on this weekend's CBS Sunday Morning. The tour continues this weekend after a performance in LA Variety described as "more fun visually than pretty much any jazz show one might attend," creating "a remarkably pure and organic musical sound." After last week's show in Austin, the American-Statesman describes it as "a musical happening of the highest order—a jaw-dropping confluence of jazz, technology and visual art."

Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep was released last week to a number of milestones, including the No. 17 slot on the Billboard pop chart and No. 1 on the folk chart. Merchant continues to tour this weekend, including a live-audience taping of NPR's eTown. Utah's The Spectrum calls the album "a rich collection of music and poetry," on which "there's not a bad apple ... For an album this big that's quite an accomplishment." The Cleveland Scene recommends the complete album, declaring it "well worth the investment."

Legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen's recently released World Circuit / Nonesuch debut album, Secret Agent, finds Allen "continuing his late career high," says Pitchfork, "never more confident." The Boston Herald gives it an A, calling it "the real thing." Time Out New York says Allen is "sounding at once gracious and cool," and Dusted says the album "bears witness to his development of Afrobeat beyond the shadow of Fela Kuti."

Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller are on today's episode of NPR's World Cafe, talking with the show's host, David Dye, and performing a few favorite tunes, including "Love Hurts" and "Red Dirt Girl." The episode comes from the 2010 Cayamo Cruise, where Harris, Miller, and a host of great songwriter/performers played for a very lucky crowd at sea for the music festival cum Caribbean cruise earlier this year.

Wilco begins a two-week tour of Japan, New Zealand, and Australia with a set at the Big Cat in Osaka tonight. All five shows in Australia feature an opening set from Liam Finn. The latest tour begins less than two weeks after what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the "slam-bang finish" of the band's fully sold-out US tour in Pittsburgh.

Tune in to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to catch Natalie Merchant perform the song "Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience" off her new album, Leave Your Sleep, tonight on NBC. She is in Los Angeles for two sold-out shows on her current US tour. There's an interview with Merchant in MusicOMH, which calls Leave Your Sleep "a phenomenally ambitious and creative project." The St. Petersburg Times calls it "fun, educating and enlightening."

The world has been celebrating Stephen Sondheim's recent 80th birthday in style all month and will continue to do so with upcoming events at New York City Center and Ravinia. Today, NPR's Fresh Air celebrates by talking with the composer about his great body of work, his musical influences, his writing process, and much more.

The Low Anthem is back on its home turf tonight to perform a special free set at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, with suggested donations going to benefit United Way's Rhode Island Flood Recovery Fund. The band's recent performance in Brooklyn led the New York Press to rave: "Tender, introspective and at times genuinely uplifting, it was an enthralling performance."

k.d. lang is due to perform at the 2010 TV Week Logie Awards, the Australian television award. The awards ceremony will take place at Melbourne's Crown Casino on May 2 and will be broadcast on Australia's Nine Network. "I'm honoured to be included in the TV Week Logie Awards because Australia feels like my second home," says lang. Her latest album, Recollection, hit the top of the Australian pop charts.

Homeland, Laurie Anderson's first studio album in ten years, is due out on Nonesuch June 15 and is now available for pre-order at nonesuch.com. In a Nonesuch Store exclusive, the first 250 orders of Homeland include a limited-edition 12" vinyl single of the album track "Only an Expert," signed by Anderson. She recently spoke with the BBC World Service program The Strand, which calls her "one of the great artistic experimenters."