The Carolina Chocolate Drops' Nonesuch debut, Genuine Negro Jig, is out now. The BBC calls it "an extraordinary and stylish album," its highlight a "pickin’, fiddlin’ and slappin’ version of Blu Cantrell’s 'Hit ‘em Up Style.'"

The Low Anthem performed at Saturday's multi-artist Hot Stove Cool Music benefit concert in Boston; the Boston Globe included the set among the event's highlights, calling the group "a dazzlingly talented bunch." Now comes word that the band will be headlining its first North American tour this spring and making its US television debut on the Late Show with David Letterman this Thursday. It will also spend much of February supporting The Avett Brothers on the road.

Steve Reich joined So Percussion on stage in a performance of his 1972 work Clapping Music—"still one of his most audacious and breathtaking creations," says the San Francisco Chronicle—for a "marvelous" all-Reich program at Stanford. Featured were some of Reich's "groundbreaking percussion works" that sounded "as magical and arresting as ever," says the Chronicle, and the US premiere of Reich's Mallet Quartet. At the hands of the performers, said the Mercury News, it sounded "irresistible."

David Byrne presents a short video/audio lecture called Creation in Reverse at The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York, tonight. The program looks at the ways that venue and context shape artistic creation and will be followed by an audience Q&A. The event is free, and admission is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Byrne's collaboration with Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love, is due out on April 6.

The Low Anthem performs in Boston to benefit the Red Sox Foundation's Foundation to Be Named Later ... Carolina Chocolate Drops kick off tour in Georgia and South Carolina ... Steve Reich joins So Percussion for Clapping Music at Stanford ... Allen Toussaint plays Kansas City and debuts on Austin City Limits ... Sara Watkins returns to A Prairie Home Companion ... and more ...

The Carolina Chocolate Drops begin their two-month tour tonight at the Melting Pot in Athens, Georgia. To mark the start of the tour, the band's forthcoming Nonesuch debut, Genuine Negro Jig, is now available for pre-order in the US at nonesuch.com with seven exclusive bonus tracks recorded live. In the UK, where the tour heads later this month, the BBC's The Strand included the band in its predictions for "great art and artists in 2010."

Sara Watkins returns to the set of NPR's A Prairie Home Companion, joining host Garrison Keillor and crew for a live broadcast from San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House Saturday afternoon. Sara, whom the show describes as "a bright shining star of modern bluegrass," will be this week's special guest, along with Metropolitan Opera tenor Raúl Melo.

Oumou Sangare and Audra McDonald have been nominated for NAACP Image Awards: Oumou for her latest album, Seya, and Audra for her work on the ABC series Private Practice. Audra will be performing on ABC tonight, singing "God Bless America" during the pregame show at the National Championship football game in Pasadena's Rose Bowl Stadium.

Pat Metheny's adventurous new "solo” recording, Orchestrion, is set for its Nonesuch CD release on January 26. The project pairs the composer-guitarist with a phalanx of remarkable, custom-made instruments played via solenoid switches and pneumatics. Now, for the first time, you can catch a glimpse of it all in action in a video at nonesuch.com/media. You can hear Pat discuss the project on the BBC's The Strand.

Steve Reich will join So Percussion in a performance of Clapping Music for an all-Reich program at Stanford University this Saturday. The concert, featuring the US premiere of Reich's latest piece, Mallet Quartet, is the culmination of a number of related events at Stanford this week, including a public conversation with Reich and Beryl Korot. The San Jose Mercury News calls it all "a welcome and rare opportunity for immersion in Reich's rhythmical realm."

While The Low Anthem has been busy prepping its next album, documenting it all on video, Magnet magazine named its Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, the 2009 Album of the Year, "a thrilling, romantic journey through Americana at its absolute finest." This month, the band begins its WOXY radio show and a European tour; its later US tour with the Avett Brothers has already begun to sell out.

k.d. lang releases her first-ever career retrospective, Recollection, 25 years after the release of her debut recording. The two-disc set will be available February 2 [now February 9] on Nonesuch. Recollection features 22 of lang’s most beloved recordings including an all-new interpretation of the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah." The deluxe package includes a third disc of previously unreleased recordings—many performed live—as well as a bonus DVD of music videos and rarely seen live performance footage.