Iron and Wine kicks off the second leg of its North American fall tour at LA's Orpheum Theatre on Thursday, Halloween night. Sam Beam and the band perform up the West Coast, making stops in Oakland, Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle, with opening sets along the way from Laura Mvula. Iron and Wine then heads inland for shows in Missoula, Salt Lake City, Denver, Lincoln, and Kansas City, before landing in Nashville and Atlanta in mid-November, with support on those dates from Jesca Hoop. On December 10, Iron and Wine headlines the Holiday Cheer for FUV concert benefitting New York public radio station 90.7 FM WFUV. 

Sam Amidon, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Chris Thile & Michael Daves have all contributed songs to Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War, a new collection of Civil War–era tunes recorded by contemporary artists, to be released on ATO Records on November 5. The album, which is streaming in full via Garden and Gun in advance of the release, features Amidon on "Wildwood Flower," the Chocolate Drops on "Day of Liberty," and Thile and Daves on "Richmond Is a Hard Road to Travel," as well as performances from Loretta Lynn, Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley, Dolly Parton, Steve Earle, T Bone Burnett, and Thile's Punch Brothers band mate Noam Pikelny. Nonesuch Records released the soundtrack to Ken Burns' acclaimed documentary The Civil War in 1990.

Carolina Chocolate Drops are featured on the latest episode of On Canvas, the performance program from Philadelphia PBS member station WHYY. The episode captures a performance by the Chocolate Drops at The Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware, as well as interviews with members of the band. You can watch the complete episode here. The band plays a number of tour dates in the US South this December.

Jeremy Denk's new recording of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, has earned the top spot on the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums chart. The album, released late last month in the US and is now available internationally, includes a companion DVD with video “liner notes,” in which Denk demonstrates passages on the piano as he explains certain details of the iconic piece. The Wall Street Journal recently praised Denk's performance on the album as "gorgeously and insightfully played" and the DVD as "the kind of fresh thinking of which we can never have too much." 

Pianist Jeremy Denk and mandolinist Chris Thile have each recently released recordings of music by Bach on Nonesuch Records: Denk's recording of the Goldberg Variations with a companion DVD of video "liner notes," and Thile's Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1. The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout says both "stand out from the pack," finding Denk's "gorgeously and insightfully played ... enthrallingly involving" and that Thile's offers "a thrillingly new palette of instrumental colors." He concludes: "If I had to guess what the future of recorded classical music will sound like, I'd bet on Mr. Thile's Bach—as well as on Mr. Denk's video liner notes. That's the kind of fresh thinking of which we can never have too much."

Chris Thile's solo tour brought him to Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on Tuesday for an eclectic, sold-out set that featured music from his new album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, and much more. "The most impressive musicians are often versatile, but few match the breadth of the brilliant mandolinist Chris Thile," raves the New York Times's Vivien Schweitzer. Of his performing Bach violin works on the mandolin, Schweitzer writes, "in Mr. Thile’s virtuosic hands, the results are breathtaking ... a revelatory reading, poignant and exuberant by turns."

Chris Thile brings his solo tour, featuring music from his new album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, back home to New York City for a sold-out performance in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall. The tour continues with stops in Philadelphia, Princeton, Toronto, and Albany before heading back down South, then on to Europe in November. Thile spoke with the New York Times about the tour and the music of Bach: "You can get me moving, and be playing some of the most profoundly well-organized music that humans could possibly imagine. It’s visceral, but everything’s in its right place."

Pianist and composer Brad Mehldau kicks off a ten-day US tour in a new electric duo with drummer Mark Guiliana called Mehliana. The configuration presents Mehldau performing on Fender Rhodes and an arsenal of vintage synthesizers while Guiliana accompanies on drums and effects. The tour begins at The Triple Door in Seattle tonight and includes shows in San Francisco and LA, as well as stops in Illinois, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Mehldau then heads to Europe for a week of solo shows before he and Guiliana reunite for a two-week Mehliana tour of Europe and the UK. To celebrate the tour, Nonesuch is offering an early listen to "Hungry Ghost," a track off the forthcoming Mehliana album, due in early 2014. Listen here.

Bombino, whose Nonesuch Records debut album, Nomad, was released earlier this year, launches the latest leg of his world tour with a performance at Poppodium Tilburg in the Netherlands, Thursday night. The 30-day European tour continues with additional stops in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, and Finland, before heading to the UK for a seven-city run there, followed by a return to the Continent for several shows in Switzerland, France, and Italy. Bombino and his band then make their way across the Atlantic for a North American tour starting in November.

The ninth annual Holiday Cheer for FUV concert will bring an evening of collaboration to the Beacon Theatre: Iron & Wine and Friends, featuring Calexico as house band for a one-time evening of song and camaraderie. The show will take place Tuesday, December 10, at 8 PM and will benefit New York public radio station 90.7 FM WFUV. Joining them will be songwriter/performer Nick Lowe, plus other artists to be announced. Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on Friday, October 18, at noon.

Chris Thile's new solo album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, was released to critical acclaim earlier this year. The album comprises three works written for solo violin, including Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001, which Thile performs in its entirety for a new video, available here. He is in the midst of a solo tour of North America, performing music from the new album and more.

Alarm Will Sound begins two important components of its 2013–14 concert season this week: its second "St. Louis season" and its season-long residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The latter comprises four concerts, starting this Friday and including the New York premiere of Steve Reich's new piece, Radio Rewrite, on an all-Reich program November 16.