Emmylou Harris is featured on today's edition of NPR's All Things Considered. She spoke with host Melissa Block about her new album, Hard Bargain, and what Block calls a "strain of wistfulness" in the songs she wrote for it, including "The Road," about her relationship with Gram Parsons. Harris joins Steve Earle on his Hardcore Troubadour Radio show on Sirius XM Outlaw Country this weekend, featuring solo performances of songs from Hard Bargain and a very special duet.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves, whose debut duo album, Sleep with One Eye Open, is due out on Nonesuch on May 10, have premiered the third in a series of performance videos captured live at New York's Rockwood Music Hall: "You're Running Wild," made famous by the Louvin Brothers. Watch it here. The duo will be releasing a 7" single through Third Man Records on May 24. A limited-edition tri-color version will be available at Newbury Comics at Faneuil Hall in Boston that day; Thile and Daves will give a free in-store performance.

Jessica Lea Mayfield will perform songs from her new album, Tell Me, on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic in LA this morning, in advance of her show at the Troubador tonight. "Jessica Lea Mayfield knocked our socks off at KCRW's SXSW showcase last month," says the station, "and we're excited to feature a live performance with this talented new artist." Mayfield was recently interviewed by Playboy magazine for its annual "Rock the Rabbit" feature and designed a t-shirt for the occasion.

Steve Reich and his latest piece, WTC 9/11, are featured in the Wall Street Journal. Kronos Quartet will give the piece its NYC premiere at Carnegie Hall this Saturday as part of an all-Reich, multi-artist concert celebrating the composer's 75th birth year. Time Out New York calls it "a program suited to its festive occasion." The Barbican in London celebrates the following weekend with Reverberations: The Influence of Steve Reich; enter to win tickets and more.

Emmylou Harris performed "Six White Cadillacs," off her new album, Hard Bargain, on the Late Show with David Letterman last night. Letterman called her "an icon, one of the greats, if not the best in country music and, just generally, popular music as far as a composer and a singer and an artist." She performed the album's title track on the Today show this morning. Yahoo! Music's Ram Country series features a video interview with Harris and performances of three songs off the album: "Six White Cadillacs," "Home Sweet Home," and "Darlin' Kate." Watch all of these videos here.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang have returned home to California after several weeks' celebration of their new album, Sing it Loud, with TV and radio appearances around the world. They close out this weekend's Stagecoach festival in Indio, California, with a Sunday night set. lang can be heard on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live this weekend, talking about her passion for martinis. Watch her performances of the Sing it Loud song "Inglewood" from the CBC's Q and ABC Australia's Art Nation here.

AfroCubism has won the Cross-Cultural Collaboration category in the 2011 Songlines World Music Awards, which recognize outstanding talent in world music. Songlines Editor-in-Chief Simon Broughton describes the band as a "brilliant collaboration." The band will receive the award at London's Royal Albert Hall on June 27, the start of a European tour. The first announced North American date is July 8 at the Oregon Zoo; more dates will follow.

The second annual L.A. Bluegrass Situation gets under way at Largo tonight and continues through the weekend with sold-out shows each night. The event kicks off with a performance from the Watkins Family Hour, featuring Sara and Sean Watkins. Punch Brothers headline tomorrow night. Ed Helms, the festival's curator, and Steve Martin, both friends of Punch Brothers, perform the following nights. "We’re both fans of the band," Helms tells the Los Angeles Times.

Emmylou Harris celebrated the release of her new album, Hard Bargain, with a special performance of the complete album at NY's Bowery Ballroom last night. She performs "Six White Cadillacs" on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight and will appear on the Today show tomorrow morning. NPR's Fresh Air calls the new album "the most eclectic and loose-fitting album Emmylou Harris has made in a long time," one that "deserves a wider audience." WNYC's Soundcheck names it a Pick of the Week.

Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, has announced its 2011–12 season, which will feature performances from a number of performers familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Dawn Upshaw and Rokia Traoré, each in a collaboration with director Peter Sellars, the latter also with novelist Toni Morrison; Kronos Quartet in the Bay Area premiere of Steve Reich's WTC 9/11; Sérgio and Odair Assad; and Richard Goode.

Tune in to hear Steve Reich today on WNYC's Soundcheck. The composer will discuss his latest piece, WTC 9/11, which will be given its NY premiere in a performance by Kronos Quartet this Saturday at Carnegie Hall, in an all-Reich concert celebrating his 75th birth year. (Listen to a recent Q2 program on the Carnegie Hall concert here.) Also on today's Soundcheck is a live set from Timothy Andres, who was recently named one of the top 100 Composers Under 40 by NPR and Q2. Soundcheck names Emmylou Harris's Hard Bargain a Pick of the Week. 

Emmylou Harris's new album, Hard Bargain, is out now. She performs at Bowery Ballroom tonight and on the Late Show with David Letterman tomorrow. The Washington Post says Hard Bargain is "lovely and understated and will only further Harris’s reputation as a paragon of gentle dignity and forbearance." USA Today gives it four stars and calls it "exquisite." Paste says Harris continues to create "some of the best country-influenced music being recorded today." Country Standard Time says the album "marks another triumphant recording in a career filled with memorable work." In a new video, Harris talks about her songwriting and recording the new album; watch it here.