Vagabon (aka Laetitia Tamko) is the guest on the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast. She breaks down the song "Water Me Down" and talks about working with co-producer Eric Littmann to create the track from her self-titled debut album. You can hear what they had to say here, where you can also watch the video for the track.

Yola will join Chris Stapleton as his special guest on tour this spring and fall. The spring leg of the tour starts in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 11, and includes shows in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Ohio, and Kentucky. The fall leg starts in Knoxville and Nashville in early October with stops in New Jersey, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas, and Madison Square Garden in NYC. Yola's Austin City Limits debut, taping next Wednesday, February 4, will stream live here.

Carnegie Hall has announced its 2020–21 concert season, and featured among the performers taking the esteemed hall's stages are a number of artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal, including Rhiannon Giddens, who is a Perspectives artist for the season, John Adams, Chris Thile, Caroline Shaw, and Kronos Quartet.

Congratulations to Brad Mehldau, Attacca Quartet, and Kronos Quartet, who won Grammy Awards on Sunday, and to Yola, who performed at the Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles at which those awards were presented. Mehldau earned his first Grammy when Finding Gabriel won for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Attacca Quartet received the Grammy for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for Caroline Shaw's Orange. Kronos Quartet's recording of Terry Riley's Sun Rings won the Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Classical; it was engineered by Leslie Ann Jones; mixed by John Kilgore, Judy Sherman, and David Harrington; and mastered by Robert C. Ludwig.

The Black Keys have announced a ten-date “Let’s Rock” tour of Canada this May. The tour begins at the Halifax Scotiabank Centre on May 5 and continues through May 19, culminating at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The band will be joined by special guests The Sheepdogs and Early James. Tickets will go on sale starting Friday.

Chris Thile and Gaby Moreno helped celebrate Dolly Parton's recent birthday with a performance of her song "Blue Smoke" for a special "Encores and Extras Compilation" episode of Live From Here last weekend. You can watch their performance of the song, as well as Thile's solo performance of "Little Sparrow," here. (Thile performed on Parton's 2001 album, Little Sparrow.) Chris Thile has several US solo concert dates in the weeks ahead, and Live From Here returns live from The Town Hall in New York City on February 8. 

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker's Suite for Max Brown is out now via a newly formed partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. The album, named for and dedicated to Parker's mother, features nine original songs as well as "Gnarciss," an interpretation of Joe Henderson's "Black Narcissus," and John Coltrane's "After the Rain." Parker plays the majority of the instruments on the record. "The veteran guitarist has created an effortlessly detailed album, full of tradition and experimentation that spans generations," says Pitchfork. "It lives at the vanguard of new jazz music."

Rhiannon Giddens and Emmylou Harris will receive honorary degrees from the University of North Carolina Greensboro during the Commencement ceremony in May. Both artists attended UNCG. "We are so proud to honor Rhiannon Giddens and Emmylou Harris not only for their amazing accomplishments and the indelible impact they have had on music, but for the way they have embodied UNC Greensboro’s motto of service,” said Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. “I hope that all of our students at UNCG will follow their example as they begin their own journeys and chase their own dreams.”

Early James premiered the music video for “It Doesn't Matter Now,” a new song off his upcoming debut album, Singing for My Supper, via Billboard. "The subject matter for this song is pretty heavy," says director Tim Hardiman. "I felt there needed to be some aggression on screen but didn't want it to play out like a typical break up. For some reason, Sideshow Bennie, whom I worked with several years ago, popped in my head. I looked him up and learned he was now working with a sidekick, Anna Fiametta. When I read how they met, I thought it was a funny story that would fit the song." You can watch the video here.

Yola was on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night, performing "I Don't Wanna Lie," from the deluxe digital edition of her debut album, Walk Through Fire. You can watch it here. She heads to Los Angeles for the Grammys, performing at the MusiCares Person of the Year tribute to Aerosmith on Friday, the AmericanaFest Pre-Grammy Salute to Willie Nelson on Saturday, and the Grammy Premiere Ceremony on Sunday afternoon. Yola has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist.

Vagabon has announced a headlining spring tour of North America. The tour begins at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia on March 31 and continues through May 17, culminating with a concert at the Constellation Room in Santa Ana, California. Vagabon stopped by WFUV in NYC to perform two songs from her self-titled new album, "Every Woman" and "In a Bind," for FUV Live, which you can watch here.

Yola recently stopped by Minnesota Public Radio's The Current to perform three songs from her multiple Grammy-nominated album, Walk Through Fire—the title track, "Ride Out in the Country," and "Shady Grove"—and talk with host Bill DeVille about her life and music. You can watch it here. And tune in to see her on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon tonight.