Devendra Banhart launches a two-month North American tour, featuring music from his 2016 album, Ape in Pink Marble, at The Showbox in Seattle tonight. The tour continues with stops in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boulder, Santa Fe, Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, DC, New York City, and more. The European tour begins in April.

Celebrations of John Adams's 70th birthday, which began in fall 2016, continue through 2017 with major festivities taking place in the composer's native California, organized around his birthday on February 15, and throughout the winter and spring in New York, Chicago, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, and more.

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."

Conor Oberst begins a non-stop, three-week tour of Europe and the UK, featuring music from his 2016 solo album, Ruminations, in Munich tonight. From there, the tour heads to Stuttgart, Vienna, Zurich, Cologne, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris, Utrecht, Brussels, London, Manchester, and Edinburgh, culminating with a concert at Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin on February 5.

The Barbican Centre in London has announced its 2017–18 Classic Music concert season, in which pianist Jeremy Denk will be Artist in Residence at Milton Court Concert Hall. As such, Denk will lead four concerts throughout the season, with programs ranging from Mozart to Gershwin, from a collaboration with the Britten Sinfonia to a personal meditation on the Variation form. "Jeremy Denk isn't like other pianists," says the Barbican. "He's capable of spectacular musical gymnastics and the most eloquent insights—often in the same breath. In short ... he’s the ideal choice to be Milton Court’s Artist in Residence this season."

Rhiannon Giddens, whose new album, Freedom Highway, is due February 24, has unveiled a new song from the album called "At the Purchaser's Option," which you can hear in a lyric video here. The song is one of nine original songs Giddens wrote or co-wrote on the album, which also includes a traditional tune and two civil rights–era songs, "Birmingham Sunday" and Staple Singers' "Freedom Highway." That last track and "At the Purchaser's Option" come as instant downloads with pre-orders of the album.

Laurie Anderson has received the Award of Merit for Achievement in Performing Arts from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP). The 60th Annual APAP Awards Ceremony and Luncheon took place in NYC on Monday as part of APAP|NYC 2017, the association's 60th annual conference of performing arts professionals. "These recipients inspire and motivate our field to continue to grow and change," APAP President and CEO Mario Garcia Durham says of the honorees, "showing the strength and influence the arts can have in our communities, schools and cultural landscapes, and how important and influential the arts can be."

Guitarist Michael Daves and his 2016 double album, Orchids and Violence, are the subject of a documentary by filmmaker Jason Zucker. The Making of Orchids and Violence, which premiered on The Bluegrass Situation, is an intimate portrait of the album, from its conception to its release. You can watch it here.

Rhiannon Giddens, whose new album, Freedom Highway, is due February 24, joins the cast of the television show Nashville as it returns for its fifth season tonight at 9 PM ET tonight, making its debut on CMT. Giddens plays the role of Hanna Lee "Hallie" Jordan, a young social worker with "the voice of an angel." Nashville airs Thursday nights on CMT; episodes will be available to stream on Hulu on Fridays.

As 2016 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2017, it's time to take a look back and remember all of the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists over the past year. Many Nonesuch artists and their recent Nonesuch releases have made music critics' and fans' year-end best lists. Here, in words and music and in chronological order, is a look back at the year in Nonesuch music.