Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile and guitar maven Michael Daves launch a week-long duo tour of the US West Coast, featuring music from their 2011 album Sleep with One Eye Open, with a performance at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco tonight, followed by shows in LA, Portland, and Seattle; they reunite in July for the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in upstate New York. The duo makes for "a rip-roaring partnership," says the New York Times. "Bluegrass, in their hands, gets roughed up in the best possible way, with skill and fervor, and a touch of abandon." Thile and his fellow Punch Brothers perform at a number of bluegrass festivals starting later this month.

This year's Newport Folk Festival in July includes sets from Punch Brothers and Sara Watkins. A new short documentary from sö pa productions and Ryan Mastro revisits last year's festival and looks into what makes Newport so special. The video features interviews and performances from artists at last year's festival, including Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Low Anthem, Chris Thile, Michael Daves, Wanda Jackson, and Emmylou Harris. "In the story of my life, folk music brought me to music," says Harris. Newport "was where these people that I just kind of worshiped gathered." Watch the documentary here.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves brought the music of their debut duo album, Sleep with One Eye Open, to the picturesque Allen Room overlooking New York's Central Park as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series. "They’ve been playing small club shows downtown, and they brought that informality to the Allen Room," says the New York Times, "punctuating dazzling virtuosity with bluegrass-aficionado banter and 'Fiddle Tune Request Time.'” Thile and Daves "sing and play the daylights" out of the tunes, says the Times, playing both with "breakneck" speed and "with restraint and delicacy."

Congratulations to all the Nonesuch artists who were nominated for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards: Ry Cooder and Emmylou Harris for Best Americana Album, Pat Metheny for Best New Age Album, Chris Thile & Michael Daves for Best Bluegrass Album, and World Circuit / Nonesuch Records artists AfroCubism for Best World Music Album. You can hear music from all the nominated albums on the new Nonesuch Radio channel "2011 Grammy Nominees."

The line-up for the 2012 American Songbook series from Lincoln Center has been announced, and among the artists performing are mandolinist Chris Thile and guitarist Michael Daves. The duo will perform songs from their debut album, Sleep with One Eye Open, at The Allen Room in Frederick P. Rose Hall, overlooking New York's Central Park, on Thursday, January 12. Tickets are go on sale to the general public on November 14. Friends of Lincoln Center will be given early access on November 3. 

Chris Thile and Michael Daves are featured on the latest episode of the weekly radio show Acoustic Café. On the show, Thile and Daves talks with host Rob Reinhart about their album, Sleep with One Eye Open, and play songs from the album live in studio. Thile and his fellow Punch Brothers performed at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park this past weekend; the band will support Paul Simon on tour this November.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves, while in Newport for what NPR called a "sizzling set" at the Newport Folk Festival last month, took some time out to perform two songs for Paste—"Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms," off their album Sleep with One Eye Open, and another traditional tune, "Darlin' Corey"—now available to watch in the latest issue of Paste's online mPlayer. Thile and Daves are on the road again next month, touring the Midwest, UK, and Ireland, following Thile's current tour with Punch Brothers.

This past weekend, the Newport Folk Festival offered the sold-out crowd two beautiful summer days of music from performers including the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Emmylou Harris, Wanda Jackson, and Chris Thile & Michael Daves. You can now listen to all of those sets online at NPR Music, from the ever "vital and contemporary" Harris to the "blazingly intense music" of Thile & Daves. The Boston Globe says that all the music proved "compelling and indebted to what preceded it."

Newport music festival season gets under way this weekend, when the Newport Folk Festival returns, featuring several Nonesuch artists: Carolina Chocolate Drops, Emmylou Harris, Wanda Jackson, and Chris Thile & Michael Daves, plus Sara Watkins with the Decemberists and a special benefit performance by The Low Anthem. James Farm will play the following weekend's Newport Jazz Festival. NPR Music will be broadcasting and webcasting full concerts throughout each event.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves are set to tour the UK and Ireland in September in support of their debut album, Sleep with One Eye Open. The tour begins in London on September 13 and includes concerts in Dublin, Cork, Liverpool, and Sheffield. Thile will also join Brad Mehldau in a special concert at London’s Wigmore Hall on September 16, where they will perform as a duo. Before then, Thile and Daves have a few duo performances in the States, starting with this Sunday's performance at the Newport Folk Festival.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck today at 2 PM ET, performing songs from their debut duo album, Sleep With One Eye Open, before a live audience at the Greene Space in downtown Manhattan. Also performing are the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The show is sold-out and will be webcast live. The New Yorker, in a preview of their show at The Bell House in Brooklyn tonight, says: "Expect the pair to deliver a high-spirited bluegrass-infused performance full of inspired harmonies."

Chris Thile and Michael Daves have a number of live performances in the coming weeks, starting with a set at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival this Thursday. Audiophile Audition gives their album Sleep with One Eye Open a perfect five stars, saying: "If the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack raised the mainstream awareness of bluegrass, then Sleep with One Eye Open delivers on its promise." Sequenza21 calls it "beautifully simple ... an object lesson in how to do it right."