Rhiannon Giddens's new five-song EP Factory Girl, which was first released as a vinyl 10" as part of the Black Friday Record Store Day event, is now available digitally; a limited quantity of the 10" vinyl is also now available in the Nonesuch Store. NPR Music's Ann Powers says: "Deftly curated, gorgeously sung, this EP is America." The EP is culled from the same T Bone Burnett–produced sessions that yielded her solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, which has been nominated for a Grammy Award and has landed on several lists of the year's best, including those from NPR Music, Rolling Stone, Sunday Times, Uncut, and Mojo. 

Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, and Rodney Crowell have made the Los Angeles Times music critic Randy Lewis's list of the Ten Best Albums of 2015. Giddens's Tomorrow Is My Turn is "a tour de force," he writes. "She can sing anything from Southern blues to Celtic folk and French cabaret with equal aplomb, and is shaping up as a first-rate songwriter as well." Harris and Crowell's The Traveling Kind is "a gorgeous reflection on life, hard-won wisdom and celebration from two longtime friends and musical collaborators," says Lewis.

Laurie Anderson's Heart of a Dog has been named one of the Best Movies of 2015 by the New York Times' A.O. Scott, landing at No. 4 on his list. "A meditation on love, loss and the meaning of life," Scott writes. "[A]nyone who ever had a heart is likely to succumb to Ms. Anderson’s ethereal wisdom and her fierce formal wit." Anderson will take part in Q&As at screenings of Heart of a Dog at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe this weekend.

Robert Plant has contributed an exclusive track to The Long Road, an EP intended to raise money for the British Red Cross in their attempts to provide support to refugees in the UK. He recorded a version of UK band Elbow's track "The Blanket of Night," which tells the tale of refugees attempting a treacherous journey to attain asylum in the UK. "We have a worldwide international catastrophe," says Plant. "Talking about it is one thing, doing something about it is another. The position we are in, it's paramount we all do our best one way or another to help." The EP, due March 4, 2016, is available to pre-order now. All profits go to the British Red Cross.

Lianne La Havas, whose new album, Blood, has just been nominated for a Grammy Award, will return to the US for a series of intimate solo club dates starting at The McKittrick Hotel in New York City on Monday, February 1, 2016, followed by stops in Boston, DC, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Oakland, culminating with a show at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles on February 11. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 11.

Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch Records artists who were nominated for the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, announced earlier today by The Recording Academy: Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Lianne La Havas, Punch Brothers, and Joshua Redman. Together, these artists' Nonesuch releases have garnered a total of eight nominations this year. The 58th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on Monday, February 15, 2016, in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS.

Rhiannon Giddens's solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, has made NPR Music's list of its 50 Favorite Albums of 2015. "The joy inherent in the [album] isn't just her impeccable taste in cover material," writes NPR's Katie Presley. "It's also the palpable delight Giddens takes in covering it ... Tomorrow Is My Turn runs on an engine of irrepressible enthusiasm and a degree of sheer talent that, when encountered at full strength, is, fittingly, downright giddy-making." It's also on the Sunday Times of London's list of the 100 Best Records of the Year. "Singer of the year, the leader of the Carolina Chocolate Drops turns in a tour de force on her solo debut," writes the Times' Clive Davis. 

Congolese seven-piece band Mbongwana Star's debut full-length album, From Kinshasa, a World Circuit release, has landed on year's best lists from the New York Times, NPR Music, SPIN, Mojo, Uncut, and Q. The album's "ambition extends to the astral plane, absorbing post-punk, funk and techno along the way," says NPR. "The journey feels nothing short of a new world order. Don't hesitate to hitch your wagon to Mbongwana Star." SPIN says: "Let's celebrate how this indescribable seven-piece resists pigeonholing from even the most burnt Burning Man guest as anything but the future."

The Arcs take their inaugural North American tour to Columbus and Detroit … Sam Amidon tours North America with San Fermin … The Bad Plus Joshua Redman goes west … Tyondai Braxton plays solo shows in Brazil … Emmylou Harris celebrates a Wainwright Noël in Montréal … Brad Mehldau Trio wraps up its tour in Italy … Punch Brothers hit the road for a two-week US tour … and more …

Brad Mehldau's 10 Years Solo Live, released to critical acclaim earlier this fall, continues to earn praise from around the world, including Chicago Reader ("rhapsodic"), Buffalo News ("stupendous"), Mojo ("some of the most beautiful piano playing you’ll ever hear"), Scotsman ("revelatory"), Financial Times ("rich and rewarding"), Paris Match ("stunning grace"), Jazz News ("essential"), L’Humanité ("magic"), Tastenwelt ("candidate for CD of the year"), Jazzthethik ("a tremendous showcase"), Generel Anzeiger ("a phenomenon"), NRC (five stars), De Standard ("virtuosity with lyrical inspiration"), Dag Og Tid ("monumental ... a masterpiece"), and more.

The Bad Plus Joshua Redman kicked off the final leg of its 2015 tour in Boulder last night, with stops in Arizona, New Mexico, and California in the coming week, culminating with a four-night residency at the SFJAZZ Center. The quartet's eponymous debut album has been named the No. 1 Best Jazz Album of 2015 by PopMatters. "Together," says the site, "the band is particularly wonderful."

The Staves have unveiled the official video for "Make It Holy," off their album If I Was. "We're excited to share a new video for 'Make It Holy,' put together by the gifted Lauren Josephine using Dan Huitings' footage from when we recorded the album at April Base Studios, in Wisconsin," says the trio of producer Justin Vernon's studio. "It brings back such happy memories for us and we hope you enjoy it, too." Watch it here.