Randy Newman brings the music of his latest Nonesuch release, Harps and Angels, to the WNYC studios to perform live on The Leonard Lopate Show today. He discusses the pros and cons of political commentary on NPR's All Things Considered and on the latest videos at nonesuch.com/media. The New Statesman suggests that Randy's unique brand of storytelling has never been better realized than on Harps and Angels; Bloomberg says it "contains some of the most literate lyrics likely to be penned in 2008" and "some of Newman's most heartfelt ballads"; the San Diego Union-Tribune calls the album "a masterful collection of songs" with "exquisite lyrics set to the most sophisticated music he has yet written" outside a film score.

All this week, to celebrate the release of Randy Newman's Harps and Angels, Nonesuch.com is presenting new videos with interviews and performances by Randy featuring songs from the new record. Today at nonesuch.com/media, Randy discusses the unforgettable, inspirational story behind "Losing You," which BBC calls "two minutes and 16 seconds of wonder: a perfect gem shining in the darkness," followed by a solo performance at the piano.

On Friday, Nonesuch.com featured a video of Randy performing "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country," from his latest release, Harps and Angels, out this week. To mark the album's release, all this week we'll be adding new videos of interviews with Randy in which he talks about that and other songs on the album, as well as more videos of Randy at the piano performing some of those songs. Today at nonesuch.com/media, you'll find a video of Randy discussing and playing "Potholes," which he calls "the most absolutely honest song I've ever written."

The Los Angeles Times called "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country" "so funny it hurt," and Rolling Stone named it among the Best Singles of 2007. It's now featured on Harps and Angels, Randy's latest Nonesuch release. You can watch a video performance of the song from last year on the Nonesuch Media page, and check back next week for all-new video features celebrating the release of the new album.

During their UK tour earlier this month, Punch Brothers recorded a few performances for The Daily Telegraph's online Telegraph TV during a sound check for their London show. You can now watch the group perform the first movement (part 2) of The Blind Leaving the Blind and "It'll Happen" from their Nonesuch debut, Punch, as well as an interview with the Telegraph's Iain Gray.

During the last leg of their US tour, The Magnetic Fields played several nights at The Town Hall in New York. While there, Stephin Merritt invited the folks at Other Music backstage to discuss the new record and tape a few solo performances—just him and his bouzouki—of “The Nun’s Litany,” from the new album, and “This Little Ukulele,” from his soundtrack for the 2000 film Eban & Charley. You can watch the videos now ...

In this final episode of the five-part video series on Emmylou Harris's new record, All I Intended to Be, due out on Tuesday, Emmylou reflects on her long relationship with the Seldom Scene's John Starling, Mike Auldridge, and Tom Gray, who join her again on three of the new album's tracks: Merle Haggard's "Kern River," J. C. Crowley and Jack Wesley Routh's  "Beyond the Great Divide," and Billy Joe Shaver's "Old Five and Dimers Like Me," the lyrics of which inspired the album's title.

In this fourth of five episodes in the video interview series on the forthcoming album All I Intended to Be, Emmylou Harris talks about her self-penned tune "Gold," and the joys of having Dolly Parton sing  harmony vocals on it. "I really believe she has an extra thing," marvels Emmylou, "like an Earl Scruggs tuner on her vocal cords, that allows her to do five notes in one beat." Check in tomorrow for the final episode, on being reunited with old friends for the new record.

In episode three of the Emmylou Harris video interview, Emmylou discusses her working relationship with friends Kate and Anna McGarrigle. The three co-wrote a number of songs on her last Nonesuch release, Stumble Into Grace, and came together again to write and perform two songs on the new album, All I Intended to Be: "How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower" and "Sailing Round the Room." "I always love working with Kate and Anna McGarrigle," says Emmylou of the partnership. "It's like a songwriting camp." Check in tomorrow for episode four, "Gold," on harmonizing with Dolly Parton.

In this second of five episodes from the Nonesuch Journal's video interview with Emmylou Harris about the making of her new album, All I Intended to Be, Emmylou talks about the album's centerpiece, Tracy Chapman's "All That You Have Is Your Soul." She recalls the first time she heard the tune, off Chapman's second record, 1989's Crossroads, saying: "I was just stunned by it." Check in tomorrow for episode three, "Sailing Round the Room," on working with Kate and Anna McGarrigle.

Today, the Nonesuch Journal launches a week-long series of video interviews with Emmylou Harris, leading up to next week's release of her third solo record on Nonesuch, All I Intended to Be. Over the course of these five episodes, the singer/songwriter discusses the making of the new album and her relationship to its songs. In this initial episode, Emmylou shares the story behind the disc's opening track, "Shores of White Sand," the song that first inspired her to record the new album. Here Emmylou explains the inextricable link between her own version and the original.

Earlier this year, Steve Reich joined Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore for a discussion of the composer's career at the annual South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Pitchfork Media's new video site, pitchfork.tv, recorded the event back in March and has now posted it as a two-part special presentation you can watch here. Moore opens the interview by claiming the pioneering minimalist composer as one of his own, declaring: "Whether he knows it or not, he's kind of a rock 'n' roller." Moore says that the 1971 piece Drumming was his introduction to Reich's music.