Weekly music agenda: Johnny Cash's 'American VI,' Michael Bublé on tour

(Tom Sheehan)

An album featuring the final songs written and recorded by Johnny Cash will be released February 22, on what would have been the American singer's 78th birthday. Live dates on the horizon include the end of Coldplay's worldwide Viva la Vida tour and the beginning of Michael Bublé's international tour in support of Crazy Love.

Céline Dion at Caesars Palace: ticket on-sale date
February 12
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Céline Dion is set to return to Las Vegas in March 2011 for a three-year residency at the Caesars Palace Colosseum. Tickets for the first 54 performances, scheduled from March 15 through August 14, 2011, are on sale beginning Friday, February 12. After her Caesars Palace show A New Day routinely sold out during its 2003-2007 run, the singer will return with a new show inspired by "the romance of classic Hollywood movies." Dion has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and won multiple Grammy and Academy awards. Tickets for the Las Vegas shows, priced from $55 to $250, are available at www.ticketmaster.com.
http://www.celineinvegas.com

BRIT Awards
February 16
London, UK

Begun in 1977, the BRIT Awards are one of the UK's biggest music awards, honoring the best in pop music each year. Leading the 2010 nominees with three noms each are Lady Gaga, Florence & The Machine, Lily Allen, and Pixie Lott. Other nominees include British boyband JLS, Dizzee Rascal, Jay-Z, Paolo Nutini, La Roux, Empire of the Sun, and Animal Collective. Comic Peter Kay will host the BRIT Awards ceremony on February 16 at London's Earls Court.
http://www.brits.co.uk/

Johnny Cash's 'American VI'
February 22
International

American VI: Ain't No Grave, the sixth and final installment in Johnny Cash's American album series, will be released on what would have been the singer's 78th birthday. The album includes Cash's "Ain't No Grave" and the previously unreleased "I Corinthians: 15:55," as well as a series of covers, including Sheryl Crow's "Redemption Day," Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times," Bob Nolan's "Cool Water," and Ed McCurdy's "Last Night I had the Strangest Dream."
http://www.losthighwayrecords.com


Coldplay Viva la Vida tour
February 26 - March 11
Latin America

English rock band Coldplay is set to begin the final leg of its worldwide Viva la Vida Tour, which has already included a total of 159 shows in 25 countries across the globe. The final concerts will take place in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico beginning on February 26. British rock musician Bat for Lashes is the opening act for all Latin American dates.
http://www.coldplay.com

'Almost Alice' CD release
March 2
International

The soundtrack album for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland will feature artists' reinterpretations of songs from Walt Disney's 1951 animated film. Almost Alice will include tracks by Owl City, Robert Smith from The Cure, and Franz Ferdinand, as well as All Time Low, Mark Hoppus, ete Wentz, and Avril Lavigne, whose "Alice (Underground)" is the soundtrack's first single. Burton's live-action adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, and Anne Hathaway, will begin making its way to theaters March 5.

'Plastic Beach' by Gorillaz
March 8
International

The Gorillaz, British musician David Albarn's collaboration with a revolving roster of musicians, will release a third studio album, Plastic Beach, on March 8. The album's first single, "Stylo," is a collaboration with Bobby Womack and Mos Def that MTV News staffers are calling a potentially "trend-setting track for 2010." The band's most recent studio album, the Grammy-winning Demon Days, went five times platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US.
http://www.gorillaz.com/

Hendrix's 'Valleys of Neptune'
March 9
International

This album of previously unreleased material by Jimi Hendrix is one of many 2010 releases planned as part of the Jimi Hendrix Catalog Project, marking the 40th anniversary of the artist's death. Coming mostly from a four-month period in 1969, Valleys of Neptune is a 12-song collection that includes the final studio sessions of the original Jimi Hendrix Experience and Hendrix's first sessions with bassist Billy Cox. The title track was released as a single on February 2.
http://www.jimi-hendrix.com


Michael Bublé's 'Crazy Love' tour
March 10-July 18
North America/Europe

Michael Bublé's extensive international tour begins with a round of US shows from March 10 through April 9. The Canadian singer then heads to Europe for an 18-date run through May and June, including eight concerts in the UK and shows in Paris, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium. A second round of North American dates picks up in June. Crazy Love, which includes the recent hit single "Haven't Met You Let," was released in October 2009 and has reached number one on charts in the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, Holland, Ireland, and South Africa.
http://www.michaelbuble.com

South by Southwest Music Conference
March 17-21
Austin, Texas, USA

The annual South by Southwest Music and Media Conference & Festival attracts nearly 12,000 attendees, and the city of Austin swells with music lovers who travel to hear the nearly 2,000 top-notch bands who play on 80 stages around the city. SXSW has so far announced more than 50 of the acts scheduled to perform during the 2010 conference week, scheduled for March 17-21. For conference-goers, music badges are $750; a platinum badge, which grants access to SXSW music, film, and interactive conferences from March 12-21, is $1,225.
http://www.sxsw.com