Laurie Anderson recently spoke with The Quietus about her new album, Homeland. The Quietus reviewer says: "Anderson had, has, foresight, and if she would consent to the idea of timeless, I'd use that adjective here." The Seattle Times describes it as "brilliant vocals, thought-provoking narratives, hypnotic violins and the most finely attuned poetic sensibility in rock."

The Black Keys head to Chicago ... Carolina Chocolate Drops finish their European tour ... Christina Courtin plays Maine ... Richard Goode appears with the BSO at Tanglewood ... Gidon Kremer performs in Italy ... Kronos Quartet play at Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music ... The Low Anthem visit Vermont's Northeast Kingdon Music Festival ... Natalie Merchant continues her tour of the west coast ... Punch Brothers play three times at the Pickathon 2010 in Oregon ... Allen Toussaint headlines in Utah ... and more ...

Punch Brothers recently visited the MTV studios in New York to take part in the network's new online series, "Live at MTV." The band played songs from their latest album, Antifogmatic, as well as a cover of the White Stripes song "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground." MTV's Buzzworthy Blog features four videos from the performance, including "You Are," "Alex," "Rye Whiskey," and the White Stripes tune.

Natalie Merchant, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Rokia Traoré performed recently at the 45th annual Cambridge Folk Festival in Cambridge, England. BBC Radio 2's festival highlights program features interviews and live performances by all three both artists. Press coverage of the festival included praise for the performances.

Bernadatte Peters recently took over the role of Desirée Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music from actress Catherine Zeta Jones, who is featured on Nonesuch's recording of the work. Peters' rendition of the famous "Send in the Clowns," perhaps the composer's best-known song, was recently praised by New York Times writer Charles Isherwood, leading the Los Angeles Times arts blog, Culture Monster, to take a look, via YouTube, at other famous versions of this popular song.

The Low Anthem and Punch Brothers recently performed at the legendary Newport Folk Festival; both bands' sets were streamed live in full on NPR.org. The Low Anthem's home state performance garnered great reviews, including one from the Boston Globe, which wrote that a "fiery spirit imbued the Low Anthem’s set earlier on the same stage, with the Providence band once again proving its quick ascent was warranted." In their review of the festival, American Songwriter magazine called Punch Brothers' set "a deft fusion of old and new."

The Black Keys played the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston over the weekend, and the Boston Globe called the show "a searingly superb 85-minute set." In his review, Jonathan Perry describes the band's style as a "sizzling fusion of hill-country blues and indie-rock attitude." The Boston Herald, too, complimented the show: "In the best of ways, The Black Keys can make a multimillion-dollar venue sound like a dive-bar stage." The video for "Tighten Up" has been nominated for Best Breakthrough Video at MTV's Video Music Awards.

Punch Brothers were featured on the latest episode of NPR's Weekend Edition. Host Jacki Lydon describes their latest release, Antifogmatic, as "10 delectable tunes," and comments that though the band members have their roots in bluegrass, the album is more varied in its sound; she notes that "the band takes bluegrass instrumentation and combines it with elements of classical music and rock 'n roll."

Steve Reich celebrates Drumming's 40th anniversary in Woodstock ... The Black Keys rock the East ... Carolina Chocolate Drops, Natalie Merchant, Rokia Traoré play Cambridge Folk Festival ... Christina Courtin joins NYC Gulf benefit ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica  tour Europe ... Kronos Quartet takes in the BBQ at Rancho Nicasio ... The Low Anthem, Punch Brothers play Newport Folk Festival ... Stephen Sondheim is fêted at Ravinia, BBC Prom ... Sara Watkins opens for Ricky Skaggs in West Virginia ... and more ...

The Low Anthem and Punch Brothers are set to play the famed Newport Folk Festival this weekend. NPR will provide complete coverage of the weekend's events online at NPR.org. Newport Now describes The Low Anthem's live set as “a mix of ecstatic and contemplative energies.” Punch Brothers are also due to be featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday.

Stephen Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday in March in a Lincoln Center concert that will be broadcast on PBS this fall. The festivities continue this weekend as Sondheim is the focus of two concerts on the same day, nearly 4,000 miles apart: at the Ravinia Festival Pavilion outside Chicago and at London's Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms Saturday night. Sondheim is the BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week.

The Black Keys performed their second and third consecutive sold-out shows in New York City last night, at SummerStage in Central Park and at Terminal 5. The New York Times says: "At their best and starkest, they can make a growling riff feel loose and woozy, tempos fluctuating as if on a column of air." The New York Post says they "made an incredible amount of music for two guys who obviously know size doesn’t matter when it comes to the blues ... [T]he guys were unstoppable."