Iron and Wine, whose Nonesuch debut album, Ghost on Ghost, was released this past spring to critical acclaim, kicks off the first leg of its North American fall tour with a sold-out show at First Avenue in Minneapolis tonight. Singer-songwriter Sam Beam and his 12-piece band head next to Canada for five shows in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, before returning to the States to play Fargo, Des Moines, Madison, and Chicago, and back up to Toronto. The tour picks up again on the West Coast at the end of October.

Sing Me the Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert for Kate McGarrigle, the feature documentary directed by Lian Lunson, is now available on iTunes via the Sundance Institute’s Artist Services program. The film captures the 2011 NYC concerts honoring McGarrigle, with performances from Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Kate's sister Anna, and friends like Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, and Antony. Nonesuch Records released a two-CD set with highlights from the NYC tribute concerts and those held in London and Toronto after McGarrigle died of sarcoma; proceeds from the album benefit the Kate McGarrigle Foundation for sarcoma research.

Rokia Traoré's new album, Beautiful Africa, is due out September 24, in the US, following its critically acclaimed international release earlier this year. But no need to wait till then to hear it. The album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen. "Beautiful Africa is just as smart and lovely as its creator," says NPR Music's Anastasia Tsioulcas. Rokia Traoré kicks off her North American tour at Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival in November.

Devendra Banhart and his band will tour Latin America in November. The tour kicks off with two previously announced nights at El Plaza Condesa in Mexico City November 8 (sold out) and 9, followed by four nights in Brazil, shows in Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Peru, and a set at the Primavera Fauna festival in Chile. Banhart has also unveiled a remix of "Golden Girls," the opening track off of his Nonesuch Records debut album, Mala, by German pianist/composer Hauschka. The track premiered on Pitchfork earlier today. You can hear it and download it for free here.

k.d. lang will make her Broadway debut in the new musical After Midnight beginning February 11, 2014 (and continuing through March 9, 2014). Tickets for her engagement go on sale November 4, 2013. Refracted through a contemporary lens, After Midnight will celebrate Duke Ellington’s years at the Cotton Club using his original arrangements and performed by a big band of 17 musicians hand-picked by Wynton Marsalis. After Midnight is a new production of Cotton Club Parade which played two sold-out engagements at City Center. 

Ry Cooder’s first live record in more than 35 years, Live in San Francisco, is out now. The album, produced by Cooder, was recorded in 2011 during a special two-night engagement with the Corridos Famosos band and a ten-piece Mexican brass band at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, and includes original songs and interpretations of other material from across his career. "One of those nights when you wish you’d been in Row A," says the Sunday Times of London. Guitarist magazine calls it "sublime, spirited slide 'n' soul from a past-master of the art."

Bombino has performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, the 300th episode in the series of intimate sets at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen, featuring three songs from his Nonesuch debut album, Nomad. Boilen praises his "fierce, hypnotic guitar playing" and "amazing jams." Watch the performance here. Bombino, currently touring Europe, will launch the next leg of his US tour in November.

Stephen Sondheim, who was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal in August, discussed the award and much more on PBS NewsHour last night. While at The MacDowell Colony to receive the award last month, the composer spoke with Jeffrey Brown, NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about the honor and the danger of resting on one's laurels. Writer Frank Rich, who was the chairman of the medal selection committee, tells the show: "I'd argue that he single-handedly has kept the musical theater in a serious place." Watch the PBS NewsHour feature here.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, who released their collaborative album, Old Yellow Moon, on Nonesuch Records earlier this year, kick off the next leg of their North American tour with a headlining set at the Ottawa Folk Festival this evening. The tour makes stops throughout Canada and the US, including several shows in Texas and along the West Coast. Starting in November, Harris and Crowell welcome Richard Thompson to the bill, as they did for an earlier leg of the tour. 

Sam Amidon kicks off a five-week tour of North America featuring music from his Nonesuch debut album, Bright Sunny South, at Hugh's Room in Toronto tonight and the Ottawa Folk Festival this weekend before heading to the States and his home state of Vermont for a show at Higher Ground in South Burlington. The tour continues through mid-October, making stops throughout the Northeast—including headline shows in Philadelphia and Washington, DC, two nights at Jazz at Lincoln Center with Bill Frisell, four shows supporting Josh Ritter—into the Midwest in Minneapolis and Chicago, and drawing to a close in Santa Monica on October 11. Bright Sunny South will be released on vinyl with a bonus 7” disc featuring two previously unreleased recordings September 24.

Bombino, who is currently touring Europe, has performed an intimate, acoustic version of the song "Amidinine," off his Nonesuch debut album, Nomad, for the Guardian's How I wrote ... series. He discusses the song, the title of which translates to "My Friend," and is joined by his band mate Ibrahim Atchinguil Emoud on djembe to perform it. Watch it here. Bombino has been nominated for a MOBO Award in the "Best African Act" category; voting is open to the public.

Audra McDonald—whose first solo album in seven years, Go Back Home, was released earlier this year on Nonesuch Records—kicks off a four-month North American tour in the Opening Night Gala of the San Francisco Symphony’s 2013–14 Season. She and the orchestra, led by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, perform an all-American program at Davies Symphony Hall tonight. McDonald’s tour continues through December and includes performances in Austin, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Kansas City, Toronto, and more.