Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer have released a video of their performing "Big Top" from their new album, Bass & Mandolin. You can watch it here. The duo kicked off a North American tour this week in Vancouver. These "two giants of contemporary acoustic music ... managed to showcase exceptional chops while never falling into any of the tedious flash virtuosi so often are taken by," raves the Vancouver Sun. "It's a rare opportunity to be captivated by two such unusual instruments in a pairing. These two are truly special."

Carolina Chocolate Drops close out the summer and kick off the fall touring season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music tonight for the Nonesuch Records at BAM celebration of the label's 50th anniversary. (Rhiannon Giddens also joins label mates Kronos Quartet and others for another concert in the series on Saturday.) The band's US tour includes sets at the FreshGrass Bluegrass Festival in Massachusetts, the LA Bluegrass Situation, and stops in the West, Midwest, and South.

Bassist Edgar Meyer and mandolinist Chris Thile, whose second recording collaboration, Bass & Mandolin, was released last week on Nonesuch Records, kick off a month-long tour of North America with a performance at the Chan Shun Concert Hall in Vancouver tonight, followed by stops across the United States, from Seattle to Los Angeles, Austin to Boston, New York, Chicago, and many more. 

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell performed songs from their 2013 Grammy-winning duo album, Old Yellow Moon, and more under at Lincoln Center Out of Doors for AmericanaFest NYC in August. You can watch the complete concert here. They return to the Americana Music Honors & Awards ceremony in Nasvhille, where they took home two awards last year, this Wednesday; Ry Cooder performs in the house band for the evening. You can watch the entire event streaming live at npr.org. Harris kicks off a fall tour at the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion this Friday, followed by a swing through the Northeast before heading out West in October.

The New Yorker has announced the program for the 2014 New Yorker Festival, taking place October 10–12, in New York City, which includes four artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Randy Newman in conversation with Susan Morrison, Jeremy Denk giving a talk on Comedy and Convention from Mozart to Seinfeld, Laurie Anderson with Alex Ross, and Stephen Sondheim with Adam Gopnik.

Alarm Will Sound performs Adams, Reich, and Dennehy as Youssou N’Dour and Don Byron each play two nights for Nonesuch Records at BAM ... Nonesuch Records on Film continues ... The Black Keys play Detroit, Pittsburgh, Rochester ... Bombino is out West ... Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle are in Cleveland ... Jeremy Denk joins Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven ... Iron and Wine tours US ... Kronos Quartet tours Europe ... Natalie Merchant hits NYC ... Conor Oberst kicks off tour in Salt Lake City ... Joshua Redman is in France ... Caetano Veloso launches Abraçaço US tour in Miami ... and more ...

Natalie Merchant’s kicks off a late-summer and fall tour featuring music from her new, self-title album with a performance at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee tonight, followed by stops Chicago, New York, Boston, Seattle, Kansas City, DC, and more through December. While on tour, Merchant joins fellow Nonesuch artists Kronos Quartet, Rhiannon Giddens, Sam Amidon, and Olivia Chaney for a special set at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House as part of the Nonesuch at BAM celebration of the label's 50th anniversary. 

The Brooklyn Academy of Music's wide-ranging series of concerts and events Nonesuch Records at BAM: Celebrating a Label Without Labels, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Nonesuch Records, kicks off Tuesday night with the first of three consecutive nights of concerts from Philip Glass and Steve Reich plus a separate solo set from Brad Mehldau and continues through September 28. The New York Times says the series "reflects the broad curiosity and high standard of a label that has had notable successes ... with no guiding criteria other than instinct and taste." In conjunction with these events, BAMcinématek presents Nonesuch Records on Film, a salute to the label’s rich catalogue of movie soundtracks.

The Black Keys kick off North American Turn Blue tour in their home state of Ohio ... Laurie Anderson performs at Punkt Festival in Norway ... Bombino tours Northeast US ... Shawn Colvin joins Steve Earle in Minnesota ... Jeremy Denk performs Bach’s Goldberg Variations in France ... Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell's Austin City Limits set re-airs on PBS ... Robert Plant performs on BBC One's The One Show ... Steve Reich's Different Trains receives Singapore premiere ... and more ...

Conor Oberst has unveiled the third video from his new album Upside Down Mountain. You can watch the enigmatic short for "Common Knowledge," a companion piece to the album's first video, "Zigzagging Toward the Light," here. The video's release comes just a few days before he embarks on the second leg of a coast-to-coast US tour, beginning September 14 in Salt Lake City. Oberst will release two previously unheard songs, “Standing on the Outside Looking In” and “Sugar Street” for this year's Black Friday Record Store Day on November 28. 

The Black Keys kick off the North American leg of their Turn Blue world tour with two stops in their home state of Ohio this weekend, with shows in Columbus tonight and Cleveland on Saturday. For the tour, longtime Black Keys creative director Michael Carney has created his first-ever screen printed posters for the band. Special guests during the extensive tour include Cage The Elephant, Jake Bugg, and St. Vincent.

Sam Amidon, whose new album of reimagined folks songs, Lily-O, is due September 30, will tour the US and Europe this fall in support of the new release. Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Shahzad Ismaily, both of whom are on the new album, will join Amidon on select dates. Amidon also performs with Kronos Quartet and other label mates as part of Nonesuch Records at BAM later this month.