The Low Anthem's new album, Smart Flesh, is due out next week, on February 22. Until then, you can listen to the album streaming in its entirety as an NPR First Listen on npr.org. The band makes records "worth discovering slowly and embracing with loving care," says NPR's Stephen Thompson. Smart Flesh "showcases a band that's never been on surer footing," he says. "Alternately rustic and relevant, these songs sound haunted in every possible way ... beautiful through and through." Clash Music says: "this is the human condition set to music."

Jessica Lea Mayfield and her album Tell Me were featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday. "Meeting, matching, looking for love and struggling to keep it are all subjects for songs on Jessica Lea Mayfield's new album," says host Scott Simon. Mayfield performs those songs at First Avenue in Minneapolis tonight, the final stop on her tour with Justin Townes Earle. Up next are three shows with the Avett Brothers. Watch Mayfield performs the song "Sometimes At Night," off of Tell Me, in a video here.

Congratulations to the Nonesuch artists who were presented with Grammy Awards at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, held Sunday, February 13, in Los Angeles: The Black Keys, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and World Circuit / Nonesuch Records artists Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté. Together, these artists' 2010 releases garnered a total of six awards.

Nonesuch artists are up for several Grammys on Sunday ... John Adams's Nixon in China hits movie theaters via The Met: Live in HD ... The Black Keys are on The Tonight Show ... Wanda Jackson tours Germany ... Jessica Lea Mayfield tours the Midwest with Justin Townes Earle ... Randy Newman plays Louisiana and Florida ... Mandy Patinkin stars at New York's Public Theater ... Punch Brothers cover Colorado ... Allen Toussaint plays NYC ... Dawn Upshaw sings Britten in St. Paul ... Sara Watkins plays close to home with The Decemberists ... and more ...

As Jessica Lea Mayfield's tour with Justin Townes Earle continues through Valentine's Day, Pitchfork says her work has "the emotional force of the best country music and distinguishes her from other songwriters." On her new album, Tell Me, "Mayfield works to break free of her country confines and showcase her vocals in new, unexpected settings," says Pitchfork. Across the album's 11 tracks, Mayfield's songs prove "positively kaleidoscopic, both musically and emotionally." Scripps Howard gives the album four stars and calls Mayfield a "singularly talented singer."

The trailer for Howlin' for You, directed by Chris Marrs Piliero and featuring music by The Black Keys, which premiered on IMDB yesterday, seems to have gotten some notice. Pitchfork calls it "hilariously awesome," this "trailer for a so-bad-it's-insanely-good action film." They're not alone. "It's campy, it's cheesy and it's full of violence," says Billboard. "This is certainly a release we're howlin' for." Watch the trailer here. The Black Keys will be on The Tonight Show tonight; their album Brothers, on which "Howlin' for You" appears, is up for six Grammys on Sunday. They spoke about that with KROQ yesterday.

The Metropolitan Opera's premiere production of John Adams's opera Nixon in China continues on Saturday afternoon, with the composer at the podium. Audiences both in and far outside of New York City will be able to watch the performance live in high-definition at their local movie theaters as part of the Met's Live in HD series, beginning at 1 PM ET. The newly reissued, Grammy-winning original cast recording of Nixon in China is available now from Nonesuch.

Wolf Trap, the National Park for the Performing Arts outside of Washington, DC, has announced is 2011 Summer Season. Included among the performers this summer at the Filene Center, Wolf Trap's outdoor amphitheater, are k.d. lang, Punch Brothers, and Gipsy Kings. The season will also include a performance of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd by the Wolf Trap Opera Company. Tickets go on sale to the general public on March 12.

IMDB has premiered a new film trailer for Howlin' for You, directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, starring a whole host of familiar faces, and featuring music by The Black Keys. "Alexa Wolff, a sexy assassin with a troubled past, unknowingly falls in love with the man who killed her father," writes the site in its description of Howlin' for You. "He is not her first love, though. Two other men came before. But they would not have her. Now, all grown up with an appetite for revenge, Alexa’s leaving a trail of bloody corpses and broken hearts in her wake." Check it out at imdb.com.

Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians will receive its first Scottish performance in a decade when conductor Thomas Adès leads the London Sinfonietta and Synergy Vocals in a performance of the piece at Glasgow's City Halls on Sunday. Reich spoke with BBC Radio 3's Robert Worby about his music and the inspiration behind the piece for a short film by the London Sinfonietta. Watch it here.

Jessica Lea Mayfield new album, Tell Me, was released yesterday to rave reviews. "[O]ur advance copy of Jessica Lea Mayfield’s Tell Me was one of the few things keeping us sane during this long, dark, miserable winter," raves American Songwriter, citing the album's "gorgeous vocals, breathtaking production and, most importantly, great songs." Says PopMatters: "Tell Me manages to maintain the beautifully busted feel of Mayfield’s breakout record, but also succeeds in a new and ambitious sonic landscape." She continues her tour with Justin Townes Earle this week.

Yesterday brought news of the addition of a number of new dates to Wanda Jackson's US tour, featuring music from her Third Man / Nonesuch Records debut, The Party Ain't Over, produced by Jack White. Now comes the release of a new video of Jackson and the Third Man Band, with Jack White on guitar, performing "Riot in Cell Block #9," recorded at the premiere album-release show on January 18 at Third Man's Music City studio. Watch it here.