In April, Laurie Anderson, Nonesuch Records, and Indaba Music launched a search for collaborators to remix her new song, “Only an Expert,” from the album Homeland. The jury of experts, including Anderson and Lou Reed, have now chosen a Grand Prize Winner and two Runners-Up, and fans have chosen ten Honorable Mentions, all of which can be heard here. "We loved all the entries," says Anderson. "What a huge variety. Thanks for sending the great music."

Punch Brothers have been celebrating the release of their new album, Antifogmatic, touring with Steve Martin. Tonight, the band will perform the album track "Rye Whiskey" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The band was at Bonnaroo last Friday, photos from which are now on nonesuch.com/media. Paste says: "On Antifogmatic, the guys sound more sure of themselves, more polished, more self-aware. The warm harmonies and crisp mandolin plucks and fiddle strains ... ring with the resounding clarity the album’s title suggests."

Natalie Merchant offered an intimate performance at the 2010 Poetry Conference at West Chester University on Saturday. The Wall Street Journal reports that "poets, scholars and other enthusiasts reveling in rhyme, meter and narrative in verse were lined up like smitten rock fans waiting for Natalie Merchant to sign copies of her new, deluxe-edition, double-disc recording, Leave Your Sleep." The songs on album, says the Journal, "reveal an ideal fit between poetic and musical rhythms."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops made their Bonnaroo debut and were included among SPIN's 30 Must-Hear Artists there. Photographer Andrew Pearson was there, capturing all the action both onstage and behind the scenes with the band in photos now available at nonesuch.com/media. The band also played the culminating event of the Spoleto Festival, drawing more than 3,000 people to their set.

Ben Folds was at the 14th Annual Webby Awards in New York City last night, giving the audience of internet insiders and stars an improv performance in the vein of his viral ChatRoulette videos on YouTube. Fittingly, Folds presented the Webby Award for Breakout of the Year to Andrey Ternovskiy, the 17-year-old Russian lad behind ChatRoulette.com. 

Lonely Avenue, a collaboration between two eminent artists—American singer-songwriter Ben Folds and English novelist Nick Hornby—will be released September 28 on Nonesuch Records. The album features music and vocals by Folds and lyrics by Hornby, with string arrangements by one of the most influential pop string arrangers of all time, Paul Buckmaster. Lonely Avenue, made specifically to be listened to on vinyl, will also be available on CD, digitally, and in a special deluxe edition that includes four short stories by Hornby.

Congratulations to Catherine Zeta-Jones, winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music; she performed the musical's most famous song, "Send in the Clowns," at last night's awards ceremony. The Welsh-born actress was also named CBE by Queen Elizabeth II on the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Tune in to the Tony Awards ceremony, airing live on Sunday, June 13, at 8 PM ET on CBS, for a performance from the cast of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, which has been nominated for four Tony Awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Catherine Zeta-Jones, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Angela Lansbury, and Best Sound Design of a Musical.

Before World Cup football action begins tomorrow, Amadou & Mariam join Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas, Hugh Masekela, Soweto Gospel Choir, and others performing at the World Cup Kick-Off Celebration Concert at Orlando Stadium in Soweto today. It will be webcast live on vevo.com. "With Amadou & Mariam as cultural ambassadors from the continent to the rest of the world," says the Times of London, "Africa is truly spoiling us."

Radiohead drummer Philip Selway will release his first solo album, Familial, August 31 on Nonesuch Records. The album will be available for pre-order late June. A collection of fragile, haunting, and heartfelt songs, Familial is likely to surprise many—and not solely because these understated performances are coming from a drummer; it makes the case for Selway as a natural born singer-songwriter.

Ry Cooder will appear on New York public radio station WFUV, 90.7 FM, on Thursday to premiere his latest effort, "Quicksand," a new song he wrote in response to Arizona's recent immigration law, SB 1070. The track will be available exclusively on iTunes beginning June 29, with all proceeds going to support MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund.

Laurie Anderson's forthcoming Nonesuch album, Homeland is due out on June 22. You can listen to it in its entirety now through release day as an NPR First Listen. "Anderson's performance pieces can be mind-altering; when they work, they can change the way you see the everyday," says NPR's Bob Boilen. "It's not an everyday record, but Homeland does draw on the everyday, in new and inventive ways."