k.d. lang and her new album, Sing it Loud, were featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday this past weekend. lang spoke with host Liane Hansen about the making of the album and collaborating with co-writer and producer Joe Pisapia. "The second everybody walked into the room, the energy was palpable. It was an amazing session," says lang, of the July 4th recording session, with her band in Nashville with her band, the Siss Boom Bang. k.d. lang is currently in London celebrating the local release of Sing it Loud, with live interviews on television, and a review in the Observer describes the album as "jazz and country-flecked songs [that] brim with confidence."

Kronos Quartet joins Bang on a Can for a mini-marathon at MIT ... Tony Allen continues his North American tour ... Laurie Anderson gives a reading in the Hamptons ... The Black Keys headline at Coachella ...  Wanda Jackson heads South ... The Low Anthem tours the Northeast with Iron and Wine ... Jessica Lea Mayfield plays her home state ... Randy Newman performs in the Pacific Northwest ... Punch Brothers play p-Bingo in NYC ... Dawn Upshaw, Donnacha Dennehy conclude Carnegie Hall workshop ... Sara Watkins tours with the Decemberists ... and more ...

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang round out a week of celebrations marking the release of their new album, Sing it Loud, with a performance of the album's opening track, "I Confess," on ABC's The View this morning; watch it here. The song is today's Free Song of the Day at Amazon. They stop by WFUV to talk with host Rita Houston this evening and head next to the UK for a week of appearances marking the release of the new record there.

The Low Anthem began their US spring tour last night with the first of several sold-out shows with Iron and Wine. This weekend, The Low Anthem can also be heard on NPR stations across the country as their recent performance on Mountain Stage premieres; Lucinda Williams is also on the show. The band closed out its European tour at a sold-out show at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, to which the Guardian and the Independent both gave four stars. You can now watch the video for "Boeing 737" here.

Carolina Chocolate Drops were featured on Wisconsin Public Television's 30-Minute Music Hour last Saturday. You can watch the performance here. The band is launching a worldwide campaign to find the perfect Carolina Chocolate Drops logo to be included in their new summer merchandise. Everyone is encouraged to enter; fans will be able to vote on the top five designs.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang have moved the celebration of their new album's release to the East Coast, performing "I Confess," the opening track to Sing it Loud, on Good Morning America this morning, which you can watch here, and appearing on The View tomorrow. They perform the entire album at New York's Poisson Rouge tonight. USA Today says "lang ranks among our finest purveyors of dreamy, creamy, country-tinged torch songs, picking up the mantle from Roy Orbison and Peggy Lee with these perfect vehicles for her vibrant voice." KCRW named the album's title track yesterday's Top Tune, saying lang "sounds as strong as ever." The Arts Desk has named Sing it Loud Album of the Day, and MusicOMH gives it four stars.

The Black Keys have been nominated for three Billboard Music Awards: Top Alternative Artist and Top Rock Album and Top Alternative Album for their album Brothers. The guys are back on the road, performing at the Mesa Amphitheatre tonight. They play the first of several upcoming festival headlining appearances at Coachella tomorrow, which will be webcast live on YouTube. Additional upcoming performances include headlining sets at The Hangout Festival, Summerfest, Bonnaroo, and Outside Lands. Check out a behind-the-scenes look at their unforgettable "Howlin' for You" video here.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that Amadou & Mariam have been appointed Ambassadors against Hunger to raise awareness among Europeans of the problem of global hunger and efforts by WFP and the European Union to combat it. The duo has just returned from Haiti, where they visited WFP projects funded by the EU and performed a concert with Haitian musicians.

Emmylou Harris's new album, Hard Bargain, is due out on Nonesuch April 26, less than two weeks away. A deluxe edition includes a DVD featuring six performances interspersed with interviews. The video for "Goodnight Old World," from the deluxe edition of the album, received its exclusive world premiere on CMT this morning. You can watch the video, directed by Jack Spencer, here.

Dawn Upshaw and Donnacha Dennehy are in the midst of a seven-day workshop at Carnegie Hall, mentoring composers and singers, with two culminating performances this weekend. The New Yorker's Alex Ross has Dennehy's forthcoming album, Grá agus Bás, in current rotation. The Baltimore Sun describes Upshaw's recent Kennedy Center performances as "heavenly." Gramophone declares her 1989 recording of Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 the definitive one, saying, "if you want just one recording of Knoxville, it should be Upshaw's. In no other version is the intimacy of Barber's music so poignantly conveyed."

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang's new album, Sing it Loud, is out today. To celebrate, lang and the band performed the album opener "I Confess" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night. Watch the complete episode here. The Los Angeles Times says: "The big, beautiful voice of k.d. lang swoops, purrs and soars through the 10 songs on Sing it Loud.” With her new band, lang "has found her guitar groove again." The Ottawa Citizen calls the album "a torch-and-twangtinged stunner."

Tell Me, the highly anticipated sophomore release from Jessica Lea Mayfield, is out now on Nonesuch Records. In celebration of the record, Mayfield will continue to tour the US and Europe throughout 2011, including an appearance at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival as well as a newly announced series of special shows with The Avett Brothers.