The Magnetic Fields' 50 Song Memoir, chronicling the 50 years of songwriter Stephin Merritt's life with one song per year, is due March 10, 2017, on Nonesuch. Merritt sings vocals on all 50 songs and plays more than 100 instruments, from ukulele to piano to drum machine to abacus. Unlike his previous work, the lyrics are nonfiction—a mix of autobiography (bedbugs, Buddhism, buggery) and documentary (hippies, Hollywood, hyperacusis). Available in five-LP and five-CD editions including an extensive interview by Daniel Handler and facsimile handwritten lyrics by Merritt, and as a standalone bound book with a full-album download card. Pre-order to download one song from each decade now. For a limited time, Nonesuch Store pre-orders also come with an exclusive autographed print.

Nonesuch Records releases the three-CD box set The Randy Newman Songbook on December 16, 2016, following its recent release on vinyl. Nonesuch's Randy Newman Songbook series—comprising solo recordings of songs from throughout Newman's five-decade career—previously included two volumes, released on CD in 2003 and 2011. Sixteen additional songs from a newly released third volume, along with five bonus tracks ("Feels Like Home," "A Wedding in Cherokee County," "Family Album: Homage to Alfred, Emil and Lionel Newman," "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country," and "I'm Dreaming"), join those first two volumes to create this new complete Songbook box set. Mitchell Froom produced The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1 (which has been remastered for this box set) and was joined on Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 by Newman's lifelong friend and colleague Lenny Waronker. Pre-order to download "Guilty" now.

Nonesuch labelmates mandolinist/singer Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau played a two-night stand at NYC's Bowery Ballroom at the end of 2015 before going into the studio to record Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau, a mix of covers and original songs due January 27, 2017, on two CDs / LPs. The vinyl edition includes a bonus performance of Fiona Apple's "Fast As You Can." Pre-orders include an instant download of the album track "Scarlet Town," written by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. You can watch a live performance of the song here.

Chris Thile, the new host of the public radio show A Prairie Home Companion and duo partner of label mate Brad Mehldau on a just-announced forthcoming album, was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night. He sat in with Jon Batiste & Stay Human throughout the show and was accompanied by them in a performance of "My Oh My," a song from the 2015 Punch Brothers album The Phosphorescent Blues. You can watch that performance here. Also on the show were Eddie Redmayne, Alton Brown, and Bernie Sanders.

Lake Street Dive, currently touring the UK and Ireland before heading to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, has announced a two-month US tour beginning in February 2017. The tour will include stops at the band members' alma mater, The New England Conservatory in Boston, for the school's 150th anniversary; Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with The Baltimore Symphony; The Fox Theatre in Oakland; and at the Ace Hotel in LA. Fan pre-sale begins Wednesday, November 16; general on-sale begins on Friday, November 18.

Conor Oberst, who released his new solo album, Ruminations, on Nonesuch last month, talks with The National's Matt Berninger for The Talkhouse Music Podcast. The two discuss their own songwriting and other songwriters, not least the late, great Leonard Cohen. They "are two of rock’s heaviest-hitting lyricists," writes Talkhouse producer Elia EInhorn. "Turns out, they’re also huge fans of each other’s songs." You can hear the conversation here.

Devendra Banhart will perform songs from his new album, Ape in Pink Marble, on tour in the western United States in early 2017. The concerts begin at The Showbox in Seattle on January 23 and include stops in Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boulder, and Telluride. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 18.

William Kentridge's "superb staging" of Lulu is performed by English National Opera … Jeremy Denk gives recital in Chicago … Rhiannon Giddens plays Highlands Fest in North Carolina … Junun tour concludes in Europe … Kronos Quartet performs Steve Reich in Paris … Lake Street Dive is in UK … Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau round out European tour … Chris Thile hosts A Prairie Home Companion in Philadelphia … Caetano Veloso, Teresa Cristina return to Rio … and more …

Rhiannon Giddens has unveiled a recording of "Freedom Highway," the song written by Pops Staples and recorded by the Staple Singers in 1965, from her forthcoming album, due in early 2017. She is joined on the song by Bhi Bhiman. You can hear it here. "I am a daughter of the South; of the white working class, of the black working class; of the Democrat, and the Republican; of the gay, and the straight; and I can tell you one thing—we are far more alike than we are different," says Giddens. "We cannot let hate divide us; we cannot let ignorance diminish us; we cannot let those whose greed fills their every waking hour take our country from us. They can't take U.S. from US—unless we let them ... Let's walk down Freedom Highway together."

Confessions, a collaboration between the acclaimed American composer Nico Muhly and the Faroese singer/songwriter Teitur, is now available on vinyl on Nonesuch in the US and Canada, following its recent digital and CD release; the vinyl is due worldwide on December 2. The lyrics, inspired by or culled from video and commentary the pair found on YouTube, are simple, matter-of-fact, fragmentary, funny, and strange, yet they attain a dignity paired with the gorgeous and expressive music.

Lake Street Dive plays Iceland Airwaves, begins UK, Ireland tour … John Adams’s Scheherazade.2 performed in Zurich with Leila Josefowicz … Laurie Anderson gives talks in NYC, Miami … Tyondai Braxton concludes tour in The Hague, Glasgow … Jeremy Denk plays upstate New York ... Rhiannon Giddens sings at the Opry at the Ryman … Junun tour launches in London, Turin … Kronos Quartet is in Iceland, Lithuania … Conor Oberst plays Nashville … Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau tour Europe … Steve Reich at 80 is celebrated in London … The Staves play Wisconsin … Rokia Traoré tours Canada … and more …

In the 2016–17 season, the Barbican celebrates milestone birthdays of composers Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams. The series, Reich, Glass, Adams: the Sounds That Changed America, begins with two days celebrating Reich, who recently turned 80, and his music this weekend, featuring Barbican Associate Ensemble Britten Sinfonia and the London Symphony Orchestra. Among the pieces performed over several programs this weekend are Three Tales, Different Trains, Electric Counterpoint, City Life, Drumming, New York Counterpoint, You Are (Variations), Daniel Variations, The Desert Music, the European premiere of Pulse.