Devendra Banhart and longtime friend, musical collaborator, and fellow singer-songwriter Andy Cabic (Vetiver) kick off a tour of California at the Berkeley Art Museum Friday, performing both individually and together in a casual mix of older and newer material. The tour continues with stops in Sonoma, Grass Valley, Chico, Felton, and Big Sur. Banhart is featured on the new collection Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell to benefit the Red Hot Organization's fight against AIDS.

The New Yorker Festival features talks with Randy Newman, Jeremy Denk, Laurie Anderson, Stephen Sondheim ... Anderson and Kronos Quartet perform Landfall in Ohio ... Sam Amidon kicks off Lily-O tour in Seattle ... Carolina Chocolate Drops, Sara Watkins play LA Bluegrass Situation ... Richard Goode performs at Duke ... Jonny Greenwood joins LCO in Manchester to play his film scores, Reich's Electric Counterpoint; Reich joins Colin Currie Group in London ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica tour the Baltics with Martha Argerich ... Pat Metheny tours Japan ... Conor Oberst is in Mexico ... Robert Plant gives a TimesTalk ... Joshua Redman is in Seattle ...  Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer bring their bass & mandolin to NYC and Boston ... Rokia Traoré talks at Barbican's Observer Ideas Festival ...

Robert Plant was the guest on The Colbert Report last night. He joined his host for a conversation about his new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, his endless musical quest, and more. Plant and his band, The Sensational Space Shifters, then gave an on-air performance of the new album's first single, "Rainbow," plus a web-exclusive take on "Little Maggie." You can watch the interview and performances here. Plant and the band closed out their North American tour with a late-night show at Brooklyn Bowl last night. Following their recent tour stop in LA, the LA Times concludes: "The singer and his Shape Shifters succeeded in fusing an untouchable legacy with a passion for experimentation."

Sam Amidon's new album of reimagined folk songs, Lily-O, was released last week to critical acclaim. Now, the New York Times' Nate Chinen adds his praise, calling it "hauntingly beautiful." He cites the take on Rosa Lee Watson's "Your Lone Journey" as the song that "brings out the album’s most moving performance. Mr. Amidon sings in a muted voice, trusting the lyrics to make their own impression. The song arrives near the album’s close, so its heavenward glance doubles as a seamless transition." Amidon kicks off a fall tour of US and Europe this Saturday, October 11. 

Kronos Quartet has been named Artists-in-Residence at the 2015 Big Ears Festival, which will be held in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, March 27–29, 2015. Throughout the festival weekend, Kronos will weave an array of performances, presenting classic contemporary works and a multi-faceted array of musical collaborations with other festival artists. A limited number of specially priced Big Ears weekend passes go on sale tomorrow, October 8. The initial Big Ears Festival 2015 lineup will be unveiled on Tuesday, November 4, with passes going on sale November 7.

Some 800 lucky fans will have the chance to see Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters in one of their most intimate gigs to date. This Thursday, October 9, 2014, they will play a late-night set at the Brooklyn Bowl. Heading straight to the venue after an appearance on The Colbert Report that night, they will take the stage just after midnight. The special event will feature a DJ set from Questlove to start off the night. Tickets will go on sale this Tuesday, October 7, at 3pm ET.

John Adams will lead the Yale Philharmonia in a concert at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City on Sunday, October 19. The program opens with Stravinsky’s Orpheus, followed by Adams’s Beethoven-inspired piece Absolute Jest (also featuring the Brentano String Quartet in its debut year as Yale’s quartet-in-residence), and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major. The artists will also perform the program at Yale University's Woolsey Hall on Friday, October 17. 

Conor Oberst, Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris play free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park ... Devendra Banhart art exhibit opens in LA ... Bombino concludes tour in Spain ... Jeremy Denk joins Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for Beethoven ... Kronos Quartet premieres new piece at Stanford ... Brad Mehldau, Mark Guiliana take Mehliana to Kennedy Center ... Pat Metheny Unity Group kicks of Asia tour in Seoul ... Robert Plant plays Denver ... Joshua Redman Trio has trio of shows at SFJAZZ Center ... Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer tour South ... 

Pat Metheny Unity Group launches a tour of Asia at the Sejong Center in Seoul on Sunday. The band then heads to Japan for a three-night run at Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo and stops in Osaka, Nagoya, and Kobe, and to China for a headline set at the JZ Music Festival in Shanghai. The Unity Group then begins a four-city tour of Australia, with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Canberra, culminating at the Sydney Opera House. From there, it’s up to Singapore for a show at the Esplanade Concert Hall. The band kicks off the next leg of its North American tour in November.

Robert Plant and his band The Sensational Space Shifters gave the culminating concert of the Nonesuch Records at BAM series celebrating the label's 50th anniversary, performing songs from his new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, and several Led Zeppelin favorites. "Robert Plant was just brilliant Sunday night in Brooklyn," says NPR's Bob Boilen, who hosted NPR's live video stream of the event. "Plant and his Sensational Space Shifters played a stunning set of music that did what Robert Plant does best: mixing up American blues, British rock, North African rhythms and even some electronica with that voice, still filled with passion after all these years." Watch it again for a limited time here.

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's musical Here Lies Love, currently playing at NYC's Public Theater, opens in previews in London on Tuesday, September 30. The National Theatre is producing the musical, which will be the first production in its Dorfman Theatre. The official Opening Night is October 14. "I’ll be there, on the floor, for most of the rehearsals and previews," says David Byrne. "Probably singing along (to myself—though sometimes I get carried away). I suspect Norm [Cook (Fatboy Slim)] will be there sometimes, as well."

Nonesuch Records’ 50th anniversary festivities at BAM in Brooklyn conclude with performances from Laurie Anderson, Kronos Quartet, Robert Plant, Olivia Chaney, Caetano Veloso ... Björk's Biophilia Live film opens in NYC ... The Black Keys play two nights in Chicago ... Bombino tours Benelux ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Wisconsin ... Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle are in upstate NY ... Iron and Wine is in Ithaca ... Conor Oberst performs at two Knitting Factories out West ... Rokia Traoré is in LA ... Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer tour Texas ... and more ...