Punch Brothers kick off their 2011 tour schedule with a sold-out show at the Somerville Theater outside of Boston tonight, after the latest snow storm to hit the East Coast forced the cancellation of their show at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts, yesterday. (Refunds are available at the point of purchase.) The Secret Sisters join the band tonight and at this weekend's concerts at the Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont, and Bowery Ballroom in New York City, the latter a sold-out "p-Bingo Night" show.

Leading up to tonight's show, band member Chris Thile spoke with Improper Bostonian's Paul Robicheau about Punch Brothers' genre-bending nature and, as the article says, efforts to "cross bluegrass borders in search of transcendence." Read more at improper.com.

Time Out New York, in choosing Saturday's concert as a critics' pick, says: "Thile's plaintive voice and confessional lyrics cut straight to the heart in his work with Punch Brothers," which the magazine describes as "jaw-dropping." The Huffington Post also lists the Bowery show among the Best NYC Concerts This Week.

Star chef Mario Batali, who has already proven his considerable good taste on the food front, also stands apart for the manner in which he fully incorporates music into the culinary experience. "It should be love and joy and music and art and dance and being together that drive us to cook, to eat, and to share," Batali says on his site, which lists his two latest favorite listens: Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Punch Brothers' latest Nonesuch release, Antifogmatic. Read more at mariobatali.com.

For more on the band's upcoming tour, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. To pick up a copy of Antifogmatic, head to the Nonesuch Store, where you'll find a free download of the group's Grammy-nominated track, "New Chance Blues," up for Best Country Instrumental Performance.