Robert Plant's new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, has been named among NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums of 2014. "These 50 albums helped define 2014 for us," says NPR. "They are how we'll remember the year. They're the ones we love well enough to share." Plant's album is a "sophisticated yet beautifully grounded and emotional set ... Artists half his age could envy the life still in the old cat." The Sunday Times of London includes the album on its list of the 100 Best Records of the Year.

Jonny Greenwood joined London Contemporary Orchestra members for a performance at Albert Hall in Manchester earlier this year featuring his film scores to Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood and The Master; his own take on Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint; works by Messiaen, Michael Gordon, and more. Boiler Room.tv was there to capture the performance, and interview Greenwood and orchestra members, both of which you can watch here. Greenwood and LCO perform together again in Oxford in February.

Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch artists who were nominated for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, announced earlier today by The Recording Academy: The Black Keys, Nickel Creek, Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer, John Adams, and Brad Mehldau. Together, these artists' Nonesuch releases have garnered a total of 11 nominations this year. The 57th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on "Grammy Sunday," February 8, 2015, in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS. 

Robert Plant is featured on the cover of the December issue of Relix magazine. He talks with journalist Alan Light about his band, The Sensational Space Shifters, and their new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar. And for a limited time, Relix is offering a complimentary issue of the issue delivered in the US.

Punch Brothers, in their second year of residency at the Oberlin Conservatory, have been named Affiliate Scholars at Oberlin. A rare distinction at Oberlin, Affiliate Scholars are named in recognition of significant professional achievement and with the purpose of facilitating artistic or scholarly endeavor in association with Oberlin. As part of their residency, Punch Brothers engage with students through a wide range of activities, including coaching sessions, master classes, lectures, and performances. 

The Black Keys and Nickel Creek will be featured on Austin City Limits (ACL) as the series unwraps the second half of its Season 40 in January. Nickel Creek, appearing for the third time, kicks things off when ACL returns to PBS on Saturday, January 3, on a double bill with The Avett Brothers. The Black Keys make their second appearance on the show on Saturday, January 31. Emmylou Harris appears on a special episode with performance highlights from the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame presentation, as ACL closes out its celebratory season on February 14.

Brad Mehldau Trio kicks off a ten-day, eight-city US tour at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis, California, tonight. It's the first of three stops in the state, including Stanford and a double bill in Northridge with The Bad Plus, followed by shows in Phoenix, Durham, Philadelphia, Boston, and Albany. Mehldau's electric duo album with drummer Mark Guiliana, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, was named to Jazzwise magazine's list of the Best Albums of the Year. 

Nonesuch releases Punch Brothers’ T Bone Burnett–produced The Phosphorescent Blues on January 27, 2015; vinyl follows on February 24 with four additional tracks not available elsewhere. In celebration, the band embarks on a 23-city North American tour on February 20. The Phosphorescent Blues is available to pre-order with instant downloads of the album tracks “I Blew It Off” and “Julep,” which you can preview here.

There's still about a month to go before 2014 comes to a close, and already the music magazines have begun to weigh in on the year's best music. Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, Uncut, Mojo, and Q have all published their lists of the Best Albums of the Year, and included among them are a number of Nonesuch releases: the latest from The Black Keys and Sam Amidon; the label debut albums from Robert Plant and Conor Oberst; and a special reissue from Emmylou Harris.

Audra McDonald launches her extensive 2014–15 concert season with a performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA tonight. The season includes shows in more than 30 cities in 18 different states across the US, among them five cities in California and five in Florida; three each in New Jersey and upstate New York; dates in Indianapolis, Charlotte, Boston, Chapel Hill, and Tucson; and a return to Carnegie Hall. McDonald won a record-breaking sixth Tony Award for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill earlier this year and released her latest solo album, Go Back Home, in 2013.

Sam Amidon recently stopped by NPR with Bill Frisell and Shahzad Ismaily to give a Tiny Desk Concert. They perform two songs from Amidon's latest album, Lily-O, on which both perform and which Tiny Desk Concert host Bob Boilen calls "gorgeous"—"Blue Mountains" and "Pat Do This, Pat Do That"—as well as the song "Short Life" from his 2013 Nonesuch Records debut album, Bright Sunny South. Watch the Tiny Desk Concert here. Amidon opens for Wilco at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago this Saturday, then leads his own shows in Chicago, Ann Arbor, and Toronto.

Today is the day after Thanksgiving in the US and that means, among other things, Record Store Day Black Friday, offering unique recordings from some of your favorite artists, including Conor Oberst. He releases a special, limited-edition 7" featuring two exclusive tracks recorded during the sessions for his new album, Upside Down Mountain, that are unavailable anywhere else: "Standing on the Outside Looking In" and "Sugar Street." To pick up a copy of the 7" while supplies last, head to a record store near you.