Chris Thile and Yo-Yo Ma—who made the 2017 Nonesuch album Bach Trios with Edgar Meyer—kicked off the Atlantic Festival in Washington, DC, this week with an eclectic medley of music from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, "Rabbit in the Log," and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." You can watch it here. Thile hosts the public radio show Live From Here, including with Rachael & Vilray on October 26, and leads his own US tour in the months ahead.

Randy Newman, who previously announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand for early 2020, will bring that tour to Europe next spring. The 23-concert European leg of the tour starts in Stockholm on May 17 and includes shows in Norway, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, Ireland, and France, culminating in Paris on June 23.

Sam Amidon's 7" vinyl record Fatal Flower Garden EP (A Tribute to Harry Smith) is due November 15 on Nonesuch. On the EP, Amidon performs four songs from Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith’s beloved and influential 1920s and ’30s folk music recordings. Amidon and frequent collaborator Shahzad Ismaily play all the instruments; Leo Abrahams engineered, produced, and mixed. You can watch a video for "Spike Driver Blues" and download it now when you pre-order the vinyl here.

Gaby Moreno, whose new album with Van Dyke Parks, ¡Spangled!, is out next week, begins a six-week tour of Europe on Tuesday, with concerts throughout Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Spain. Moreno then returns to the US for a three-week Roots Rising! tour of the West with Liz Vice and Matt Andersen, followed by a concert in New York City and a performance as special guest of Ben Folds and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. You can watch her perform "Weeper's Lullaby" from the latest Live From Here with Chris Thile here.

Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) has announced the launch of a new website for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, its ongoing multi-year commissioning, performance, education, and legacy initiative. The site provides a gateway to discover, explore, and learn contemporary string quartets composed by twenty-five women (including Laurie Anderson and Rhiannon Giddens) and twenty-five men from around the world. The free digital learning library currently contains thirty scores and parts, recordings, and supplemental learning materials. Launched in 2015 with Lead Partner Carnegie Hall, the initial scores have been downloaded more than 14,000 times in eighty-eight countries and territories worldwide.

Kronos Quartet, Sam Amidon perform at FreshGrass Festival at MASS MoCA … The Black Keys headline Life Is Beautiful … John Adams’s new work premieres with San Francisco Symphony … Jeremy Denk gives solo recital in Pennsylvania … Alarm Will Sound performs Donnacha Dennehy's The Hunger in Boston … Rhiannon Giddens tours US South … Brad Mehldau Trio tours Benelux … Mountain Man closes out Magic Ship tour in North Carolina … Robert Plant brings Carry Fire to Outlaw Music, Bourbon & Beyond fests … Chris Thile performs in upstate New York ... Yola tours US Midwest …

The Black Keys return to the stage after a five-year absence with a performance at The Wiltern in Los Angeles for members of their Lonely Boys & Girls Fan Club tonight. The concert kicks off the band's thirty-eight date North American "Let's Rock" tour. Special guests Modest Mouse will provide support, and Shannon & The Clams, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, *repeat repeat, and Jessy Wilson will each open select shows on the tour, too. The band also headlines 2019's Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas this Saturday.

Devendra Banhart talks with Alison Mosshart (The Kills, The Dead Weather) on the latest episode of Talkhouse Podcast. "It's a great record," says the show of Banhart's new album, Ma, "a fantastic record." You can listen to Banhart and Mosshart's conversation about their latest projects, a shared love of skateboarding, and more here. The new Pitchfork review of Ma says: "Banhart steps fully into these songs with a vitality that recalls his beginnings. ... Puckish and tender, Banhart seems again delighted to be here, too."

Rachael & Vilray, whose self-titled debut album is due October 4 on Nonesuch, stopped by New York public radio station WFUV way back in July 2018 to perform live in Studio A. Following last week's release of the album track "Let's Make Love on This Plane" and a video for it as well, we're taking this Throwback Thursday look at their earlier take on the same tune at WFUV. You can watch it below.

Rhiannon Giddens and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi begin a months-long tour with a performance at Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham, AL, on Thursday. The tour, featuring music from their album there is no Other, continues with concerts across North America, including Atlanta, Nashville, DC, Cambridge, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, and more, into November. They then head to the UK and Europe and return to the States in February.

The Guardian has published a number of lists of the Best Culture of the 21st Century (So Far). Several Nonesuch artists and recordings have made the lists, including works by Rokia Traoré, John Adams, Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, and more. Also on the lists are films for which Nonesuch released soundtracks by Jonny Greenwood, Clint Mansell, and more.

Rhiannon Giddens stopped by NPR, joined by multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi and bassist Jason Sypher, to perform a Tiny Desk Concert of songs from her new album, there is no Other, and her previous album, Freedom Highway. You can watch it here. "Despite its weightiness, Rhiannon Giddens' music is entertaining, and her voice, the melodies, and her accompaniment are engaging," says host Bob Boilen. "But it is music infused with lessons and deep purpose—something all too rare in popular music in my opinion."