The cast album for the critically acclaimed Broadway production of David Byrne’s American Utopia, with music and lyrics by David Byrne, is now available on a double CD, following its recent digital release. The album will be available in a double-vinyl edition on December 27 and is available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. "Dazzling, rapturous and jubilant," exclaims the New York Times of the show. "Gorgeously designed, deliciously fun," says the New Yorker. "Most important, the songs sound great.” Byrne and cast will perform on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday.

Vagabon's self-titled sophomore album, released digitally and on CD on Nonesuch Records last month, is now available on vinyl. "Each song on Vagabon feels like a small world," says the New Yorker. It's an "indie-pop masterpiece," says Clash, "simply captivating from start to finish." Vagabon tours North America as special guest of Angel Olsen through December.

Pat Metheny's new album, From This Place, is due February 21, 2020. The record features ten compositions by Metheny, who is joined by drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and pianist Gwilym Simcock, as well as the Hollywood Studio Symphony conducted by Joel McNeely. Meshell Ndegeocello, Gregoire Maret, and Luis Conte are special guests. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an instant download of the track "America Undefined."

Devendra Banhart stopped by KUTX, 98.9 FM, in Austin for an intimate in-studio session following his performance at Levitation Festival late last week. He performed three songs from his new album, Ma—"Is This Nice," "Carolina," and "Taking a Page"—which you can watch here. 

Aria Code, the Rhiannon Giddens–hosted podcast from The Metropolitan Opera and WQXR, returns for its second season today. This time around, Giddens leads the conversation as opera singers and experts examine ten arias centered on the theme of desire. "I've been thinking about what makes great arias so powerful," Giddens says, "and I think a big part of it is that they tap into our strongest emotions. One of the emotions that come up over and over again in opera, and in life, is desire." You can hear the first episode of the new season, on Verdi's Lady Macbeth, here.

"The Black Keys are the last rock and roll band to really matter," says the Broken Record podcast. Bandmates Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney talk with host Rick Rubin about everything from their early days together to their new album, "Let's Rock," and even share some unreleased songs. "We started playing when we were sixteen and seventeen before we were a band," Auerbach says, "and we learned how to play together ... We always recorded ourselves because that's what was so much fun ... So, the beginnings of The Black Keys were a recording." Hear it here.

Chris Thile gave a thirty-minute solo set at the Fine Line in Minneapolis in August as part of the MicroShow series from MPR's The Current that can now be seen here. The set includes solo takes on music by Punch Brothers, Radiohead, and Bach, a Song of the Week from his public radio show Live From Here, and the traditional tune "Rabbit in the Log."

Mountain Man—the trio of Amelia Meath, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and Molly Sarlé—follows up its 2018 Nonesuch debut album, Magic Ship, and its Sings John Denver EP with the second in its Sings cover series: the 1942 Irving Berlin holiday classic, "White Christmas," available now. "We wanted to record a song that could be played in people's homes throughout the holidays, like a gentle push of light," says the band. "We thought 'White Christmas' might do the trick!" Mountain Man will present a three-night COSMIC PROM of songs from the trio's collective catalog in Durham, NC, January 17–19.

David Byrne has co-created a new immersive production with writer Mala Gaonkar called Theater of the Mind, which will premiere via the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) Off-Center in August 2020. Audience members will be led through a journey of self-reflection, discovery, and imagination, grounded in neuroscience, using stories inspired from the creators' lives. "I have long had an interest in creating something that incorporated the sensory experiments we often read about in a way that was entertaining and engaging," says Byrne, "but still gave people an experience that was visceral and profound."

Gaby Moreno begins a two-week US Roots Rising! tour with Liz Vice and Matt Andersen. The tour begins in the Pacific Northwest this weekend, followed by stops in California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Moreno then heads East to perform from ¡Spangled!, her album with Van Dyke Parks, at NYC's Kaufman Music Center, join Ben Folds and the NSO at The Kennedy Center in DC, and headline a show in Miami.

Caroline Shaw performs her song "And So" with Attacca Quartet in a new video for Lincoln Center, which you can watch here. The artists perform an all-Shaw program, including works from their album Orange, in a free concert for Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival on November 14. "It's Shaw the singer and composer who shines in this video," says NPR Music's Tom Huizenga. "Shaw's voice, at turns ferocious and tender, emits a purity of purpose." He had named Orange to NPR's list of the Best New Albums of April: "An arresting tribute to the enduring art of the string quartet."

Laurie Anderson is a guest curator of the 2020 New Zealand Festival. She joins fellow guest curators Lemi Ponifasio and Bret McKenzie in selecting works for the event, which takes place in Wellington from February 21 to March 15. Anderson has programmed a symphonic concert, a virtual-reality experience, an improvisational ensemble, an interactive soundscape, a film screening, and a concert for dogs. Also at the festival are Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, performing from their album there is no Other.