Sam Amidon is featured in the latest episode of the Guardian's Music Weekly podcast, discussing the often unexpected inspirations behind his forthcoming album, Bright Sunny South, which host Maddy Costa says she's "been listening to ... slightly obsessively for the past month." Amidon explains: "For me, folk music is not really so much connected to certain instruments. It's more just a quality a melody could have, or a quality a lyric could have. You can find that anywhere." He closes the interview with a performance of the Bright Sunny South track "As I Roved Out."

Joshua Redman’s new album, Walking Shadows, due out May 7, is featured on the latest episode of BBC Radio 2's Jamie Cullum. Cullum plays the album track "Stop This Train," written by John Mayer and Pino Palladino, and noting the album's core ensemble of Brad Mehldau, Larry Grenadier, and Brian Blade, says: "It’s fascinating here how this band get into this very sweet melody and state it in a very simple, beautiful way, and then start improvising on the melody and go more and more inside and outside the song in the soloing. A brilliant bit of improvisation from Joshua Redman.”

Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, has announced its 2013–14 concert season, which will feature performances from a number of Nonesuch artists: Kronos Quartet, which celebrates its 40th anniversary with two concerts at Zellerbach Hall; Joshua Redman, whose Quartet performs songs from his new album, Walking Shadows; and Richard Goode, performing music by Janáček, Schubert, and Debussy. Additionally, Cal Performances and the Ojai Music Festival present Ojai North!, of which pianist Jeremy Denk is this season's music director.

The line-up for the 2013 Festival d’été de Québec, which runs July 4 to 14, has been announced and includes performances from The Black Keys on the Plains of Abraham and Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell at Parc de la Francophonie, as well as free sets from Dr. John, Amadou & Mariam, and Fatoumata Diawara at Place Metro in Place d’Youville.

Rokia Traoré will be a guest on BBC Two's Later ... with Jools Holland this week, performing songs from her new album, Beautiful Africa. She and her band play "Kouma" on Tuesday's live show and "Mélancolie" and "Tuit Tuit" on Friday's show. This week's programs also include performances from Phoenix, Eric Church, Laura Marling, Petula Clark, and more. Tuesday morning, Traoré will discuss the album and perform "Ka Moun Kè" on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

Congratulations to k.d. lang, who was officially inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame last night at the 42nd Annual Juno Awards hosted by Michael Bublé. Fellow Canadian icon Anne Murray inducted lang into the Hall of Fame. "I think the fact that I'm standing here receiving this award says more about Canada than it does about me, because only in Canada could there be such a freak as k.d. lang receiving this award," lang said in her acceptance speech. "So I am here to tell you, my friends and my countrymen, that it is OK to be you. It is OK to let your freak flags fly."

Iron and Wine, aka singer-songwriter Sam Beam, spoke with the New York Times about the evolution of his songwriting, culminating in the just-released album Ghost on Ghost, his Nonesuch debut. "Some of the tracks on the new LP are built over jazz rhythms and walking bass lines; others are constructed over funk beats," writes the Times' James C. McKinley. "The songs feature Motown chord progressions with R&B horn lines, string parts and rich layered backup harmonies reminiscent of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s late arrangements. One track, 'Lover’s Revolution,' is a conscious nod to Charles Mingus."

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.

Randy Newman will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony taking place at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles tonight. Newman, who will be inducted by Don Henley, will also perform at the event with Jackson Browne and John Fogerty. The ceremony will be presented on HBO on Saturday, May 18, at 9 PM ET/PT.

Iron and Wine, whose new album, Ghost on Ghost, was released earlier this week, hit the SXSW music conference in Austin last month, performing at several official showcases throughout the city. One such set was at the KEXP Stage at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop, where singer-songwriter Sam Beam performed solo acoustic takes on songs from the new album and more. You can now watch the SXSW performances of "Grace for Saints and Ramblers" and "Winter Prayers" from Ghost on Ghost here.

Sara Watkins has unveiled the video for "You and Me," a song off her album Sun Midnight Sun. The video was directed by Russ Kendall of Kaleidoscope Pictures from the BYUtv series The Song That Changed My Life and premiered on CMT yesterday. "Sara Watkins lingers in a citrus orchard savoring a sweet memory for part of her latest video, 'You and Me," says CMT Edge. "The song ... features a gentle pop melody paired with Watkins’ breathy, restless vocals." Watch it here.

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."