Offa Rex (Olivia Chaney and The Decemberists) was on NPR's World Cafe. Chaney and The Decemberists' Colin Meloy were in the studio to talk with host Talia Schlanger, who calls Offa Rex a "trans-Atlantic musical love story set in harpsichord heaven," and the full band performs four songs from its debut album, The Queen of Hearts, recorded live at the XPoNential Festival. You can hear the interview and the live set here.

Sam Amidon has again teamed with director John Hardwick for a new video for "Warren," a song from his new album, The Following Mountain. Watch it here. Amidon launches an extensive tour in Seattle on Saturday, followed by shows in Portland (OR), San Francisco, LA, Boulder, Chicago, DC, NYC, Portland (ME), and more. The European tour begins in October.

Half-Light, the debut album from Rostam, known for his work in Vampire Weekend, is out now. NPR calls it "stunning ... one of the year's most arresting albums." The New Yorker says it's "a wondrous album, full of coy dreams and quiet yearning." The Daily Beast calls it "a sublime collection of baroque pop ... one of the more extraordinary records of the year." Interview says: "It's joyous and catchy, intimate and spacious, and, like its creator, exists in a musical world all its own." Rolling Stone gives it four stars. Rostam performs at Easy Street Records in Seattle on Monday and at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 27; he will tour Europe in November.

Rhiannon Giddens resumes Freedom Highway tour in Midwest … Timo Andres plays in NYC … Devendra Banhart concludes South American tour in Buenos Aires … Fleet Foxes play Oregon … k.d. lang takes Ingénue tour to Ottawa … Nico Muhly is at the Guggenheim in NYC … Randy Newman tours Northeast … Conor Oberst tours Midwest … Joshua Redman is at Monterey Jazz, SFJAZZ … Chris Thile, Brad Mehldau conclude US duo tour in California … Rokia Traoré performs in Belgium … and more …

Rostam is the guest on the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast. He talks with host Hrishikesh Hirway about "Bike Dream," breaking down the music and lyrics of the track from his debut album, Half-Light, which is out Friday on Nonesuch Records. You can hear what he has to say below, where you can watch the lyric video for "Bike Dream" as well.

Randy Newman begins a fall tour of the United States featuring music from his new album, Dark Matter, at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach tonight. The tour continues in New Jersey, upstate New York, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, before heading West to California, Oregon, and Washington. Newman has two sold-out shows at the Chicago Theatre in mid-October, then heads South to the Carolinas, Atlanta, and Florida, and will play in Austin in December.

Mandolinist/singer Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau begin a five-city US tour, performing songs from their 2017 debut duo album, Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau, at The Town Hall in New York City tonight. The duo is at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center in Brookfield, Wisconsin, on Thursday, then heads to California this weekend for concerts at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles and Miner Auditorium at SFJAZZ, and a closing-night set at the Monterey Jazz Festival on Sunday.

The full line-up for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has been announced, and, as is often the case, featured among the performers are a number of artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal, including Emmylou Harris, Randy Newman, Conor Oberst, and Dan Auerbach. The free, annual outdoor music festival returns for the seventeenth year to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and will take place October 6–8, 2017.

The Magnetic Fields conclude UK 50 Song Memoir tour … Devendra Banhart is in Brazil … Lake Street Dive concludes summer tour in Florida … k.d. lang continues Canadian Ingénue Redux Tour in the Maritimes … Conor Oberst brings Salutations to the Midwest … and more …

Rostam gives a quick look inside the vinyl package of his debut album, Half-Light, out next week, in a new video here. The vinyl includes the album on two discs and a fold-out poster with the album art on one side and handwritten lyrics on the other. Nonesuch Store pre-orders also come with an additional, limited-edition, autographed print and instant-downloads of six album tracks, including the just-released title track.

Rostam has shared the title track to his debut album, Half-Light, due September 15 on Nonesuch. You can watch a lyric video for the new track here. The track is available to download now with pre-orders of Half-Light, along with five previously released album tracks. Rostam will mark the album's release with events at Amoeba Hollywood and Seattle's Easy Street Records, and in concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Offa Rex (Olivia Chaney and The Decemberists) was featured on PBS NewsHour. Chaney and The Decemberists' Colin Meloy discuss the origins of the songs on the group's debut album, The Queen of Hearts, and the different perspectives the artists brought to them. "I think that was the beauty of the project," says Chaney; "we came from different cultures and different relationships to the history of the music." You can watch the interview and an excerpt from Offa Rex's performance of "The Old Churchyard" at the Newport Folk Festival here.