Rokia Traoré kicks off a four-week spring tour of the United States and the UK this weekend with a Saturday night set at the Stewart Theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina. She will spend the next week playing up and down the East Coast of the US, followed by a UK leg starting later this month. For the UK dates, Traoré will be joined by Mercury Prize-nominated British trio Sweet Billy Pilgrim.

Caetano Veloso’s new album, zii e zie, was released last week on Nonesuch Records. Now comes the start of a six-city US tour, which kicks off at New York City's Terminal 5 tonight. NPR affiliate WNYC has chosen tonight's show for its Gig Alert, offering a free download of the album track "Sem Cais." In a series of video interviews on nonesuch.com, Veloso describes the music on the album as transamba, or “samba transcending itself.”

With just a few days to go before the April 13 North American release of Tony Allen's World Circuit / Nonesuch debut album, Secret Agent, The Fader is offering a free download of the track "Ijo," the dub version from reggae star Dennis Bovell. The Fader predicts that the soon-to-be-released album is "gonna be a killer at the BBQs this summer."

Brazilian-born guitar duo Sérgio and Odair Assad are delving deeper into their roots in a series of live performances titled De Volta as Raizes (Back to our Roots). The concerts examine the brothers' ancestral roots in Lebanon, following the success of Sérgio's Latin Grammy-winning composition "Tahhiyya li ossoulina," off their most recent Nonesuch release, Jardim abandonado. They'll be joined by pianist/singer/composer Clarice Assad, percussionist Jamey Haddad, and Lebanese singer Christiane Karam in an exploration of the ties between the musics of the Middle East and Brazil.

Punch Brothers have announced their summer plans, with dozens of tour dates planned to take them across the United States through September. "Spring is here (!!) and summer's just around the corner," says the band. "And that means it's festival season. We're excited to be playing a bunch of great festivals and other shows including Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, Mile High Music Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Targhee Bluegrass Festival, and others."

Wilco has announced the launch of the Solid Sound Festival, a new festival the band will curate, August 13-15, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), featuring music, art, comedy, interactivity, and more. Wilco headlines the weekend, in the band's only East Coast performance of the summer. The festival also presents individual performances by all the Wilco members' side projects.

Here Lies Love, David Byrne's song-cycle collaboration with Fatboy Slim, is out now. Byrne discussed the project on the BBC World Service program The Strand, which calls it "wonderful"; it was also Album of the Day on BBC Radio 6 Music. Newsday gives the album an A-, calling it "an amazing piece of work" and "a thrilling success." The AP describes the album as "a magnificent sonic treat ... an epic, thrilling tale brimming with hair-raising harmonies, sumptuous beats and unexpected duets." It receives four stars from the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, which calls it "excitingly original."

The Nonesuch Records / PS Classics release of the new Broadway cast recording of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music is out now. To mark the occasion, Sondheim and the cast signed copies of the album on release day at the Walter Kerr Theatre for 250-plus lucky fans. In the photo at left, Sondheim, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Angela Lansbury are seen hard at work. You'll find interviews with Zeta-Jones and Lansbury at nonesuch.com/media.

NPR's All Songs Considered unveils its Spring Music Preview, showcasing "a whole new batch of amazing music" coming soon, starting with "Howlin' for You," off The Black Keys' Brothers. "I just heard this cut and a few others," says producer Robin Hilton, "and loved it immediately. This is gonna be a great record." Host Bob Boilen plays "Only an Expert" off Laurie Anderson's Homeland. "I like her work a lot," he says. "I think she's one of America's great storytellers and has a way of insight into very ordinary, day-to-day stuff."

Pat Metheny begins the North American leg of his world Orchestrion tour today, just as the album releases on vinyl. The Wall Street Journal's Ashley Kahn takes a look at the orchestrion in action, calling the performance "surprisingly fluid and nuanced," with "Metheny's trademark guitar sound: fluid, with a clear melodic sense, flitting between a bright, pop approach and a more moody effect." The album, says Kahn, contains "as beautiful a melody as any Mr. Metheny has written since his Question and Answer session."

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love is out now. The Financial Times calls it "both intelligent and highly entertaining." The Times (UK) gives it four stars, saying, "The pair's navigation of the narrative is impeccable." The Boston Globe calls it "a sumptuous two-disc feast of harmony, melody, and Latin-accented grooves." The Washington Post's Express Night Out cites "its considerable impact and surprising emotional resonance." The Star-Ledger calls it "instantly enjoyable." The Huffington Post proclaims: "The talent gathered here was spot-on."

Tomorrow marks the release of the new Broadway cast recording of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music. To mark the occasion, Sondheim and the cast of A Little Night Music, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angela Lansbury, and Alexander Hanson, will sign copies of the album at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Tonight, Sondheim presents the O'Neill's Monte Cristo Award to director/producer Hal Prince. Next week, Lansbury will receive the Signature Theatre's Stephen Sondheim Award.