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.

Robert Plant has confirmed that he will join Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, The Milk Carton Kids, and more for select dates on the previously announced Lampedusa: Concerts for Refugees tour, October 12–21, 2016. Lampedusa is an eleven-stop concert tour intended to raise awareness of the unprecedented worldwide refugee crisis. Funds raised by Lampedusa will support educational programs for refugees around the world.

Devendra Banhart, whose new album, Ape in Pink Marble, was released on Nonesuch Records on Friday, has unveiled the official music video for the album track "Saturday Night." The video was directed by Jon Beasley and Isabelle Albuquerque of Osk Studio. Banhart says: "I'm so excited and honored to have had Osk Studio make this music video for 'Saturday Night.'" Watch it here.

Devendra Banhart's new album, Ape in Pink Marble is out now. The album, Banhart's ninth, was written, produced, arranged, and recorded in Los Angeles by the singer / songwriter / guitarist with his longtime collaborators Noah Georgeson and Josiah Steinbrick, both of whom also worked on Banhart's most recent album, Mala (2013). Q and the Times of London give the album four stars; Uncut calls it "excellent." Banhart will mark the release of the album with sold-out shows at Rough Trade in Brooklyn tonight and at Club Bahia in LA this Tuesday, September 27.

The four-LP, vinyl-only, limited-edition The Randy Newman Songbook box set is out now. The Songbook series—solo recordings of songs from throughout Randy Newman's five-decade career—previously included two volumes on CD; the box set marks their first vinyl release. Sixteen additional songs from a newly released third volume, along with five bonus tracks, join those first two volumes in a new, thematic sequencing, to create a complete Songbook box set. The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 3 is also available as a stand-alone CD and digital album produced by Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker.

Emmylou Harris's Grammy-winning album Red Dirt Girl is now available on vinyl for the first time, from Nonesuch Records. The vinyl edition features the legendary singer's Nonesuch debut release on two 140-gram LPs and includes a digital download of the complete album. Harris, dubbed "the most captivating female artist ever in country music" by the Los Angeles Times, offers her first set of self-penned material on the album. "In songs about lonely journeys and lost companions," said the New York Times, "Ms. Harris has found herself."

Kronos Quartet's acclaimed 1992 album Pieces of Africa is now available on vinyl for the first time, from Nonesuch Records. The vinyl edition features the album on two 140-gram LPs. This "potent new brew of folk influences, Minimalism, and European forms by eight black, brown, and white African composers," as Time described it, became a cross-cultural and commercial landmark: the first album to top both the classical and world music Billboard charts.

The Best of the Gipsy Kings is now available on vinyl for the first time, from Nonesuch Records. The vinyl edition features this popular collection from 1995 on two 140-gram LPs. The initial success of this 18-track compilation, chronicling the first seven years of the group's Nonesuch career, illustrated just how popular the Gipsy Kings had become: It held the top spot on the World Music charts for a full year.

Kronos Quartet, Rhiannon Giddens join forces in Austin … Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass collaborate in California … The Arcs play Pilgrimage Music Festival in Tennessee … Devendra Banhart gives album release show in Brooklyn … Jeremy Denk continues UK tour … Lianne La Havas is in California … Lake Street Dive tours Midwest … Pat Metheny plays home state of Missouri … Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau launch tour in Midwest … Caetano Veloso, Teresa Cristina perform in Rio … and more …

John Adams's Scheherazade.2 is out next Friday, September 30. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full as an NPR First Listen. "His cinematic music goes a long way in unfolding a potent drama, masterfully illuminated by conductor David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony," says NPR. Violinist Leila Josefowicz "gives a searing performance ... The fierceness and vulnerability [she] expresses contributes to an award-caliber performance." Scheherazade.2 "sets a whole new standard for narrative and theatrical vibrancy," exclaims the San Francisco Chronicle. Hear it here.

Congratulations to Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, who took home the Duo/Group of the Year Award for their album The Traveling Kind at the Americana Music Association Honors & Awards ceremony last night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. They also performed the album track "Bring It on Home to Memphis." Other winners include Sara Watkins, Instrumentalist of the Year, and Shawn Colvin, who received the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award. The PBS series Austin City Limits will broadcast a special featuring performance highlights from the event on November 19.

Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau embark on a two-month world tour in support of their new album, Nearness. The duo tour starts in the US this week, making stops in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, NYC, and LA, before a four-night run at SFJAZZ with an orchestra performing Mehldau's album Highway Rider. The international leg of the duo tour begins in Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai, then heads to Australia for shows in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and to Europe for dates in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, and the UK.