Singer/songwriter/fiddle player Sara Watkins launches a tour of the UK and Ireland tonight in support of her acclaimed new album Sun Midnight Sun, which was released by Nonesuch Records in May. The two-week, 13-city tour begins in Sheffield, England, tonight and includes a show at London’s Lexington on Wednesday, January 30, as well as a set at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow this Saturday, January 26. 

Nonesuch Records offers everyone best wishes for this long weekend in the US, celebrating both Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of President Barack Obama. And as always, there's lots of great live music being made around the world ... Lianne La Havas and Rokia Traoré perform multiple shows at the Sydney Festival in Australia ... Jeremy Denk joins the Oberlin Orchestra at Carnegie Hall ... Dr. John plays two Florida festivals ... Richard Goode performs Beethoven in Maryland ... Kronos Quartet plays Reich in Ohio ... Natalie Merchant and orchestra perform in Florida ... and more ...

The line-up for the 2013 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, has been announced, and among this year's performers are four artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: The Black Keys, Joshua Redman, and New Orleans legends and hometown heroes Dr. John and Allen Toussaint. Jazz Fest runs across two weekends, April 26–28 and May 2–5. The opening weekend includes sets from the Joshua Redman Quartet, Dr. John, and Toussaint; The Black Keys help close out the entire festival on Sunday, May 5.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell will embark on series of tour dates this March with co-headliner Richard Thompson. The tour is in celebration of Harris and Crowell's new collaborative album, Old Yellow Moon, out February 26, 2013, on Nonesuch Records. Tickets go on sale starting this week. VIP ticket-and-album packages, presented by Bonaparte's Retreat together with Crossroads Campus, include a meet-and-greet with Harris; a digital copy of the album; autographed, handwritten lyrics of "Wrecking Ball"; and an official tour poster.

Cayamo cruises through the Caribbean with Shawn Colvin, Rodney Crowell, and Sara Watkins, who also guests on A Prairie Home Companion ... Jeremy Denk plays Ives in NYC, Bach in Los Alamos ... Fatoumata Diawara performs at Globalfest in NYC ... Einstein on the Beach concludes Amsterdam run ... Emmylou Harris tours the Midwest ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica join Slava's Snow Show in Estonia ... Kronos Quartet opens Napa Valley Opera House classical series ... Rokia Traoré launches Australia tour at Sydney Festival ... and more ...

The Black Keys, who are up for five awards at the 55th annual Grammy Awards, have just announced a series of special dates with The Flaming Lips for this April and May. The bands will perform at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri; CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh; Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood in Atlanta; and Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The Grammy nominations and tour follow a highly successful year for the duo, whose critically acclaimed Nonesuch album, El Camino, was recently certified RIAA Platinum.

Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter have added additional dates to their upcoming tour together, making further stops this April and May across the Pacific Northwest, into Canada, and down to the US Northeast. These longtime friends will share the stage as an intimate duo, performing material spanning their vast catalogs as well as some of their favorite songs. These newly announced dates follow the nine-city first leg of the tour, which begins February 21 in Charlotte, as well as Shawn’s three-night solo residency at the Dakota in Minneapolis and her tour of Australia. 

In 2005, Nonesuch released The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, in which sisters Kate and Anna McGarrigle, their family—including Kate's children, Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright—and honorary family members, like Emmylou Harris, celebrated the holidays in song. That same year saw the start of a holiday tradition of live Christmas shows starring McGarrigles, Wainwrights, and many friends. The music-making continues with Rufus and Martha Wainwright’s Christmas 101, three concerts in Oakland and Los Angeles this week, featuring appearances from Harris, Maria Muldaur, and Van Dyke Parks. Proceeds go to the Kate McGarrigle Fund, which is dedicated to research for a cure for sarcoma, a rare and deadly cancer from which Kate McGarrigle passed away in 2010. 

Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell play the Miracle on Music Row benefit in Nashville for Harris's Bonaparte's Retreat Dog Rescue ... The Black Keys join The Rolling Stones in Newark, telecast and streaming live ... John Adams's El Niño receives Canadian premiere ... Shawn Colvin closes out tour on East Coast ... Jeremy Denk joins San Diego Symphony ... The Barbican celebrates Philip Glass's 75th birthday ... Gidon Kremer joins National Orchestra of Belgium ... Mark Morris's The Hard Nut opens in Berkeley ... Jessica Lea Mayfield, David Mayfield conclude Sibling Rivalry Tour in their home town of Kent, Ohio ... Rokia Traore performs in Poland ... and more ...

London-based singer/songwriter Lianne La Havas returns to North America this spring for 18 headlining shows in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, Chicago, and Nashville. Click here for tour dates; tickets go on sale December 14 unless otherwise noted. She appeared on NPR's World Cafe last Friday and recently performed her take on Jill Scott's "He Loves Me" for Yours Truly. The video for her Is Your Love Big Enough? album track "Lost & Found" has premiered in Centric's Hot 10; watch it here. 

The Black Keys will join The Rolling Stones on stage for the Stones' final “50 and Counting” concert, at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday, December 15. The special “One More Shot” event will be telecast live via pay-per-view and will also be available to stream online. Says Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney: “It’s an honor to be asked to play a tune with one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time.”

The Black Keys kick off the UK leg of their fall European tour ... Carolina Chocolate Drops close out their 2012 tour in Tennessee ... Shawn Colvin heads South ... Richard Goode joins soprano Sarah Shafer in Philadelphia and NYC ... Gidon Kremer tours Germany ... Kronos Quartet plays All Tomorrow’s Parties ... Lianne La Havas closes out European fall tour in the Netherlands ... Jessica Lea Mayfield, David Mayfield take Sibling Rivalry Tour to North Carolina and Nashville ... Natalie Merchant performs in Newark ... Punch Brothers continue their US tour out West ... Sara Watkins closes out her West Coast in the Pacific Northwest ... and more ...