Sam Amidon was the guest on WBEZ's Morning Shift in Chicago this morning. He discussed and performed songs from his album Lily-O, and more. "When it comes to his interpretations of classic American music," says host Tony Sarabia, "Amidon has walked that tightrope between admiration and exploration—and he hasn’t fallen off yet." Hear the set here. Amidon kicked off a four-night run of shows with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline in Des Moines last night. The tour continues at SPACE in Evanston tonight, followed by shows in Milwaukee and Minneapolis this weekend. In December, Amidon will supporting the band San Fermin on several shows in North America.

Rhiannon Giddens kicks off the next leg of her tour at the Silver Creek Event Center in New Buffalo, Michigan, this Friday, followed by stops in Canada and throughout the US Northeast in the weeks ahead. Before hitting the road, she sat down with Kyle Meredith of WFPK radio in Louisville, Kentucky. The two discussed her solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, her work as a founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops, and more. You can watch the interview here.

The Arcs will perform on BBC Two's Later… With Jools Holland live show tonight at 10 PM. Fans in the UK can tune in then to see the band perform "Outta My Mind" from Yours, Dreamily, their recently released debut album. Then, tune in to BBC Two again this Friday night for the full, one-hour episode of Later to see that and "Pistol Made of Bones" and "Put a Flower in Your Pocket." The Arcs kick off their first tour in Cologne, Germany, this Thursday, followed by stops in Berlin, Zurich, Brussels, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Milan. The North American leg of the tour begins December 1.

The Brad Mehldau Trio kicks off a 10-day tour of North America with a free show at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center in New Orleans tonight, followed by stops in San Antonio, Mexico City, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland. From there, the Trio heads to Europe for a three-week tour, stopping in several cities in the Netherlands—Groningen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Maastricht, and Utrecht—and in Germany, France, Hungary, Romania, and Italy.

Lianne La Havas, who recently closed out a month-long North American tour with a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, has just unveiled the official music video for the song she played for the show: "Green & Gold," from her new album, Blood. Watch the video here. La Havas is back in the UK, where she is up for two of the major awards at this week’s MOBO Awards. It was just announced that she will play an Albert Sessions show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on March 14.

Paul Thomas Anderson's film Junun, which documents the recording of Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express's forthcoming album of the same name, received its world premiere at Lincoln Center as part of the New York Film Festival on October 8. After the screening, Anderson joined festival director Kent Jones for a brief discussion of the film. Their conversation opens a recent episode of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's podcast, The Close-Up, which calls Junun "pure magic." Hear the podcast here.

The original Buena Vista Social Club album, produced by Ry Cooder and released in 1997, became a worldwide cultural phenomenon and helped to introduce Cuba’s rich musical heritage and pre-revolutionary past to the world. Now, almost two decades later, World Circuit Records reissues the album on vinyl as a double-LP, out now, distributed in North America by Nonesuch Records. For this vinyl reissue, the studio recordings have been cut from the original analogue half-inch tapes and mastered by Bernie Grundman (engineer of the original release), and pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl.

Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour kicks off a rare, two-week tour of North America, starting at Terminal 5 in New York City this Sunday night. The tour then heads west for shows in Boulder, Mesa, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Seattle, and Vancouver, before returning east for stops in Montreal, Toronto, Ann Arbor, and Columbus. 

Natalie Merchant was a guest on the Today show this morning, performing "Jealousy" and "Wonder" from her forthcoming album, Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings. The album, due out next Friday, November 6, features new recordings of the beloved songs of her multi-platinum solo debut album, Tigerlily, as they have evolved over two decades of live performance. Watch the performances here. The documentary film that accompanies the album is being screened at theaters across the US, including Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, NY, where Merchant answers questions tonight.

Chris Thile kicks off a US solo tour at Murray State University, the university he attended, in Kentucky tonight, followed by stops in Kalamazoo, Birmingham, Iowa City, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Charleston, and many other cities across the country, through November. In December, he joins his fellow Punch Brothers to resume their own US tour.

In celebration of Black History Month in February 2016, Rhiannon Giddens will lead a concert with cellist Leyla McCalla and singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman titled Swimming in Dark Waters: Other Voices of the American Experience. The concert will examine the history of protest, subversion, and cultural resistance from musicians of color throughout US history, from the original inhabitants to recent immigrants. Performances are currently scheduled for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series in NYC, Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, MD, and Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC, with more to be announced soon.

Audra McDonald makes her Australian debut with a one-night-only performance at Arts Centre Melbourne's Hamer Hall this Saturday, October 31, followed by three performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House from November 5 to 7. The six-time Tony Award winner has been performing for audiences across the US over the past several months, bringing what the Los Angeles Times calls her "downright inspirational" interpretations of American classics to stages from California to Connecticut.