The Low Anthem's recent Nonesuch release, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, has made Paste magazine's list of the Best Music of 2009 (so far), assembled by Associate Editor Kate Kiefer. She dubs it her "favorite discovery this year." Drowned in Sound rates it an 8 of 10. "Part of what makes this album so compelling is purity, and purity, when done well, is hard to knock," reads the review, which hears an apt comparison to Tom Waits. "Just as Waits has the power to infuse you with familiarity with the return of a chord, so do the songs of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, like an embroidered pillow on an old porch that says 'home sweet home.'"

Earlier this month, Amadou & Mariam enjoyed a smashing headlining tour of the Eastern US and Canada behind their new release, Welcome to Mali, and are getting ready to hit the American roads again, opening for Coldplay in July. Amadou spoke with The Onion's A.V. Club about the new album and its collaborations with Damon Albarn and K'naan. "No longer content with being classified as world music," says the A.V. Club, Amadou & Mariam "are going global ... [and] have taken advantage of their newfound celebrity to promote African unity, as well as a vision of their home continent free from outdated stereotypes and centuries-old conflicts."

Wilco played the first show in its sold-out, three-night residency at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles last night. The Hollywood Reporter sums it up as "transcending Americana for searches of the heart and soul," full of "musical riches" in a set that "truly was as far-ranging as rock can get." Saturday's set in nearby Pomona was a "superb show," says the Orange County Register, that "ranks among its best," with the band at its most content yet its music now elevated "to a whole new level of complexity and emotional richness." The Los Angeles Times would agree, insisting that "a more comfortable Wilco isn't a less daring one."

The Low Anthem recently made its Nonesuch debut with the release of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. The band has now made its way to the UK for a special gig at London's Union Chapel presented by MOJO magazine Tuesday. The Sunday Times gives the album four stars, calling attention to the closing-track reprise: "It’s wonderful, and effectively says: 'Not only have we just made a great album, but we could, if we chose, take these songs, rework them and make another equally great but entirely different album.' I think we can safely file the Low Anthem among 'the fittest.'"

Allen Toussaint headlines the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, plays SFJAZZ ... David Byrne is out West, at Red Rocks and Red Butte ... Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe bring tour to Belgium ... Toumani Diabaté, Béla Fleck tune in to Telluride Bluegrass Fest ... Bill Frisell performs a solo set in Washington state ... Emmylou Harris goes solo at Telluride ... Pat Metheny revisits Gary Burton Quartet on the road ... Punch Brothers play bluegrass and Radiohead at Telluride ... Sara Watkins does Prairie Home Companion at Ravinia, joins WPA at Telluride ... Wilco does Vegas and Hard Rock Hotel ... and more ...

The Telluride Bluegrass Festival gets under way in beautiful Telluride, Colorado, today and runs through the weekend with a number of Nonesuch artists slated to perform and give last weekend's Bonnaroo lineup a run for its money. Performing are Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin with Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller for Three Girls & Their Buddy set, David Byrne, Toumani Diabaté with Béla Fleck, Punch Brothers (performing a bluegrass set and an all-Radiohead set), and Sara Watkins with Works Progress Administration. Emmylou Harris returns solo on Sunday night as the festival's final headlining artist.

Just before the big Bonnaroo performance this past Saturday, Wilco played the first stop on its summer tour of the States, at Cincinnati's Aronoff Theater Friday. Featured in the set were songs from the band's catalog and its forthcoming Nonesuch release, Wilco (the album); the Observer gives the album four stars, as does SPIN, which calls it "fantastic." The Cincinnati Enquirer writes in its concert review: "Jeff Tweedy and his collection of virtuoso cohorts are at the top of their game, staking a claim as one of America’s most innovative and entertaining bands." MTV reports: "Unwrapping a handful of tunes from their new self-titled album, the band straight-up killed it, playing to a packed house of 2,700 who sang along to nearly every lyric."

The Low Anthem, fresh off a multi-set stop at the Bonnaroo festival this weekend, are in New York City to celebrate the release of their Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, with a performance at the Bowery Ballroom tonight. The Observer Music Monthly gives the album four stars, exclaiming, "it soars, the title track especially"; Paste's Josh Jackson calls it "one of my favorite albums this year." The New York Times writes: "[T]he quieter the music gets ... the more its music inhabits its own otherworldly place, where ghosts and angels hover just out of view."

After four days, 70,000-plus music lovers, and scores of A-list performers, the Bonnaroo music and arts festival has come to a close. Among the festival's performers were no fewer than seven Nonesuch artists. The New York Times calls the Wilco show "one of Bonnaroo’s most extraordinary sets." The Wall Street Journal describes The Low Anthem's "fine new album" as "both clever and affecting" and its live set as "moving, folk-based Americana." Pop Matters calls it "one of the most pleasant surprises" of the day and the trio's vocals "absolutely phenomenal and as pure as can be." Spinner calls them "one of the true breakout bands at Bonnaroo this year."

Ry Cooder kicks off European tour with Nick Lowe in Ireland ... Bill Frisell Trio try a trifecta in Rochester, Louisville, Philly ... Youssou N'Dour does Q&As for film screenings in NYC ... eighth blackbird performs Reich's Pulizer Prize-winning Double Sextet at Ojai Festival ... Bonnaroo welcomes Amadou & Mariam, David Byrne, Toumani Diabaté with Béla Fleck, The Low Anthem, Allen Toussaint, Sara Watkins, and Wilco, who starts its summer tour ... and more ...

The Nonesuch artist invasion of Bonnaroo, the big four-day music and arts festival in Manchester, Tennessee, began last night with an opening-night performance by The Low Anthem, which performs again this afternoon. Also performing today are Toumani Diabaté with Béla Fleck at The Other Tent's all-day program of African music, culminating in an evening set by Amadou & Mariam. David Byrne closes out the day's performances on the Which Stage and leads the first-ever artist-curated stage. On Saturday, Allen Toussaint plays two stages; Sara Watkins plays with Fiction Family; and Wilco, one of SPIN's "must-hear" acts there, plays a two-hour set on the What Stage.

Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love, the award-winning film that documents the creation of and response to N'Dour's 2004 Grammy-winning album Egypt, begins its theatrical run in New York tomorrow at the Paris Theatre and IFC Center in Manhattan, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The Senegalese superstar and the film's director, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, will make personal appearances at the three New York-area theaters on opening day and the following day, Saturday, taking questions from the audience about the film.