Sam Amidon is set to make his Nonesuch Records debut with the release of his album Bright Sunny South on May 14. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. The album is streaming in full all this week exclusively at Pitchfork as part of its Advance multimedia early-listen experience. Amidon will perform songs from the new album at NYC's (Le) Poisson Rouge on May 16, followed by a European tour of headline shows and festival sets, and returning to the States to tour in June.

Happy Record Store Day! Today is the sixth annual celebration of the unique culture surrounding independently owned record stores around the world, and a number of Nonesuch Records artists have special, limited-edition vinyl releases out now to mark the occasion: The Black Keys, Bombino, Iron and Wine, and Punch Brothers. These recordings are also available for a limited time in the Nonesuch Store.

Iron and Wine makes its Nonesuch Records debut with today's North American release of Ghost on Ghost. The AP calls it "a wonderfully produced and assembled record, propelled with joyous momentum even on tracks with darker lyrics." The NY Daily News gives it four stars, citing its "gorgeous and glowing melodies," as does American Songwriter, which says the songs "sound absolutely sublime." In the UK, where the album is out on 4AD, Uncut also calls it "sublime ... a work of immense beauty and scale." Ghost on Ghost earns five stars from the Mail on Sunday, Independent on Sunday, and Daily Telegraph and four stars from Mojo, Independent, Observer, Guardian, and Metro, which calls it "a brilliantly written collection and an album of the year." 

Punch Brothers’ five-song EP Ahoy!, previously released digitally and on CD, is now available on 10" vinyl. Recorded during the Nashville sessions for their critically acclaimed album Who’s Feeling Young Now?, these tracks also were produced by Jacquire King. The Ahoy! EP includes songs by Josh Ritter, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Punch Brothers, and Mclusky, along with one traditional tune, arranged by Punch Brothers.

Nonesuch releases Audra McDonald’s first solo album in seven years—Go Back Home—on May 21, 2013, featuring songs by composers with whom she has long been associated (Guettel, LaChiusa, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Sondheim) and some, like the Kander & Ebb title track, relatively new to her repertoire; in addition, McDonald continues to champion works by an emerging generation of composers. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an instant download of the title track (which you can preview here) and a limited-edition autographed print. On May 24, McDonald headlines and hosts "Audra McDonald In Concert: Go Back Home," a national PBS telecast presented by Live From Lincoln Center, featuring songs from the album as well as other personal favorites.

Iron and Wine makes its Nonesuch Records debut with the release of Ghost on Ghost next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. The album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen. "Beam now presides over arrangements springy and three-dimensional enough to accommodate a horn section—and yet he still finds a way to wrap his agreeably soft voice around thematically weighty material," writes NPR's Stephen Thompson. "Beam still lets his songs and sound morph and evolve; more than ever, he's a songwriter versatile enough to pack huge ideas into simple arrangements and vice versa."

Rokia Traoré’s new album, Beautiful Africa, following last week's release in France, is out this week in the UK, the rest of Europe, and Canada, with the US release to follow at a later date. The album has been met with great critical acclaim, earning perfect five-star reviews from the Guardian, which calls her "Africa's most inventive singer-songwriter," Observer, Daily Telegraph, and Financial Times. Uncut calls it "a career highpoint." Traoré recorded an intimate version of the album track "Ka Moun Kè" in the halls of le Trianon in Paris; watch it here, where you can also watch her recent appearance on Radio France's Vinyl Radio.

Tuareg guitarist, singer, and songwriter Omara “Bombino” Moctar today releases his Nonesuch debut album, Nomad, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. "Bombino’s playing is full of fast, stuttery, rhythmic hammering, coiling lines inside lines," says the New York Times. "But it also comes out in soft strums and battering single-note attacks, and its tone and phrasing have a flexible identity. In his playing, besides the sound of the pioneering Tuareg band Tinariwen, you might be reminded of Ali Farka Touré, Carlos Santana, Mark Knopfler, Jerry Garcia electric, Jerry Garcia acoustic. Bombino is never just one thing." Watch a short video about the album here.

Nonesuch Records and Tzadik simultaneously release guitarist Pat Metheny’s recording of John Zorn’s Tap: The Book of Angels, Vol. 20 from Zorn’s Masada Book Two on May 21, 2013. This album is the first collaboration between the two artists, considered among their generation’s most innovative musicians. Besides his frequent collaborator, drummer Antonio Sanchez, Metheny plays all other instruments—guitars, sitar, tiples, bass, keyboards, orchestrionics, electronics, bandoneón, percussion, flugelhorn, and more—himself.

Tuareg guitarist, singer, and songwriter Bombino's Nonesuch debut album, Nomad, is due out next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: it's streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen. NPR calls Bombino's pairing with producer Dan Auerbach "inspired." "The fuzzy, loose and wide-open sounds will be familiar to Black Keys fans—and totally complement the singular honey-and-sand texture of Bombino's voice," says NPR; Bombino's "sound and style are alluring on a global scale." Nomad earns four stars in Mojo and the Financial Times, which calls it "a revelation." The BBC World Service says it's “utterly, utterly fantastic.” 

Devendra Banhart makes his Nonesuch debut with the release of Mala, his eighth studio album, out now. Pitchfork calls it his "best record in nearly a decade." It's earned four stars from Mojo, the Times (UK), and Q, which calls it a "career-best LP ... surprising and enthralling." Record Collector gives it a perfect five stars, exclaiming: "The prospect of sitting down and listening to Mala as a whole is a thrilling, private and all-too-rare feeling." Banhart performs at SXSW this week.

Nonesuch Records releases saxophonist Joshua Redman’s Walking Shadows on May 7, 2013. The album, comprising 12 ballads, is Redman’s first recording to include an orchestral ensemble, which plays on many of the tracks. It was produced by Redman’s friend and frequent collaborator Brad Mehldau. The record's core ensemble is a quartet featuring Mehldau, Larry Grenadier, and Brian Blade. Walking Shadows includes original tunes from both Redman and Mehldau along with works by a wide range of composers like John Mayer and Pino Palladino, Kern and Hammerstein, and Lennon and McCartney. Walking Shadows is now available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the Redman-penned track “Final Hour."