Bombino has performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, the 300th episode in the series of intimate sets at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen, featuring three songs from his Nonesuch debut album, Nomad. Boilen praises his "fierce, hypnotic guitar playing" and "amazing jams." Watch the performance here. Bombino, currently touring Europe, will launch the next leg of his US tour in November.

Stephen Sondheim, who was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal in August, discussed the award and much more on PBS NewsHour last night. While at The MacDowell Colony to receive the award last month, the composer spoke with Jeffrey Brown, NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about the honor and the danger of resting on one's laurels. Writer Frank Rich, who was the chairman of the medal selection committee, tells the show: "I'd argue that he single-handedly has kept the musical theater in a serious place." Watch the PBS NewsHour feature here.

Bombino, who is currently touring Europe, has performed an intimate, acoustic version of the song "Amidinine," off his Nonesuch debut album, Nomad, for the Guardian's How I wrote ... series. He discusses the song, the title of which translates to "My Friend," and is joined by his band mate Ibrahim Atchinguil Emoud on djembe to perform it. Watch it here. Bombino has been nominated for a MOBO Award in the "Best African Act" category; voting is open to the public.

Iron and Wine, who returns to the road this fall touring North America, stopped by SiriusXM's Outlaw Country while on tour earlier this year to perform three songs from the Nonesuch debut album, Ghost on Ghost—"Grace for Saints and Ramblers," "The Desert Babbler," and "Grass Widows"—plus the song "Lean Into the Light." Watch all four performances here. The fall tour from singer-songwriter Sam Beam and a 12-piece band kicks off at First Avenue in Minneapolis on September 18 and includes stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, and more.

Mandolinist Chris Thile is the subject of a Wall Street Journal feature profile examining his new solo album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, and exploring his interest in transcending the boundaries of musical genres and his ability to do so. "My thesis statement would be—Bach didn't write Baroque music," Thile says. "He wrote great music." In two companion videos to the article, which you can watch here, Thile further makes that case and demonstrates why it is true.

Fatoumata Diawara, whose North American summer tour comes to a close in British Columbia this weekend, is the subject of a captivating feature profile on CNN's African Voices program. Diawara spoke with CNN for an in-depth discussion of her life, from her early days in Mali to an acting career that led to world travel and her career in music, as heard on her critically acclaimed debut album, Fatou, and her recent efforts in support of peace in Mali. You can watch the profile here.

Kronos Quartet helped close out the opening day of the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on Friday night with a flourish: first performing with The National (pictured here with Bob Weir, who joined for a song), then returning to the stage for the closing act, Sir Paul McCartney, for his encore, a performance of "Yesterday." Rolling Stone reports the performance "moved virtually every single person in the field, including security guards and food vendors." Watch it here.

Carolina Chocolate Drops' North American tour finds them in their homestate of North Carolina for a performance in Asheville on Thursday, before heading to Canada for the Edmonton and Regina folk festivals. On an earlier tour, the band performed at the famed Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. You can watch their Opry performance of the title track to their latest album, Leaving Eden, here.

Lianne La Havas, who is in the midst of a week-long North American tour, has premiered a new video for her song "Don't Wake Me Up," the opening track off her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, in an exclusive for Hunger magazine, which cites "her incredible talent" to say: "We’re definitely fans." Watch the video here. Following a show in Montreal and an Osheaga Festival set this week, La Havas closes out her North American tour at Lollapalooza in Chicago on Sunday.

Bombino's US tour brought him back to Brooklyn last night for an ebullient show at Brooklyn Bowl for what the New York Times calls a "full and overjoyed" crowd. As part of the tour, which heads next to California, Bombino played at the famed Newport Folk Festival this past Sunday. NPR Music was there to capture the weekend's highlights, including his set. "There's a hypnotic kick to his music that transcends barriers of language and geography," says NPR. Watch the Newport performance of the song "Kammou Taliat" here.

Lianne La Havas kicked off a North American summer tour this past weekend with sets at Baltimore’s Soundstage and New York's SummerStage in Central Park. She also stopped by CBS This Morning: Saturday to perform two songs off her album, Is Your Love Big Enough?: "Age" and "Lost & Found." "This is a record I can't stop listening to," says CBS's Anthony Mason. "She brings a rich array of influences to her music and an expressive voice that's drawn a big following on iTunes." Watch the performances here. The tour continues with stops in Northampton, Montreal, and Chicago.

Audra McDonald was featured on PBS Newshour last night, speaking with the show's Art Beat correspondent Jeffrey Brown about her new album, Go Back Home. McDonald, whom Brown describes as "a leading lady of musical theater and much more," discusses her connection to the songs on the album, her most personal yet, and the sense of home she found in the theater at an early age. You can watch the complete Newshour piece here.