Bob Dylan celebrates his 70th birthday today, and what better occasion than that to revisit Wanda Jackson's take on the legendary songwriter's "Thunder on the Mountain," as heard on her new, Jack White-produced album, The Party Ain't Over. Dylan himself, who once described Jackson as "an atomic bomb with lipstick," had suggested Jackson record the song, and it paid off with what HitFix called a "motorcyle-movie nasty" rendition of the tune. Watch the video here. Jackson performs live this week in Little Rock, Memphis, and Knoxville.

James Farm band mates Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman, and Eric Harland continue their tour across Europe, with stops in Norway, France, and Benelux before returning to the US for four nights at NY's Jazz Standard in June. JazzTimes, in a review of James Farm's self-titled debut album, says: "The band reaches out to a wider world through 10 diverse, intriguing originals that boast melodic clarity, rhythmic allure and improvisational concision ... James Farm is a very cool album."

Senegalese musician Cheikh Lô’s first album in five years, Jamm, will be released in North America June 7. Upon its European release last year, Uncut called it the “African album of the year,” and the Guardian said, “Cheikh Lô is back with an album that reconfirms his position as one of the finest, one of the most soulful singers in West Africa.” In a four-star review, Q called it “true global music to make anyone feel better.” On Jamm, Lô’s mbalax rhythms and signature blend of semi-acoustic flavors—West and Central African, funk, Cuban, flamenco—support his husky vocals, with help from his regular band plus Tony Allen on drums and Pee Wee Ellis on sax.

John Adams's new album, featuring his Son of Chamber Symphony performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), led by Adams, and his String Quartet, performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, is out next Tuesday, May 31. All this week, NPR's Lara Pellegrinelli is following ICE's executive director, flautist Claire Chase, as she goes about her exhausting daily schedule, reporting via Twitter and preparing a piece to air at a later date on NPR.

John Adams received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Juilliard School at the conservatory's 106th Commencement Ceremony and delivered the commencement address at the ceremony, held at Alice Tully Hally in New York City on Friday, May 20, 2011. Also receiving honorary doctoral degrees from Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi were pianist and producer Herbie Hancock, actor Derek Jacobi, and choreographer Twyla Tharp. The full text of Adams's commencement address is posted here.

Jessica Lea Mayfield's "Our Hearts Are Wrong," the opening track off her album Tell Me, has been named American Songwriter's Lyric of the Week. Relix, in its review of Tell Me, says Mayfield "twists her country roots into contemporary alternative rock that even folds in bits of hip-hop, psychedelic-soul and electro-pop without ever stretching too far for comfort ... always keeping the focus on Mayfield’s hypnotic, timeless and vulnerable vocals." KDHX in St. Louis calls her recent performance there "stunning ... with a mix of hauntingly gorgeous vocals and feedback-laden guitar wizardry."

John Adams received an honorary doctorate from the Juilliard School, gave the commencement address ... Laurie Anderson performs Delusion in Germany ... The Black Keys, up for Billboard Music Awards, play the Hang Out Music Fest ... James Farm tours Europe ... Ben Folds tours Australia ... Wanda Jackson hits Houston, New Orleans ... Kronos Quartet performs in Phoenix ... The Low Anthem talks to Marketplace ... Philip Selway plays a set at Liverpool Sound City ... Chris Thile and Michael Daves are in Annapolis ... and more ...

Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Grá agus Bás receives a perfect five stars from the Guardian, which calls the title piece "remarkable ... a piece of startling freshness." That the Night Come, also on the new album and sung by Dawn Upshaw, "is exquisitely shaped and perfectly conceived for Upshaw's voice." Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed calls the title piece "rapturous" and says "Upshaw gets at the heart of Yeats’ sad, haunted beauty" of That the Night Come.

Jonny Greenwood's orchestral piece Doghouse, featuring music used in his Norwegian Wood film score, receives its US premiere in performances by Ensemble Signal with the Wordless Music Orchestra and conductor Brad Lubman at the New York Society for Ethical Culture tonight and tomorrow night. Tonight's concert will be webcast live on Q2. The Wall Street Journal says the Radiohead guitarist's "sideline role as a composer of orchestral music might just trump what he's been up to with his band."

Tell My Sister, the three-disc set of newly remastered editions of Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Dancer with Bruised Knees, and a third disc of demos, receives four stars in the Irish Times, which says of the self-titled debut: "Its timeless melodies, shimmering voices, songs of honest pain, vulnerability and simple joy and its unabashed pride in roots parlour-room music make it a desert-island disc." Anna McGarrigle talks with the Montreal Gazette about the new collection and hearing her late sister's voice on the demos. “She sounds so fierce in it ... The energy that woman had was so amazing.”

Ben Folds has three more shows in his Australian tour, before heading to Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea. He spoke with 774 ABC Melbourne radio about working with Nick Hornby on their album Lonely Avenue, which The Australian calls "a fine ensemble of adult pop songs ... He has a gift for seizing on the minutiae of everyday life and wrapping them in well-crafted melodies." The Brisbane Times says: "The musician's feel for the rhythm and emotional arc of a good story perfectly complements the novelist's lyrics."

Randy Newman was featured in the Observer last weekend, in which his song "Losing You" was described as "a reminder of what a poignant musician Newman can be." Now, as part of the Guardian and Observer's How I Wrote video series, he performs the song at the piano and shares the beautiful and touching true-life story behind the song. Watch the video here. The A.V. Club offers the uninitiated an introduction to Newman's work, calling him "one of the finest songwriters of his time."