Singer Julia Bullock, who will release her Nonesuch debut solo album later this year (details to come), is starring in the title role in director Katie Mitchell's production of Handel's Theodora at the Royal Opera House in London, with Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orliński, through February 16. The production—the first of the oratorio at Covent Garden since its 1750 premiere—has earned five stars from the Financial Times, and the Times raves of the "spirited freedom fighter, powerfully depicted with fervent voice and gesture by Julia Bullock.” The Guardian describes the cast as "one of the finest ever assembled for the work," which "means that musically this is breathtaking ... one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear."

Lake Street Dive has announced a new batch of North American spring and summer tour dates. Following its previously announced shows in upstate New York in May, the band will head to Toronto on June 1 and continue through the US East and Midwest, making stops in Pennsylvania, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, and more, including a return to NYC's Radio City Music Hall on September 10. Lake Street Dive has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to supporting the Climate Justice Alliance and their work uniting frontline communities and organizations into a formidable force in the climate movement.

The Black Keys have announced their Dropout Boogie tour, a 32-date North American run beginning July 9 in Las Vegas. This is the band’s first string of shows since touring in support of their 2019 Nonesuch album “Let’s Rock." Band of Horses will support on all dates; Ceramic Animal (July 9–30), Early James (August 24–September 9), and the Velveteers (October 2–18) will open at select performances. The Black Keys are holding an exclusive fan club presale February 1–3. A limited number of VIP packages will also be available. General on-sale begins Friday, February 4.

Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra) has announced a tour of the UK and Europe this summer. The tour, which features songs from their upcoming album, LIFE ON EARTH, starts at Whelan's in Dublin on August 31 and includes shows in Glasgow, Manchester, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, and more. The concerts follow Hurray for the Riff Raff's spring tour of North America. 

Acclaimed singer, songwriter, and musician Molly Tuttle will release her Nonesuch Records debut album, Crooked Tree, April 1 with her new bluegrass collective Golden Highway; vinyl follows May 13. You can watch Tuttle and her band perform the title track live here. Recorded live at Nashville’s Oceanway Studios, Crooked Tree was produced by Tuttle and Jerry Douglas and features collaborations with Sierra Hull, Old Crow Medicine Show, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Dan Tyminski and Gillian Welch. The album explores Tuttle’s love of bluegrass, which she discovered though her father, a music teacher and multi-instrumentalist, and her grandfather, a banjo player. Across these thirteen tracks, all of which were written/co-written by Tuttle, she honors the bluegrass tradition while also pushing the genre in new directions. Tuttle and Golden Highway—Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddle), Dominick Leslie (mandolin), Shelby Means (bass), and Kyle Tuttle (banjo)—launch a US tour tonight.

Tyondai Braxton releases “Multiplay” on Nonesuch Records today. The new track features Braxton on electronics, and was recorded in his home studio in Bearsville, NY. Following last month’s release of “Dia" / "Phonolydian”—Braxton’s first new music in five years—“Multiplay” is the next in a series of new releases to continue through the year. The first performance of a three-show residency entitled Multiplay, at Public Records in Brooklyn, scheduled for January 12, has been postponed until May 4 and will feature a duo set between Braxton and Cibo Matto founder Yuka C. Honda. The other two shows are scheduled to take place as planned.

The members of the original Joshua Redman Quartet—Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade—who reunited to release the album RoundAgain in July 2020, twenty-six years after their album MoodSwing, will reunite once again to tour for six nights in April 2022. The tour begins with two nights in New York City, at Blue Note April 18 and The Town Hall April 19, followed by Symphony Center in Chicago, Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Koerner Hall in Toronto, and Symphony Hall in Boston. "A flawless effort," NPR exclaims of RoundAgain. "Each one of them is at the very top of his game now." 

Lake Street Dive and Rachael & Vilray—who share a singer in Rachael Price—have both announced new 2022 tour dates. Lake Street Dive has added three shows in Georgia and South Carolina in March and three in upstate New York in May, including a concert with the Avett Brothers in Cooperstown. Rachael & Vilray, who close out their residency at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC next Monday and play at the Troubadour in LA on January 16, have added six new shows back on the East Coast in January, in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, DC, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi will perform live with the Nashville Ballet on a five-city, twelve-performance tour of Lucy Negro Redux, a piece conceived, written, and choreographed by Paul Vasterling with music written by Giddens. The piece, based on the book by Caroline Randall Williams, debuted with three sold-out performances in Nashville in 2019. The tour begins with five performances at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, March 18-26, 2022, followed by stops in Denver, Santa Fe, Kansas City, and Norfolk, Virginia.

Molly Tuttle releases “She’ll Change” today on Nonesuch Records. The new track, from her forthcoming Nonesuch debut, is co-written by Tuttle and Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor and is performed by an all-star ensemble of Nashville musicians, including Ron Block, Michael “Mike” Bub, Jason Carter, Dominick Leslie, Tina Adair; the recording also features Jerry Douglas, who co-produced the song with Tuttle. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway—her band of bluegrass virtuosos featuring mandolinist Dominick Leslie, banjoist Kyle Tuttle, fiddle player Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and bassist Shelby Means—will tour the US in 2022.

Vagabon will launch a four-city tour of the US Northeast with a concert at DC9 in Washington, DC, next Wednesday, November 17, followed by shows at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia, Brooklyn Made in NYC, and The Sinclair in Cambridge, all with special guest Angélica Garcia.

LIFE ON EARTH, the Nonesuch debut of Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra), due February 18, is a departure for the Bronx-born, New Orleans-based singer/songwriter. Its eleven new "nature punk" tracks on the theme of survival are music for a world in flux—songs about thriving, not just surviving, while disaster is happening. The album was recorded during the pandemic with producer Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver, Kevin Morby). While making it, Segarra drew inspiration from The Clash, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Bad Bunny, and the author of Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown. "A major step forward for one of today's most vital artists," exclaims Uncut. "The first great album of 2022." Pre-order to download the track "RHODODENDRON" now—you can watch the video here—and get a limited-edition print autographed by Segarra, while they last. Hurray for the Riff Raff tours North America this spring; international dates coming soon.