Billy Bragg launches a tour of New Zealand and Australia this Friday, October 12, in celebration of the life and legacy of Woody Guthrie, on the 100th anniversary of the folk legend’s birth. The shows will feature songs from the Mermaid Avenue albums, in which Bragg and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy set Guthrie's words to music, as well as songs from throughout Bragg's career. The New Zealand leg includes stops in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, and Christchurch; the Australia leg in Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth.

Dr. John hits the road with a four-piece band and The Blind Boys of Alabama for the Spirituals to Funk tour, starting tonight in California. Based on the legendary Carnegie Hall Spirituals to Swing concerts of the 1930s, Spirituals to Funk features an integrated show that explores the connections between jazz, blues, and gospel, all under Dr. John's musical direction. "Musical pairings don’t come much more inspired," says the San Diego Union-Tribune. The tour will visit 30 cities and towns in 14 states across the US.

Tour Rehearsal Tapes, a new digital EP from The Black Keys, is out today on Nonesuch Records. Available exclusively on iTunes for the first two weeks, the EP features six songs recorded live in the studio during December 2011. The EP comes as the duo’s acclaimed 2011 full-length album, El Camino, is officially certified RIAA Platinum in the US. It is also Platinum in Ireland and UK; double Platinum in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand; and Gold in Belgium and France. The band’s 2010 breakthrough album, Brothers, is also certified RIAA Platinum.

Natalie Merchant has teamed up with award-winning children's book illustrator Barbara McClintock for a new picture book based on Leave Your Sleep, Merchant's album of classic children's poetry adapted to music. Frances Foster Books will publish this beautiful hard cover, 48-page, full-color book including a CD with 19 songs, available November 13, 2012. It is now available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. Watch a video preview of the book here.

Carolina Chocolate Drops, who gave a pair of rapturously received sold-out shows in Glasgow and London at the start of the year, are bringing their exhilarating live show back to the UK and to Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany as part of a European tour that kicks off with shows in Galway, Dublin, and London and closes out at the end of the month with three special shows in Germany with label mates Punch Brothers.

Congratulations to Randy Newman, a 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominee! For the first time, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is offering fans the opportunity to officially participate in the induction selection process, tallying a collective “fans’ ballot” with the other ballots to choose the 2013 inductees. Vote for your favorite today! The 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in LA on April 18, 2013, broadcast on HBO at a later date.

Congratulations to Chris Thile, who has been named a 2012 MacArthur Fellow. Thile was among the 23 new MacArthur Fellows, selected by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The annual fellowship, often referred to as the "Genius" grant, offers an unrestricted award of $500,000 to individuals who, in the Foundation's words, "have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction." Watch Thile discuss his work and the fellowship in a MacArthur Foundation video here.

The Black Keys launch an arena tour of the western US in Fresno, California, tonight, including stops at the famed Santa Barbara Bowl, the Staples Center in LA, and in Arizona and New Mexico. Tegan and Sara open. Just announced: The Black Keys will headline Lollapalooza Brazil and Lollapalooza Chile next year. At the Global Festival this past Saturday, the band "tore through a set of searing, hard-riffing rock," raves MTV, "one that had the 60,000 who packed Central Park's Great Lawn losing their collective minds."

Emmylou Harris, who was presented with an ACM Honors Pioneer Award this week, joins English folk rock quartet Mumford & Sons for CMT Crossroads, premiering tonight on CMT. The show explores the roots of country music by pairing country artists with musicians from other genres. Marcus Mumford tells the AP: "Pretty much every song that Emmylou has sung on is my favorite song of whichever artist she sang with." Watch a preview of the episode here.

Punch Brothers, who launch their North American tour in Montreal tonight, are celebrating the occasion by offering a free download of three songs recorded live at The Fillmore in San Francisco, including their songs "New York City" and "Don't Get Married Without Me" and Chris Thile's "Song for a Young Queen." The New Yorker's Alec Wilkinson, who will be chatting with the band at The New Yorker Festival on October 5, says that each band member "plays with grace, thoughtfulness, and force to a degree that is not duplicated by any band I am aware of."

Nonesuch released composer Jonny Greenwood’s soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film The Master in the US on September 11 to critical acclaim, with The New Yorker calling the score "rich and inventive" and Rolling Stone saying the film's "visual poetry is matched by Jonny Greenwood's haunting, hypnotic score." Nonesuch will release the album on vinyl on October 22. The LP includes 12 tracks pressed on 140-gram vinyl plus the full album on CD. It is now available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

The Art of Instrumentation: Homage to Glenn Gould, by violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, is out today, September 25, 2012, which would have been Gould’s 80th birthday. The album comprises 11 pieces and arrangements by contemporary composers that quote from or are inspired by works, mostly by Bach, that Gould famously recorded during his career; two Arnold Schoenberg pieces also are drawn upon in one piece. Says the CBC: "The result is a haunting, highly personal homage from one great musician to another and a deeply affecting tribute to Gould's enduring genius."