The 75th Ojai Music Festival takes place this week, September 16–19, with events led by 2021 Music Director John Adams, the Ojai debuts of Rhiannon Giddens and Attacca Quartet, and the return of Timo Andres all streaming for free live from the Libbey Bowl in Ojai, California.

Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor—two-thirds of the Staves—shared some records that have influenced their music and have been part of their lives with Rough Trade NYC's Transmissions series on Instagram, including favorites by The Beatles, Kate Bush, CSNY and others. You can see what they've picked and what they had to say about them below.

Spike Lee's film of David Byrne's American Utopia on Broadway, now streaming on HBO Max, is the subject of today's NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, which you can hear here. “Spoiler alert: we all love this thing," says Glen Weldon. "This thing is a balm for my withered soul. I think it's the balm for humanity's soul." Soraya Nadia McDonald concurs: "Part of what Spike gets at really well is just the joy that is so absolutely present in this show and that makes it so addictive. Certainly that was the thing after I saw it, I kept listening to the Broadway cast recording on repeat afterward."

Chris Thile presents Music is Life is Music: a masterclass series for people who make (or just love) music this fall. The series includes three Sunday classes: Listening on October 25, Writing on November 1, and Performing on November 8. "Music is Life is Music is a three-part look under the hood of my music-making process," Thile says. "I've been informed by the processes of so many great musicians, and I can’t wait to share all that with fellow music lovers and makers.”

While most of us can't go out to take in great live music, here are some events taking place online to enjoy while staying home this weekend: Sam Amidon performs in concert from Kings Place in London on Saturday; Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, and Yola can be see in the free online Hardly Strictly Bluegrass on Saturday; Joachim Cooder concludes his virtual in-store tour via Electric Fetus Instagram Live tonight; and Rob Mazurek performs Friday–Sunday from Marfa for his art show in Florence, Italy.

Joachim Cooder, whose Nonesuch debut album, Over That Road I'm Bound, is out this Friday, will perform a series of virtual in-store performances via Instagram Live of several US independent record stores this week. The sets begin on the Instagram of Music Millennium Records in Portland, OR, tonight, followed by Salzer's Records in Ventura, Grimey's in Nashville, Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo, and Electric Fetus in Minneapolis on release day. Details here.

Devendra Banhart will perform four ticketed, live-streaming concerts on Wednesdays this September, from four locations across Los Angeles, in a series titled OLA: Devendra Banhart plays songs in the order they were written. Banhart hand-picked the locations for their cultural, historical, and emotional significance: the Mountain, Bob Baker Marionette Theater, The Broad, and the Underground Museum. The concerts explore—in chronological order—songs from his catalog of ten albums. Moses Berkson directs the series; each show will feature one of Banhart’s frequent musical collaborators—including Noah Georgeson, Josiah Steinbrick, Gregory Rogove and Todd Dahlhoff—on a selection of songs.

Vagabon (aka Laetitia Tamko) is the guest on the new episode of the Broken Record podcast. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, she met up with host Justin Richmond and producer Leah Rose to share musical memories of her childhood in Cameroon and her teenage years in New York, discuss her new album, and perform a couple of songs live. You can hear the episode here.

Lianne La Havas is the guest on the latest episode of the podcast The Pitchfork Review. She spoke with Pitchfork editor Puja Patel from home in London as part of Pitchfork’s Listening Club last week about La Havas's new, self-titled album, which Patel calls a "beautiful, genre-breaking record about love, heartbreak, and independence." You can hear their conversation in the podcast here.

John Adams's 2007 piece Doctor Atomic Symphony was given a live score reading with conductor David Robertson and other members of the Juilliard faculty and musicians, hosted by Adams's publisher, Boosey & Hawkes. The participants commented in real time as pages from the score went by, set to a 2018 live concert recording of the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by the composer himself. You can watch it here. Nonesuch released the premiere recording of Doctor Atomic Symphony in 2009, performed by Robertson and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

The members of Mountain Man met up quasi-virtually—with Amelia Meath and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig together in one sun-soaked location and Molly Sarlé joining from another—for a wide-ranging Instagram Live chat in celebration of the release of their new live album, Look at Me Don't Look at Me. You can watch the conversation here.

The Staves got together to perform some songs from the kitchen for an Instagram Live session on Sunday—from an early song, "Icarus," to their latest, "Nazareth," released last week, as well as "Make It Holy," from their 2015 debut album, If I Was, and more. You can watch it again here.