Amadou & Mariam launch their tour of North America with a performance at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, tonight. It's the couple's first such tour since 2009 and includes stops at festivals like Lollapalooza, Central Park SummerStage, Outside Lands, Edmonton Folk, and Osheaga, in addition to headlining shows at theaters and clubs. Amadou & Mariam will perform songs from their new album, Folila, which has been named among the Best Albums of 2012 So Far by Rolling Stone magazine and listeners of NPR.

Punch Brothers, following a month of US and European festival sets, have now announced that they will return to Europe this November, beginning with the previously announced show at Open House Festival in Belfast on November 5, followed by several headline stops in the UK including shows in Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and London, as well as festival sets in the Netherlands and Belgium for Crossing Border Festival. Tickets are on sale now. Punch Brothers head to Australia next week.

Jessica Lea Mayfield launches a month-long summer tour, including a number of headline shows as well as a ten-day tour supporting Langhorne Slim. Mayfield kicks off the tour with a headlining show at Firebird in St. Louis tonight, followed by shows in Kansas City, Wichita, Denver, and Salt Lake City. The tour with Langhorne Slim begins at the Independent in San Francisco and the Troubador in LA next week and includes additional stops in California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Lianne La Havas' debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, is due out on August 7. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. The album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen. "Lianne La Havas possesses a rich, expressive voice—but also, more importantly, a keen understanding of when to dial it back," says NPR, which calls the album "terrific," a "hyper-accessible entry point into a smart, sophisticated sound world." La Havas performs a special acoustic set and answers fans' questions live this Friday, August 3, at 4 PM ET, via Livestream.

Joshua Redman, who is currently touring Europe as the special guest of The Bad Plus, is set to make his Irish debut when the Joshua Redman Trio, featuring Reuben Rogers and Gregory Hutchinson, tours Ireland this September. The autumn also marks the start of the Wigmore Hall Jazz Series curated by Redman, who succeeds Brad Mehldau as the Hall’s Jazz Series curator. Tickets for the Trio tour and Wigmore series are on sale now.

AfroCubism, the supergroup of Cuban and Malian singers and instrumentalists, made a rare tour of North America last month. CNN caught up with band member Toumani Diabaté to discuss the project in a piece for CNN's African Voices. "His collaborations and his vision," says CNN, "pairing the unique sound of the kora with instruments from across the globe, open up a world of possibility, all the while maintaining his roots at home in West Africa." Watch the full story, featuring clips from AfroCubism's performance at Bonnaroo, and an extended interview with Diabaté, here.

Composer/pianist Timothy Andres performed a concert at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge in May of this year, performing what he described as a "musical 'self-portrait,'" including two of his own pieces, as well as works by Ted Hearne, Ingram Marshall, Brahms, and Schumann. The complete concert has now been posted by Q2 Music, New York's online new-music station, and can be heard here.

Punch Brothers, who close out their European tour in Dublin tonight, have announced the second leg of their fall tour. This run starts November 24 in Vancouver and takes the band to cities throughout the West Coast of North America, wrapping up with a pair of Midwest dates in Minneapolis and Chicago. A limited pre-sale for most dates is under way; the first leg of the fall tour is on sale now. Punch Brothers also have a number of festival dates on tap later this month, including Grey Fox, Master Musicians, RockyGrass, FloydFest, and Newport Folk.

British singer/guitarist Lianne La Havas has debuted at #4 on the UK album charts this week with her full-length album Is Your Love Big Enough?. The album is set for US release on August 7 and is available to pre-order now. La Havas’ live show, described as “stunning" by The New Yorker, has been lauded by critics and fellow musicians alike. Look for North American tour dates to be announced soon. In the meantime, fans can live stream her sold-out show at London's Village Underground today at 4 PM EST.

Sara Watkins kicked off a months-long tour as special guest of Jackson Browne over the weekend. "Cheerful and charming, Watkins was totally at ease," says the Charleston City Paper of Sunday's show. "Watkins also handled the melodies and harmonies with cool authority, and she dazzled with several fiddle solos that demonstrated her virtuosity." Her new album, Sun Midnight Sun, on which Browne makes a guest appearance, is due out on vinyl next Tuesday, July 24, and is available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

Singer/songwriter Fatoumata Diawara’s debut album, Fatou, will be released in North America on August 28, 2012, and is now available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. Diawara will tour the US this fall. She has been receiving rave reviews since the album’s release in the UK and Europe last year. The Telegraph says “this stylish debut doesn’t put a foot wrong"; Pitchfork calls it "beguiling." Diawara uses elements of jazz, pop, and funk along with her ancestral Wassoulou tradition in her songwriting. John Paul Jones, Toumani Diabate, and Tony Allen all make guest appearances on Fatou.

Shawn Colvin is the guest on NPR's World Cafe today. She discusses her memoir, Diamond in the Rough, and performs songs from her new album, All Fall Down with Buddy Miller, who produced the album, and bassist Viktor Krauss. To celebrate the release of All Fall Down, iVillage is giving away a beautiful Martin 000-15M Mahogany Dreadnought Guitar. Colvin continues her summer tour with two concerts at The Birchmere outside DC next week.