Natalie Merchant was on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She performed 10,000 Maniacs' "These Are Days," joined by The Roots, and gave an intimate online-exclusive performance of her song "Motherland." You can watch both here. Merchant also spoke with John Wilson for the podcast These Three about three songs: one she wrote, one she wishes she'd written, and one she's working on now. Her two-week, sold-out US tour concludes in Hudson, NY, tonight. 

The Black Keys debuted a live version of "Go," the second single off their ninth studio album "Let's Rock," via Rolling Stone. For the performance, they are joined by their touring band, Andrew Gabbard and Delicate Steve on guitar, and Zachary Gabbard on bass. The video, taped at a recent rehearsal in front of a small audience made up of members of the band's fan club, provides a behind-the-scenes look and a preview of their upcoming "Let's Rock" tour, which kicks off on September 23 at Denver's Pepsi Center. Watch it here.

Mountain Man, while on its US Magic Ship tour, performed a Birmingham concert captured for the public television program Subcarrier. You can watch it here. "Mountain Man blends complex harmonies and delivers a melodic experience equal parts peaceful and powerful," says the show. "Three voices, a potent dose of musical chemistry, (and sometimes a guitar for good measure), coalesce in this extraordinary performance."

Rhiannon Giddens will receive the inaugural Legacy of Americana Award from the National Museum of African American Music and the Americana Music Association, as will posthumous recipient Francis "Frank" Johnson, a pioneering American composer from the Antebellum era. The award will be presented during the Americana Honors & Awards at the Ryman in Nashville on September 11. Rhiannon Giddens will also speak on a panel with writer John Jeremiah Sullivan—whose article on Giddens, Johnson, and the legacy of black string band music was published in The New Yorker earlier this year—on the closing day of AmericanaFest's music industry conference in Nashville, September 13.

Rachael & Vilray—the debut album by Lake Street Dive singer-songwriter Rachael Price and composer, singer, and guitarist Vilray—is due October 4 on Nonesuch. The album features ten original songs by Vilray, plus two covers from the era that inspired him: Cuban composer Pedro Junco Jr.'s 1943 "Nosotros" and Drake/Atler's "I Love the Way You're Breaking My Heart," first popularized by Peggy Lee. "The voices of acoustic duo Rachael & Vilray are magical enough on their own," says Chronogram, "but when they blend in song the results are utterly sublime." Pre-order to download the song "Alone at Last" and get an exclusive, limited-edition print of a painting made for the occasion by Hannah Rawe and autographed by Rachael and Vilray.

David Byrne took part in a TimesTalks event in NYC, discussing, as the introduction states, "his upcoming show American Utopia, described as a once-in-a-lifetime Broadway event that marks a major cultural milestone in the worlds of music and theater, where Byrne shares the spotlight with a diverse ensemble of 11 musical artists from around the globe." You can watch the conversation here. David Byrne’s American Utopia will play a strictly limited engagement on Broadway at the intimate Hudson Theatre starting October 4, following a run at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre in September.

Rhiannon Giddens was on WBUR's On Point to discuss her new album, there is no Other, and the cultural origins of music. "With her most recent record, Giddens wildly expands the scope of her musical excavations," says host Meghna Chakrabarti. "In it, Giddens show us how a chord or a drumbeat contains histories of Africa, Arabic influences, European additions, and the mix that became American music."

Mandy Patinkin will launch a thirty-city concert tour of Mandy Patinkin in Concert: DIARIES, accompanied by Adam Ben-David on piano, October 30, with stops across North America through February 2020. Patinkin will perform Broadway and classic American tunes, along with selections from his recent Diary series of digital recordings. "Singing onstage is one of the greatest joys in my life," he says. "We look forward to sharing this music with you, wherever you are." Nonesuch will release his first new album since 2002 this fall; details to come.

Natalie Merchant, who performs on The Tonight Show this Thursday, will receive the 2019 John Lennon Real Love Award and will lead a multi-artist tribute concert of her favorite John Lennon and Beatles tunes at Symphony Space in NYC on December 6. The award is given in recognition of Merchant's artistic achievements and lifelong commitment to social activism and charitable causes. Proceeds will benefit Theatre Within's ongoing free workshops at Gilda's Club NYC.

k.d. lang concluded her tour of the UK and Ireland, part of her ongoing world tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of her acclaimed album Ingénue, appearing on BBC Radio 4's Front Row and earning critical acclaim across the tour. "k.d. lang is so good that she is in a class of her own," exclaimed the Daily Telegraph. "Wow. Just wow. Most other singers should just give up now." The Mail on Sunday says that in 1992, Ingénue "seemed like an elegant set of timeless songs about unrequited love. Today it stands as a monument on the road to equal rights." "lang is a peerless communicator of feeling and emotion," says musicOMH, " a class act and one of the greatest singers currently at work in any genre." The Arts Desk says: "Her voice has withstood the years magnificently, and its purity and power soared."

Devendra Banhart has released the third song from his forthcoming album Ma, "Memorial." A tribute to loved ones who have gone too soon, "Memorial" explores the process of mourning. The intimacy of the recording, the sadness in Banhart's quivering vocals, and the beautiful melancholy of the lyrics showcase an artist attempting to understand death. You can watch a visualizer featuring Banhart's art from the album cover, here.

Gaby Moreno will begin a six-week, twenty-one concert tour of Europe in Neumunster, Germany, September 24. The tour takes her across Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Spain, culminating in Malaga November 1, and surrounds the October 4 release of her new album, ¡Spangled!, with Van Dyke Parks. She begins a US tour November 8, including a just-announced show at Merkin Hall in NYC for Ecstatic Music December 2.