Sara Watkins begins a months-long tour as special guest of Jackson Browne this weekend; she also joins A Prairie Home Companion at LA's Hollywood Bowl for its final show of the season. The LA Times, reviewing a recent Watkins set, says: "Touring in support of her excellent new album," she performed "well-crafted, honest fiddle, guitar and drum music that drew not only on the bluegrass tradition but also hinted at old-time string band tunes, tossed in a touch of Texas swing, a little dose of rock and a certain Watkins family confidence that finds sustenance in adventure."

Saturday, July 14, 2012, marks what would have been folk legend Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday. Billy Bragg, who, with Wilco, put music to Guthrie's words on the acclaimed Mermaid Avenue albums, has been touring North America with those songs, culminating this weekend with a set at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Guthrie's Oklahoma hometown, multiple events in his adopted hometown of New York City, and a final show in Maryland. Bragg begins his European summer tour later this month.

The Pat Metheny Unity Band—Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, Antonio Sanchez on drums, and Ben Williams on bass—takes its month-long European tour to Italy this week. That follows Sunday's show at London's Barbican Hall, to which the Guardian gives four stars, calling the Unity Band "a group of blazing virtuosi with musical intelligence to match." Jazzwise says: "Metheny’s solos remain a thing of wonder: melodic at any tempo and packed with fresh ideas." The European tour continues through July 22; the US tour begins at the Caramoor Festival on July 29.

Emmylou Harris, who is currently touring North America performing songs from throughout her storied career in music, was recently featured on the Today show, discussing her other great passion: Bonaparte's Retreat, the non-profit dog rescue she founded out of her home in Nashville. Harris introduces viewers to her own rescue dog Bella and plays a bit of the song she wrote about her, "Big Black Dog," off her latest album, Hard Bargain. Watch the complete Today show story here.

Punch Brothers launched the European leg of their summer tour at Denmark's Roskilde Festival on Friday. Their entire set was captured on video; watch it in full here. The band's European tour continues into next week and includes three more festival dates in the UK and headline shows in Paris and Dublin. And check out a photo gallery from Punch Brothers' recent show as Wilco's special guest at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Caetano Veloso, an eight-time Latin Grammy winner and two-time Grammy winner, will be celebrated as the 2012 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year on November 14 in Las Vegas. Songs from Veloso's catalog will be performed by an array of artists and friends of the honoree. A portion of the net proceeds from the gala will benefit Veloso's chosen charity, Fundación Viva Cazuza in Brazil—a not-for-profit HIV prevention and treatment organization for children and young people—as well as The Latin Recording Academy's outreach and education programs. The celebration will precede the XIII Annual Latin Grammy Awards, which will take place on November 15.

Ry Cooder’s new album, Election Special, due out on CD and vinyl on August 21, is a wake-up call as the US heads into the fall election season. The album is now available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store in a very special bundle. Show your Election Special pride with an exclusive campaign-style button and bumper sticker; pre-orders also include an instant download of the album's opening track, "Mutt Romney Blues."

British singer/songwriter/guitarist Lianne La Havas' debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, produced by Matt Hales (Aqualung), is due out in the US August 7 on Nonesuch Records and is now available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store; the first 100 pre-orders include an exclusive print signed by La Havas. The album is out now on Warners in the UK and Ireland, earning four-star reviews from Q, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, and the Irish Times, Independent, and Herald. "It’s always been clear that La Havas has a special voice, and so it proves here," says the BBC. "Her vocals are soulful, edged with lounge-bar smoke, but each note is sung with force and precision ... It’s a voice that invites you in, and only the hardest heart will resist the offer."

Rolling Stone has published a mid-year report on the Best Albums of 2012 So Far, and among the year's best are two albums familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Dr. John's Locked Down and Amadou & Mariam's Folila. "We're only halfway through 2012, but we've already heard tons of great new music," says the magazine in posting its list of "40 of the year's best albums so far, as selected by Rolling Stone editors."

The North Sea Jazz Festival takes place this weekend in Rotterdam, Netherlands, featuring a diverse array of artists, including several familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Joshua Redman, James Farm, Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau Trio, Punch Brothers, Lianne La Havas, Fatoumata Diawara, and Oumou Sangare. Redman, in fact, is this year's North Sea Jazz Artist in Residence and as such performs on each festival day with varied musical projects.

The Nonesuch album featuring works by composer Krzysztof Penderecki and those they inspired by composer/guitarist Jonny Greenwood itself stemmed from a concert in Poland last fall that presented the composers' works side by side. Tonight, the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, which performed in the original concert and on the album, performs the works at the Open'er Festival in Gdynia, Poland. The concert will be streaming live at 8 PM CEST (2 PM EDT) at youtube.com/opener.

Steve Reich joins the Bang on a Can All-Stars on their three-city tour of France and the UK this week: at the Cité des congress in Nantes tonight, Cité de la musique in Paris tomorrow, and the London Pleasure Gardens on Friday for the 2012 Bloc Weekend festival. As part of the all-Reich programs, the composer joins in performing Clapping Music. Later this month, he joins the ensemble for its six-hour music marathon at MASS MoCA.