The Low Anthem continues to tour the US behind their recent Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, returning to their home state of Rhode Island on August 1 to play the inimitable Newport Folk Festival, celebrating its 50th year. "There is nothing typical about Rhode Island Americana group The Low Anthem," writes Audiophile Audition, which gives the new album four stars, citing the "exquisite acoustics,""naturalistic feeling," and "direct and honest" approach of its recording.

Richard Goode enjoys the fruits of his artistic direction at Marlboro Music ... Amadou & Mariam play SoCal with Coldplay ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed perform at the Palace for Manchester Fest ... The Black Keys conquer Colorado ... David Byrne takes a Roman (work) holiday ... Shawn Colvin goes solo, joins Jackson Browne ... Christina Courtin's close to home in NYC ... Bill Frisell joins the McCoy Tyner Quintet in Italy ... The Low Anthem opts for Ottawa Blues Fest ... Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman's trios cross paths at Nice Jazz Fest ... Oumou Sangare closes US tour with Béla Fleck ... Chris Thile premieres mandolin concerto at Interlochen ... Allen Toussaint sees Spain, London ... Rokia Traoré tours UK's Larmer Tree Fest ... Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish light up Elora Fest ... Wilco plays Portland, Maine, upstate New York ... and more ... 

Bill Frisell's latest album, Disfarmer, is out now. The Observer gives it four stars, finding it done "brilliantly" by "guitar maestro" Frisell. The Independent gives it four stars as well, calling Frisell "not just the outstanding jazz guitarist of his era but also the most diversely prolific," following, as the album does, his recent "sublime compilation" of Folk Songs. Four more stars from the Evening Standard, describing Frisell's soundscape as "a peaceful world where the twin streams of jazz and country-and-western meet in gentle confluence." The Boston Phoenix sees Frisell as "one of jazz's great impressionists" and Disfarmer "the perfect subject for one of his audio mini-movies."

Amadou & Mariam's tour with Coldplay comes to Carson, California, tomorrow night. MTV has named their album Welcome to Mali among the Top 10 albums of the year so far. On the album, "the duo make breathtakingly beautiful, undeniably inspired music," says MTV. "[I]t's music for all seasons and all people." LA Weekly calls it "a wonderfully engaging blur of unexpected influences." The San Diego Union Tribune says that "few who listen will be able to resist." The Dallas Observer sees them likely to transcend the "world music" label, their music "capable of transforming unsuspecting English-speaking audiences into dancing throngs of joy."

Kronos Quartet will give the premiere of "Aheym," a new piece written for the group by the National's Bryce Dessner during a free outdoor concert in Brooklyn's Prospect Park as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! series, tonight at 7:30 PM. Dessner, in an interview with Pitchfork about this piece and the many other projects he's been working on of late, explains: "I've long been a fan of Kronos. I think a lot of people with my kind of background in contemporary music tend to be, because they're just such an important group." Also on tonight's program are works from Kronos's recent Nonesuch release, Floodplain, among others.

Wilco was joined by Feist to sing "You and I" at Monday night's concert at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn and on Tuesday night's performance for the Late Show with David Letterman. Stereogum posts video of the latter and reports: "Jeff [Tweedy] and Feist enjoy a laid back but engaged rapport onstage that matches the dulcet mesh of their voices, one of those rare collaborative dynamics that enhances the song's meaning as much as it raises the song's profile." Billboard says of Monday's concert: "The sight was American rock 'n' roll at its finest, with one of the genre's most powerful live acts at the helm." WFUV's Rita Houston says: "Great show in a great setting on a beautiful night in Coney Island. Magic was all there."

Wilco, fresh off last night's rocking sold-out set at Coney Island's Keyspan Park, is set to perform on Late Show with David Letterman tonight. The group will play "You and I," the Wilco (the album) duet with Leslie Feist, who will join the band for the show, as she did on Coney Island last night. Following last week's concert at Wolf Trap, outside DC, the Washington Post says the band offered "something for everyone ... all delivered in the tightest possible package." France's Télérama gives the album a perfect "four keys." The Daily Telegraph gives four stars to the new album, "a collection of unflaggingly high-quality, Beatles-y tunes ... with a yearning, uplifting summery spirit." The Scotland Herald says, "The whole album is beautifully produced and suffused with a kind of mature smarts ... It's great to have them back, America's best band."

Voltaic, the audio-visual celebration of Björk's Volta tour, is out now on Nonesuch. The Wall Street Journal spoke with the Icelandic songstress who "makes music that melds edgy beats with dreamlike lyrics," about the project. Nashville Scene points to its visual aspect, describing her concerts as "absolutely spellbinding marriages of ethereal sound and astonishing vision," and explaining, "As always, the singer's voice is simply unparalleled in its celestial beauty, her primal stage presence is captivating, the beats are club-stomping, and the visual spectacle of the show is stunning." All About Jazz sees her  "here she's near the top of her game."

Disfarmer, Bill Frisell's latest Nonesuch release, is due out a week from today you can now listen to the complete album online for NPR's Exclusive First Listen. NPR describes Frisell as "a guitar tactician with warmth and a composer of unclassifiable songs," and, on this album (inspired by the work of the late photographer Michael Disfarmer), "the quiet tactician of the electric guitar, who engineers loops and subtle distortions with phrasing you never knew you were expecting." NPR concludes: "It's a record alternately spare and full, languid and rollicking, pastoral and urbanely produced."

Shawn Colvin's Live album was released late last month on Nonesuch, and, says MusicOMH in its four-star review, "a live album is long overdue ... [T]his career-spanning selection of songs could easily be a wish list for any fan," he states, "but also serves as fine introduction to a singer-songwriter who is frequently mentioned in the same breath as James Taylor, Lucinda Williams and Joni Mitchell." Shawn is set to begin a run of solo dates this week, opening for Jackson Browne on Thursday. She spoke with Popdose, which calls her "one of the leading lights of 'Americana' music and perhaps the most important singer/songwriter—male or female—of the last 20 years."

Road Show, the latest work by Stephen Sondheim, is out now. The true-life tale has been through a number of permutations (including 2003's Bounce), and, says Playbill, "this recording sounds new, vibrant and refreshing." As always, Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations "perfectly translate the composer's music for orchestra" and producer Tommy Krasker "has made a fine job" of the recording. Talkin’ Broadway concurs, asserting: "The sound and spectacularly theatrical feel of the whole project is masterful." The review concludes: "The highly crafted work of Sondheim and the many intertwined lines of Weidman's are sharp, packed, concise and full of character specificity."

Christina Courtin's self-titled Nonesuch debut is out now, and, the Daily Express gives it a perfect five stars. She puts "her exceptional composition skills to 10 superb songs full of emotional complexity and subtle style shifts," says the paper. Teletext says that "what makes Courtin's debut stand out is the understated variety of her vocals. As precise as k.d. lang one moment, she's as untamed as Bat for Lashes the next." The Scripps Howard News Service calls Courtin "impossibly enchanting" and the new album "intoxicating."