Chris Thile makes his second appearance on The Travel Channel's The Traveler’s Guide to Life tonight. His travels brought him to Iowa last weekend to perform his Mandolin Concerto with the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony. "Thile gave a lively and intense performance of his newly composed concerto," says the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, and a "sublime" encore of Bach. He was home in NYC to perform with guitarist Michael Daves last night and hits the road again with Punch Brothers this weekend. Banjoist Noam Pikelny recently spoke with the A.V. Club about the group's Grammy nominations, among many other things.

The Black Keys will perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this Friday night, February 11, on NBC, and on Conan the following Monday, February 14, on TBS. The two television appearances bookend another very important date for the band, namely the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, taking place this Sunday, Feburary 13, at which The Black Keys' latest Nonesuch album, Brothers, is up for six Grammys.

Jessica Lea Mayfield's Nonesuch debut album, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, is out today. The album makes the New York Times's Critics' Choice list of new CDs. "It’s refreshing," says the Boston Globe, "to see her blossom on her seductive new sophomore album." The LA Times says: "Her cool connects her to Patsy Cline; her haunted side recalls Gillian Welch." The AP calls it "a dark and moody album, full of delights throughout, and if it doesn't make Mayfield a star, that too will be heartbreaking." 

The Low Anthem's new album, Smart Flesh, is due out in just two weeks, on February 22. The album, the majority of which was recorded in a cavernous, vacant pasta sauce factory, touches on such themes as love and longing and, in one particular song, changing political winds. On that note, and to mark the centennial of Ronald Reagan's birth, the song—the evocatively titled "Hey, All You Hippies!"—is now streaming on the band's website. To hear how the two are linked, listen to the song at lowanthem.com. The Low Anthem begins its US tour in Washington, DC, on February 24.

Wanda Jackson kicked off her European tour, featuring music from her new album, The Party Ain't Over, over the weekend and continues through Germany and Austria before returning to the States for several shows later this month. Now comes word that Jackson will be extending her US tour with 14 more dates through March and April.

k.d. lang's forthcoming album with the Siss Boom Bang, Sing it Loud, due out on Nonesuch April 12, is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with a manuscript lyric sheet of the album's first single, "I Confess," a limited number of which will be signed by k.d. The song was penned by lang with band mates Daniel Clarke and Joshua Grange. An expanded version of the album, with four additional tracks, is available for pre-order, exclusively at kdlang.com.

Two shows will be held in honor of the late Kate McGarrigle at New York's Town Hall on May 12 and 13, featuring performances by Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Anna McGarrigle, Emmylou Harris, and others. Kate McGarrigle lost her battle with a rare form of cancer known as sarcoma in January of 2010, age 63. All profits from the concerts will go toward the creation of the Kate McGarrigle Sarcoma Research Fund.

John Adams, whose 1987 opera Nixon in China continues to delight in the Metropolitan Opera premiere production, will unveil a new work with the world premiere of his oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary by the LA Phil in May 2012. The LA Phil's 2011-12 season will include performances of other works by Adams, Steve Reich, and Louis Andriessen, plus a concert by Kronos Quartet and Bill Frisell. Adams will remain as Creative Chair into 2014.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have added two new musicians to the band: human beatboxer Adam Matta and multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins. The two join the group as founding member Justin Robinson departs to take up new challenges. The Chocolate Drops’ winter/spring tour began earlier this week with a performance at Lincoln Center’s prestigious American Songbook series and continues through April 14.

Chris Thile performs his Mandolin Concerto in Iowa ... John Adams conducts Nixon in China at the Met ... David Byrne attends 25th anniversary True Stories screening in San Francisco ... Carolina Chocolate Drops hit upstate New York, Vermont ... Shawn Colvin returns to Yoshi's San Francisco ... Wanda Jackson headlines Rockin’ Race Jamboree in Spain ... Kronos Quartet makes it a two-fer in Minneapolis ... Jessica Lea Mayfield kicks off tour with Justin Townes Earle ... Fernando Otero plays NYC,  Allen Toussaint too ... and more ... 

Jessica Lea Mayfield's new album, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, is due out this Tuesday. You can listen to the album in its entirety now at RollingStone.com. "At 21, Mayfield looks like an ingénue but sings like a worldly-wise veteran," says the magazine. Pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an exclusive signed 7” of the album’s first single, “Our Hearts Are Wrong.” Mayfield launches a ten-day tour with Justin Townes Earle tonight.

Wanda Jackson celebrated the release of her new album, The Party Ain't Over, last month with sold-out shows with producer Jack White in New York and Los Angeles and performances on the Late Show with David Letterman and Conan, as well as her own hometown show in Oklahoma City. She kicks off a month-long tour in Europe and the United States this weekend with the headliner slot at the Rockin' Race Jamboree in Málaga, Spain.