Portuguese singer Mariza, who is currently touring North America with songs from her Nonesuch debut album, Mundo, was the guest on NPR's World Cafe yesterday. She spoke with host David Dye about Mundo and performed two songs from the album, "Rio de Mágoa" and "Saudade Solta," from what Dye calls a "triumphant" concert in Lisbon. Find out what Mariza has to say about her music and hear the performances here.

Conor Oberst performed his new album, Ruminations, in its entirety at NYC's Housing Works Bookstore Cafe last Friday; the performance was webcast live via NPR Music's Facebook page. You can now watch three songs from the set: "Tachycardia," "Gossamer Thin," and "A Little Uncanny." "Ruminations is one of Conor Oberst's most personal records," says NPR Music's Bob Boilen, "a collection of brave, dark songs ... that are unmistakably moving and contain some of Oberst's best lyrics and imagery." NPR Music will soon post the full concert, but these three tracks "establish the sound of the record, spare and lyric-based. These are the sounds of hard moments, elevated through beautiful music and a true poetic touch." Boilen includes "A Little Uncanny" on the latest episode of All Songs Considered. Ruminations is BBC Radio 6 Music's Album of the Day today.

Devendra Banhart spoke with NPR's All Things Considered on Saturday about his songwriting, from his new album, Ape in Pink Marble, all the way back to the first song he wrote and performed for his family at nine years old. "Banhart has made a name for himself as something of a musical sponge, drawing on traditions from blues to salsa to psychedelic folk," says host Lakshmi Singh. "But he'll be the first to tell you that his work is as much about writing, acting and storytelling as it is about the music itself." Hear the conversation here.

Rhiannon Giddens was a guest on NPR's Mountain Stage, returning to the show to perform from the Augusta Heritage Festival in Elkins, WV, earlier this year. "T Bone Burnett mentions her with some very serious company—Nina Simone, Odetta, and others—and I think that she deserves that mention," says Mountain Stage host Larry Groce. "She's at home with many different kinds of music: traditional, non-traditional, blues, jazz, whatever she wants to sing." You can hear why here.

Steve Reich turned 80 years old last week, an occasion that is being celebrated in concerts across the globe. NPR marked the milestone with a feature on Weekend Edition Sunday yesterday, in which Anastasia Tsioulcas spoke with the composer and examines works that span his career. "When he began, Reich was an outsider," Tsioulcas concludes. "Now his work is embraced by temples of high culture around the world." You can hear the piece here.

Conor Oberst will mark the release of his new album, Ruminations, by performing the record in its entirety for an audience of contest winners at NYC's Housing Works Bookstore Cafe on release day, Friday, October 14. NPR Music will webcast the show live on its site and Facebook page as part of the First Listen Live series. Ruminations will be available to stream in full beginning this Friday, September 30, as part of NPR Music's First Listen series. Conor Oberst will be the musical guest on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 24 and begins a tour of intimate solo shows this week.

Lake Street Dive was a guest on NPR's Mountain Stage, performing four songs from its Nonesuch Records debut album, Side Pony—"Godawful Things," "I Don't Care About You," "Side Pony," and "Call Off Your Dogs—and more. "The deal with Lake Street Dive is pretty simple: The band's four members can all flat-out play, sing and write," says the show. "Lake Street Dive is jazz-schooled and DIY-motivated, taking its penchant for Beatles-inspired pop and stretching the boundaries to a sophisticated style of acoustic, groove-driven soul." The band is touring the US and will join Chris Thile for his season-opening show as the new host of A Prairie Home Companion on October 15.

Chris Thile was on NPR's quiz show Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! last weekend. He discussed his new role as host of A Prairie Home Companion, which begins October 15 with special guests Lake Street Dive and Jack White. Thile, a co-founder of the band Nickel Creek, also answers questions about the similarly named band Nickelback in the segment "Not My Job," which host Peter Sagal describes as "the game where people who are geniuses at what they do prove how good they can be doing something else entirely." You can hear how well Thile did here. 

Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Shawn Colvin, and Billy Bragg are among the artists who will perform at the 15th annual Americana Honors & Awards ceremony, taking place at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Wednesday, September 21, 2016. NPR.org will present a live video stream from the ceremony. A live audio simulcast of the Honors & Awards show will also be available via SiriusXM's Outlaw Country. The PBS series Austin City Limits will broadcast a special featuring performance highlights from the event on November 19. Shawn Colvin and Billy Bragg will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards; Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell are up for Duo/Group of the Year, as are Lake Street Dive.

Chris Thile, who will take over for Garrison Keillor as the new host of the beloved public radio program A Prairie Home Companion this fall, has announced a few of the musicians who will join him as the show's house band, along with pianist Rich Dworsky. Among them are two of Thile's fellow Punch Brothers: Chris Eldridge on guitar and Paul Kowert on bass. You can watch Thile give a snapshot of the house band in the video from the show here. Thile will host the new season of A Prairie Home Companion beginning on October 15.

Lake Street Dive was on the Today show this morning, performing "Mistakes" from the band's Nonesuch debut album, Side Pony. You can watch the performance here. Another Side Pony song, "Call Off Your Dogs," was included on Public Radio's Top 10 Songs Of 2016 (So Far). "What a phenomenon Lake Street Dive is," writes World Cafe's David Dye. "It's the cohesion of all four band members that makes Lake Street Dive's newest album, Side Pony, unique." The band resumes its North American tour on August 3.

Allen Toussaint's final recording, American Tunes, released to critical acclaim earlier this month, continues to earn rave reviews. Paste calls it "a beautiful colleciton of tracks that showcase his love of music no matter the genre." NPR's Fresh Air says it's "a fond last look at a composer and pianist who helped refine classic New Orleans pop and rhythm & blues and then brought them into the modern world. We miss him already." You can hear the complete review here.