David Byrne was in Boston last week ahead of the pre-Broadway run of his American Utopia at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre in September. He spoke with Robin Young, co-host of NPR's Here & Now, about the project in an event at WBUR's new CitySpace last Thursday. You can watch the conversation here. David Byrne’s American Utopia plays at Broadway's Hudson Theatre from October 4 through January 19.

Daughter of Swords stopped by WNYC Studios as the guest on New Sounds' Soundcheck today to talk with host John Schaefer about her debut album, Dawnbreaker, and perform three songs from it: "Long Leaf Pine," "Fields of Gold," and "Human." "As with the songs that you wrote for the last Mountain Man record, there is a very timeless, old, really deep folk sound," says Schaefer. See for yourself in the session here.

Rachael & Vilray have shared a quick behind-the-scenes look at the making of their self-titled debut album, due October 4. It shows the duo in the studio in Brooklyn with pianists Jon Batiste and Akie Bermiss, drummer Jason Burger, and bassist Tony Scherr, all set to songs from the forthcoming album. "People have music that makes them feel something," Batiste says in the video. "That's the music you can play anywhere and everywhere, because it comes from the heart. It brings people a sense of humanity." Watch it here.

Daughter of Swords has extended her US tour to include dates with Wilco and Joan Shelley this fall. In addition, the tour includes dates with Sylvan Esso, Hiss Golden Messenger, Molly Tuttle, and Molly Sarlé, as well as headlining shows in Brooklyn, DC, and Asheville this week. Also out today is a lyric video for "Easy Is Hard," from Daughter of Swords' debut album, Dawnbreaker. Watch the video, with drawings by Sauser-Monnig animated by Robert Edridge-Waks, here.

Natalie Merchant was on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She performed 10,000 Maniacs' "These Are Days," joined by The Roots, and gave an intimate online-exclusive performance of her song "Motherland." You can watch both here. Merchant also spoke with John Wilson for the podcast These Three about three songs: one she wrote, one she wishes she'd written, and one she's working on now. Her two-week, sold-out US tour concludes in Hudson, NY, tonight. 

The Black Keys debuted a live version of "Go," the second single off their ninth studio album "Let's Rock," via Rolling Stone. For the performance, they are joined by their touring band, Andrew Gabbard and Delicate Steve on guitar, and Zachary Gabbard on bass. The video, taped at a recent rehearsal in front of a small audience made up of members of the band's fan club, provides a behind-the-scenes look and a preview of their upcoming "Let's Rock" tour, which kicks off on September 23 at Denver's Pepsi Center. Watch it here.

Mountain Man, while on its US Magic Ship tour, performed a Birmingham concert captured for the public television program Subcarrier. You can watch it here. "Mountain Man blends complex harmonies and delivers a melodic experience equal parts peaceful and powerful," says the show. "Three voices, a potent dose of musical chemistry, (and sometimes a guitar for good measure), coalesce in this extraordinary performance."

Rhiannon Giddens will receive the inaugural Legacy of Americana Award from the National Museum of African American Music and the Americana Music Association, as will posthumous recipient Francis "Frank" Johnson, a pioneering American composer from the Antebellum era. The award will be presented during the Americana Honors & Awards at the Ryman in Nashville on September 11. Rhiannon Giddens will also speak on a panel with writer John Jeremiah Sullivan—whose article on Giddens, Johnson, and the legacy of black string band music was published in The New Yorker earlier this year—on the closing day of AmericanaFest's music industry conference in Nashville, September 13.

Rachael & Vilray—the debut album by Lake Street Dive singer-songwriter Rachael Price and composer, singer, and guitarist Vilray—is due October 4 on Nonesuch. The album features ten original songs by Vilray, plus two covers from the era that inspired him: Cuban composer Pedro Junco Jr.'s 1943 "Nosotros" and Drake/Atler's "I Love the Way You're Breaking My Heart," first popularized by Peggy Lee. "The voices of acoustic duo Rachael & Vilray are magical enough on their own," says Chronogram, "but when they blend in song the results are utterly sublime." Pre-order to download the song "Alone at Last" and get an exclusive, limited-edition print of a painting made for the occasion by Hannah Rawe and autographed by Rachael and Vilray.

David Byrne took part in a TimesTalks event in NYC, discussing, as the introduction states, "his upcoming show American Utopia, described as a once-in-a-lifetime Broadway event that marks a major cultural milestone in the worlds of music and theater, where Byrne shares the spotlight with a diverse ensemble of 11 musical artists from around the globe." You can watch the conversation here. David Byrne’s American Utopia will play a strictly limited engagement on Broadway at the intimate Hudson Theatre starting October 4, following a run at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre in September.

Rhiannon Giddens was on WBUR's On Point to discuss her new album, there is no Other, and the cultural origins of music. "With her most recent record, Giddens wildly expands the scope of her musical excavations," says host Meghna Chakrabarti. "In it, Giddens show us how a chord or a drumbeat contains histories of Africa, Arabic influences, European additions, and the mix that became American music."

Mandy Patinkin will launch a thirty-city concert tour of Mandy Patinkin in Concert: DIARIES, accompanied by Adam Ben-David on piano, October 30, with stops across North America through February 2020. Patinkin will perform Broadway and classic American tunes, along with selections from his recent Diary series of digital recordings. "Singing onstage is one of the greatest joys in my life," he says. "We look forward to sharing this music with you, wherever you are." Nonesuch will release his first new album since 2002 this fall; details to come.