Rhiannon Giddens reunites with her former Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Justin Robinson on What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow. Produced by Giddens and Joseph "joebass" DeJarnette, the album features Giddens on banjo and Robinson on fiddle, playing eighteen of their favorite North Carolina tunes. Many were learned from their late mentor, legendary North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson; one is from another musical hero, the late Etta Baker. Giddens and Robinson recorded outdoors at Thompson’s and Baker’s North Carolina homes, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong House, accompanied by the sounds of nature.

Composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire’s album honey from a winter stone, which he calls a “self-portrait,” features improvisational vocalist Kokayi, pianist Sam Harris, Chiquitamagic on synthesizer, drummer Justin Brown, and the Mivos Quartet. “For arguably the most technically gifted trumpeter of his generation, a lot of Ambrose Akinmusire’s breakthroughs actually come from letting go of standards and structures," says the New York Times. "Lately Akinmusire has been making some of the most intimate, spellbinding music of his career.”

David Longstreth’s Song of the Earth, a song cycle for orchestra and voices, is due April 4. Performed by Longstreth with his band Dirty Projectors—Felicia Douglass, Maia Friedman, Olga Bell—and the Berlin-based chamber orchestra s t a r g a z e, the album also features Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Steve Lacy, Patrick Shiroishi, Anastasia Coope, Tim Bernardes, Ayoni, Portraits of Tracy, and the author David Wallace-Wells.

The twenty-seven disc box set Steve Reich Collected Works features music recorded during Steve Reich's forty years on the label—six decades of his compositions, including first recordings of his two latest works, Jacob’s Ladder and Traveler’s Prayer—plus two extensive booklets with new essays by Robert Hurwitz, Michael Tilson Thomas, Russell Hartenberger, Judith Sherman, and Nico Muhly, and a comprehensive listener’s guide by Timo Andres. Nonesuch made its first record with Steve Reich in 1985; he was signed exclusively to the label that year. Collected Works includes twenty-four discs of Nonesuch recordings and three from other labels.

This 9-LP + 4 CD Deluxe Edition of Wilco's 2004 Grammy-winning album A Ghost Is Born includes the original album, alternates, outtakes, and demos, charting the making of the album, plus the complete 2004 concert recording from Boston’s Wang Center and the band’s “fundamentals” workshop sessions. The deluxe box includes 65 previously unreleased music tracks as well as a 48-page hardcover book with previously unpublished photos and a new liner notes by Grammy-winning writer Bob Mehr. “Another engrossing, unorthodox record," said Mojo. "With the low-key yet magnificent A Ghost Is Born Tweedy's offering plenty more reasons to believe in the redemptive powers of Wilco.” "Spectacular," Uncut exclaimed. "Their most engaging album yet."

Rhiannon Giddens reunites with her former Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Justin Robinson on What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow. Produced by Giddens and Joseph "joebass" DeJarnette, the album features Giddens on banjo and Robinson on fiddle, playing eighteen of their favorite North Carolina tunes. Many were learned from their late mentor, legendary North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson; one is from another musical hero, the late Etta Baker. Giddens and Robinson recorded outdoors at Thompson’s and Baker’s North Carolina homes, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong House, accompanied by the sounds of nature.