The Magnetic Fields’ 50 Song Memoir, chronicling the 50 years of songwriter Stephin Merritt’s life with one song per year, is out now. It's "quite an achievement," says NPR Music. "Some of its wordplay is truly remarkable ... More importantly, Memoir is a tour-de-farce of melody and arrangement." Pitchfork calls it "an immersive, incisive listen," with "his catalog 50 songs richer as a result." It's "a highly entertaining summary of pop culture of the past half-century," says the Wall Street Journal. "50 Song Memoir is a treat." Exclaim! exclaims: "Stephin Merritt is a genius." The video for the album track "'68 A Cat Called Dionysus" premiered today and can be seen here.

Conor Oberst's new album, Salutations, due out next Friday, March 17, is streaming in full till then as an NPR First Listen. Salutations, a companion piece to 2016's lauded Ruminations, comprises full-band versions of the ten songs from that solo album plus seven additional songs. Reflecting on the two recordings of the songs on Ruminations and Salutations, NPR says "it turns out both approaches serve these songs well. This remains some of Oberst's most personal and reflective material, written in a harsh winter after a health scare, so it was worth letting the songs breathe for a few months before revisiting them. They still sound full of life, and still feel ragged at times, but they shine in new and different ways."

Fleet Foxes will release Crack-Up, its long-awaited and highly anticipated third album, June 16 on Nonesuch Records. It comes six years after the release of Helplessness Blues and nearly a decade since the band's self-titled debut. Crack-Up is eleven songs, all written by Robin Pecknold, and was co-produced by Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an instant download of the album track "Third of May / Ōdaigahara" (a lyric video for the song can be seen here) and an exclusive print. The band has announced new tour dates, including its first North American shows since 2011.

The Magnetic Fields' new five-LP / five-CD collection, 50 Song Memoir, is due out on this Friday, March 10. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming as an NPR First Listen, with the songs from one disc—one decade of singer/songwriter Stephin Merritt's life—being added each day. It's "quite an achievement," says NPR Music. "Some of its wordplay is truly remarkable ... More importantly, Memoirs is a tour-de-farce of melody and arrangement."

Freedom Highway, Rhiannon Giddens' follow-up to her highly praised solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, is out now. It's a "rich collection," says NPR. "[H]ope comes back to life in Giddens' music." Pitchfork exclaims: "Rhiannon Giddens emerges as a peerless and powerful voice in roots music on her second solo album." The AP calls it "a rich tapestry with threads of blues, folk, gospel, soul, country and jazz ... rootsy and relevant, delivered with crystal-clear emotion and understated musical skill." Uncut names this "remarkably wise and timely new album" its Album of the Month. It earns four stars in American Songwriter, Irish Times ("a record for and of our times"), Observer, and Guardian, which calls it a "powerful and timely set."

Rhiannon Giddens's five-song EP Factory Girl, first released on vinyl and digitally in late 2015, is now available on CD for the first time. The EP, which is up for Grammy Awards for Best American Roots Performance and Best Folk Album, is culled from the T Bone Burnett–produced sessions that yielded Giddens's acclaimed solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn. "It's a clutch of tunes that work together like the cards in a winning poker hand," the New York Times says of Factory Girl. "Her accompaniment … points to an ageless gold standard for American roots music." "Deftly curated, gorgeously sung," says NPR, "this EP is America." Her new album, Freedom Highway, is due February 24.

The Staves, who kick off a four-week tour of North America next week, release the double A side "Tired As Fuck," a previously unreleased tune, and "Train Tracks," a re-mastered version of a bonus track from their 2015 album If I Was. The former was "written in the midst of a relationship breaking down," says the trio. "Lamenting the lack of some sort of guidance, but also accepting and resigning yourself to fact that you have to soldier on. Keep going. There is no helping hand. 'Train Tracks' is the beginning of something new and how confusing and difficult that can be when you're really just as clueless as anyone! The two tracks bookend each other in that respect." You can watch a video for "Tired As Fuck" here.

Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau, the debut duo album from the Nonesuch labelmates, is out now. At the end of 2015, the longtime admirers of each other's work played a two-night stand at NYC's Bowery Ballroom (videos from which you can watch here) before going into the studio to record the double album. "This meeting of two masters of their respective realms is a spine-tingling triumph," raves a five-star Irish Times review. The Guardian gives the album four stars, saying: "Two very different musicians hit a remarkable rapport on this double album." The four-star BBC Music Magazine review says "the vivid dynamic really puts a bright face on this mix of original and old song covers from across the jazz, folk and country spectrum." 

Mandolinist/singer Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau make their duo debut together with Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau, a mix of covers and original songs, out this Friday, January 27, 2017. Here, the label mates and longtime admirers of each other's work speak with writer Michael Hill about the project and how it came to be.

Nonesuch Records releases a vinyl 7-inch single of two Randy Newman songs today, Inauguration Day 2017: "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country," from the new Randy Newman Songbook box set, b/w "Putin," a new song previously released only digitally. Newman says: "On this day, I would like to say a few words in defense of our country." 

k.d. lang's 2004 album Hymns of the 49th Parallel is now available on vinyl for the first time in the Nonesuch Store. The first-ever vinyl edition features the singer's Nonesuch debut release on a single 140-gram LP. On Hymns of the 49th Parallel, lang assembles a highly personal "Canadian Songbook" in a lushly orchestrated, gorgeously sung contemplation of work by Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Jane Siberry, and others.

Conor Oberst's album Salutations, a companion piece to 2016's lauded Ruminations, is due March 17. Salutations comprises full-band versions of the ten songs from that solo album plus seven additional songs. It was recorded at the famed Shangri-la Studios in Malibu and Five Star Studios in Echo Park with The Felice Brothers and the legendary drummer Jim Keltner, who co-produced the album. Guest performers include Jim James, Blake Mills, Maria Taylor, M. Ward, Gillian Welch, and Jonathan Wilson. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include instant downloads of "A Little Uncanny," "Tachycardia," and "Napalm."