Chris Thile, Michael Daves, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O'Donovan will perform at New York Plays & Sings Nashville, a benefit concert to support those affected by the tornado that hit Nashville and Middle Tennessee last week. The concert will take place at The Bell House in Brooklyn on Friday, March 27. All proceeds will be donated to the Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund as administered by The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. 

Guitarist Michael Daves and his 2016 double album, Orchids and Violence, are the subject of a documentary by filmmaker Jason Zucker. The Making of Orchids and Violence, which premiered on The Bluegrass Situation, is an intimate portrait of the album, from its conception to its release. You can watch it here.

American Acoustic, a Chris Thile–curated festival at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, gets under way this evening and runs through Saturday. The performances feature collaborations between Thile and performers including Punch Brothers, Michael Daves, Edgar Meyer, and others. "One of the thesis statements of the week is going to be to look beyond genre and examine and celebrate the similarities between great instances of music making, rather than the differences," Thile tells the Washington Post.

Michael Daves tours three Northeast cities this week in support of his new album, Orchids and Violence. Joining him are Punch Brothers banjoist Noam Pikelny and fiddler Brittany Haas. The tour stops at World Café Live in Philadelphia on Thursday, The Red Room @ Café 939 in Boston on Friday, and The Parlor Room in Northampton on Saturday. "Noam and Brittany are both incredible improvisers and great listeners," says Daves. "These shows are going to be full of surprises." You can watch the trio perform the album track "June Apple" here.

Violence and Orchids, the vinyl edition of Michael Daves's new album, Orchids and Violence, is out now. The vinyl edition comprises two versions each of five traditional bluegrass tunes: acoustic takes performed with a band of roots-music innovators paired with electric rock renditions of the same songs. It's "a roots-music master class, a brilliant example of old modes reinhabited with flair," says the New York Times. The LP includes a download of the complete Orchids and Violence album. Daves and friends will mark the vinyl release at Littlefield in Brooklyn on May 19.

Michael Daves celebrated the release of his new two-album set, Orchids and Violence, with a series of live NYC performances, culminating at The Bell House in Brooklyn on March 5. As on the album, the concerts featured both acoustic and electric takes on mostly traditional bluegrass songs, including Ralph Stanley's "Pretty Polly." You can now watch videos of both version of the song from the concert here. Daves and friends will mark the May 6 release of the album's vinyl edition at Littlefield in Brooklyn on May 19.

Nonesuch Records will release Violence and Orchids, the vinyl edition of Michael Daves's new album, Orchids and Violence, on May 6, 2016. The vinyl edition comprises two versions each of five traditional bluegrass tunes: acoustic takes performed with a band of roots-music innovators paired with electric rock renditions of the same songs. It's "a roots-music master class, a brilliant example of old modes reinhabited with flair," says the New York Times. "To his credit, it can be hard to pick which version of a tune is best." The LP includes a download of the complete Orchids and Violence album and is available to pre-order now.

Michael Daves's new album, Orchids and Violence, is out now. The album comprises two discs with identical track listings of mostly traditional bluegrass tunes, including songs by bluegrass pioneers Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. The first disc has straightforward interpretations with a band of roots-music innovators: bassist Mike Bub, violinist Brittany Haas, mandolinist Sarah Jarosz, and Punch Brothers banjoist Noam Pikelny. The second includes bass, drums, and electric guitar, mostly played by Daves, with a raw, experimental rock take on those tunes. Daves and friends perform from the album in NYC March 3–5.

Michael Daves has released two versions of the Ralph Stanley–penned tune "Pretty Polly," off his forthcoming album, Orchids and Violence, due February 26. As with the whole double album's repertoire, Daves offers both a more straightforward bluegrass interpretation, featuring a band of roots-music innovators, and a second, more raw, experimental rock take on those tunes mostly played by Daves. You can hear both versions here and download them, along with the album tracks "The Dirt That You Throw," when you pre-order the album.

Guitarist and singer Michael Daves celebrates the February 26 release of his double album Orchids and Violence with a series of live performances in NYC at Rockwood Music Hall, Knitting Factory Brooklyn, and The Bell House, March 3–5. The album comprises bluegrass and electric versions of mostly old-time material. In the first set each show, Daves will present the bluegrass material with Noam Pikelny on banjo, Brittany Haas on fiddle, Jake Jolliff on mandolin, Larry Cook on bass, and Jen Larson on harmony vocals. The second set will feature the electric material with Daves joined by experimental rock drummer Kid Millions and electric bassist Jessi Carter.

Nonesuch Records releases Michael Daves's two-album set, Orchids and Violence, on February 26, 2016. Orchids and Violence comprises two discs with identical track listings of mostly traditional bluegrass tunes, including songs by bluegrass pioneers Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. The first disc features straightforward interpretations recorded in a 19th-century church with a band of roots-music innovators: bassist Mike Bub, violinist Brittany Haas, mandolinist Sarah Jarosz, and Punch Brothers banjoist Noam Pikelny. The second disc was recorded in Daves's home studio and includes bass, drums, and electric guitar, mostly played by Daves, and takes a raw, experimental rock approach to the same old-time material. Pre-orders include an instant download of both the bluegrass and electric versions of the song "The Dirt That You Throw."

Sam Amidon, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Chris Thile & Michael Daves have all contributed songs to Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War, a new collection of Civil War–era tunes recorded by contemporary artists, to be released on ATO Records on November 5. The album, which is streaming in full via Garden and Gun in advance of the release, features Amidon on "Wildwood Flower," the Chocolate Drops on "Day of Liberty," and Thile and Daves on "Richmond Is a Hard Road to Travel," as well as performances from Loretta Lynn, Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley, Dolly Parton, Steve Earle, T Bone Burnett, and Thile's Punch Brothers band mate Noam Pikelny. Nonesuch Records released the soundtrack to Ken Burns' acclaimed documentary The Civil War in 1990.