Natalie Merchant's musical sweep through London concludes with a free performance at the Free Word Centre, with songs from her forthcoming Nonesuch debut, Leave Your Sleep. Natalie was featured on BBC Radio 4's Today earlier this week. Her guest turn at Friday's opening night concert of the London Jazz Festival is available via BBC Radio 3, and BBC Radio Scotland has a preview of songs from the album on Global Gathering.

Youssou N'Dour's recent 50th birthday was marked with a cover article from Songlines and a BBC radio documentary. "I'd never heard a voice like it," Peter Gabriel tells the BBC of first hearing Youssou's music, "so smart and emotional at the same time." Youssou is due to perform at an event by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this weekend and will receive the Medal of Honor from Lille, France, during next week's World Forum Lille.

The Low Anthem played its first-ever West Coast show this past weekend at Chop Suey in Seattle, meeting up with Blind Pilot on Monday to start a three-week tour together. While in Seattle, the trio stopped by KEXP to perform a four-song session; tune in tonight at 9 PM PST to hear it. Leading to this Friday's show in LA, Jeff Prystowsky spoke with LAist, which describes the new album as "chocked full of intelligent lyrics inspired by America's past and present laid gently on top of harmonies that make your heart ache."

Alarm Will Sound celebrated the recent release of its Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, with an album release and listening party at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge last night. Alan Pierson, the group's artistic director, and Gavin Chuck, its managing director, spoke with BBC's The Strand about the new album, which, says the BBC, "even includes a few tracks that it was thought impossible for human beings to play."

Rokia Traoré was the featured artist on this past weekend's Transpacific Sound Paradise on New York independent radio station WFMU. Listen in to hear tracks from Rokia's latest Nonesuch release, Tchamantché, and an interview with the Malian-born singer/songwriter about the new sounds she explores on the album.

Wilco kicked off its North American tour last night at the University of Iowa and is at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota, tonight. The band stays on in St. Paul for a live broadcast performance of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor on Saturday. Wilco plays the annual Farm Aid benefit concert, which will be broadcast live on DIRECTV and online on Sunday. Jeff Tweedy tells the Austin Chronicle about the joy of playing live, connecting with the audience: "I can't find anything better than that. You can feel it when a song means something to people."

Summer may be the season of festivals, but this fall weekend has two standouts: Austin City Limits and San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a free outdoor event that has three Nonesuch artists—Emmylou Harris, Allen Toussaint, and Amadou & Mariam—set to perform in Golden Gate Park. Both Harris and Amadou & Mariam have concerts in LA earlier in the week; the latter plays live on KCRW this morning.

Wilco's 1995 debut, A.M., is now out again on vinyl. The band is set to begin a three-week tour this Thursday in the Main Lounge of the University of Iowa's Memorial Union. This afternoon at 3 PM CT, the band stops by the studios of radio station WXRT in their hometown of Chicago to talk about the tour and play guest DJ. The North American tour culminates with two shows in Chicago on October 18 and 19; Wilco heads to Europe in early November.

Paul Jacobs's 1970s recordings of Debussy's Preludes for Nonesuch have been added to The NPR Classical 50 list of essential recordings. On the show, critic Ted Libbey calls them "quite remarkable" and dubs Jacobs "the gold standard for the piano music of Debussy." Says Libbey of the Preludes: "What you hear is so extraordinary."

Youssou N'Dour talks to BBC Radio 4 ... Kronos premieres Damon Albarn piece in Spain ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica perform Mendelssohn in Germany ... Low Anthem plays in Germany too ... Joshua Redman Trio launches Indy Jazz Fest ... Chris Thile, Colorado Sympohny give encore performances of his "astounding" Mandolin Concerto ... Allen Toussaint plays New York's Joe's Pub ... Laura Veirs tours with The Decemberists ... Sara Watkins plays the Americana Music Festival in Nashville ... and more ...

Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, a musical memorial for September 11, will air on WNYC and be performed in concert by the Phoenix Symphony ... Carolina Chocolate Drops celebrate Chapel Hill library's 50th ... Bill Frisell performs music of Disfarmer ... Kronos begins its season at Poland's Wratislava festival ... Low Anthem plays UK's End of the Road fest ... Brad Mehldau solos in São Paolo ... Nicholas Payton plays NY's Iridium  ... Guggenheim presents dances to Reich's Double Sextet ... Allen Toussaint plays Texas, Maryland, NYC ... and more