Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion have released the title track to their forthcoming album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, due June 25, as well as a video for the track made by Shaw, which you can watch here. Shaw says of the track, a duet with Sō's Josh Quillen: "Josh is an amazing steel pan player. I wrote out these odd little chords and said, ‘Here’s essentially a kind of verse and a kind of chorus. Otherwise, we’re loose. Here’s the harmonic progression.’ An hour before, I went into a free writing zone, very much inspired by James Joyce."

After a year’s hiatus, Kronos Performing Arts Association’s Kronos Festival returns June 11–18, expanding the annual San Francisco–based event into the virtual sphere with free online presentations: world premieres; many of Kronos’ signature works, including music by Clint Mansell, George Crumb, Frank Zappa, Terry Riley, and Vladimir Martynov; and pieces commissioned for Kronos’ Fifty for the Future project. The festival also features an all-ages program and a series of short films. Kronos will also headline composer Ellen Reid’s Soundwalk, a self-guided, GPS-enabled public art work, in Golden Gate Park.

k.d. lang has released “If I Were You (Main Mix),” a track from her forthcoming album, makeover, and a video for it, which can be seen below. The 1995 remix was produced by Junior Vasquez, and the remix video was edited by Dean Kensler from Kevin Kerslake’s original “If I Were You” music video.

Rhiannon Giddens is a guest on Kyle Meredith With..., an interview series hosted by WFPK’s Kyle Meredith for Consequence. "One of the all time greats," Meredith says of his guest. They discuss her new album with Francesco Turrisi, They're Calling Me Home, which Meredith calls "powerful and beautiful." You can watch their conversation here.

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi have released a new video for their rendition of the traditional American folk song “O Death,” from their new album, They're Calling Me Home. The video features illustrated vignettes of a story about death painted by Maeve Clancy, an Irish crankie roll artist. Giddens explains, “Crankies are a pre-electricity technology that pair a visual narrative, usually painted on a long piece of paper or cloth, 'cranked' by hand to the timing of the song.” You can watch it here.

The Black Keys have released "Going Down South," the second single from their forthcoming tenth album, Delta Kream. The album celebrates the band’s roots and features eleven Mississippi hill country blues songs by R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, among others. Auerbach says of the song: “That was one of R. L. Burnside’s hits! We strayed a little from the original on our version with the falsetto and percussion, but we liked how it sounded in that moment. It’s become one of my favorites on the album.” You can watch the video, directed by Ryan Nadzam and filmed at Jimmy Duck Holmes’ Blue Front Café, the oldest active juke joint in America, here. The band will perform on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and BBC Two's Later... with Jools Holland on the album's release day, May 14. 

In honor of National Teacher Appreciation Day this Tuesday, May 4, the children at Irving Park Elementary School in Greensboro, NC, chose to thank their teachers with a special performance of Natalie Merchant's "Kind and Generous" you can watch here.

The Staves performed three tracks from their new album, Good Woman live from the BBC's Radio Theatre for BBC Radio 6 Music's Shaun Keaveny show. “Like warm buttermilk and honey siphoned into my ear canal," says Keaveny. You can hear the performances here. The band's album-release livestream show from February will be rebroadcast with a special new encore recorded from the sisters' family home in Watford on May 20. "We loved playing this show and wanted to give you all another chance to see it," says the trio, "or watch it for the first time before the real thing comes back later this year (fingers crossed)." 

Lake Street Dive's NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert is out now via NPR Music. Recorded at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, the intimate performance includes four songs from the band's new album, Obviously: "Hypotheticals," "Same Old News," "Anymore," and "Making Do." You can watch it here.

Lake Street Dive, whose new album, Obviously, recently topped the Non-Commercial / Public Radio chart, could be heard in sessions for three such stations this past week. For The Current, 89.3FM out of Minneapolis/St. Paul, the band performed three songs from the new album, and Rachael Price and Akie Bermiss spoke with host Bill DeVille about the album and some tour bus memories. For WYCE in Grand Rapids the band performed two songs, and Mike Calabrese and Mike "McDuck" Olson spoke with WYCE music director Shane German. And for WNRN in Virginia, the band played two songs, and McDuck spoke with host Patrick Coman. You can watch the sessions here.

Sam Amidon was the subject of a profile on PBS NewsHour Weekend. "Amidon has developed a shining reputation for taking something very old and making it sound brand new," says host Hari Sreenivasan. Amidon talks with special correspondent Tom Casciato about his career in music, from his earliest days immersed in the music of his performer parents to his 2020 self-titled album. You can watch their conversation and a new performance of the album track "Maggie" here.

The Black Keys have released a video for "Crawling Kingsnake," the opening track and first single from their just-announced upcoming album, Delta Kream. The video was directed by Tim Hardiman and filmed at Jimmy Duck Holmes’ Blue Front Café, the oldest active juke joint in America. You can watch it here. "We were honored to play alongside Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, who are a direct link to R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough," says Dan Auerbach. "This is the Mississippi hill country sound that Pat and I first bonded over.”