Bass & Mandolin, the second recording collaboration by bassist Edgar Meyer and mandolinist Chris Thile, is due out next Tuesday, September 9. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. The album is streaming in full this week as a "Check Ahead" feature from NPR member station WNYC's Soundcheck. "More than anything," says WNYC, "it's easy to hear how much fun these two have playing together." The duo recently performed the album track "Why Only One?" for The Bluegrass Situation; you can watch it here.

Sam Amidon, whose new album of reimagined folks songs, Lily-O, is due September 30, will tour the US and Europe this fall in support of the new release. Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Shahzad Ismaily, both of whom are on the new album, will join Amidon on select dates. Amidon also performs with Kronos Quartet and other label mates as part of Nonesuch Records at BAM later this month.

Robert Plant's new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, is due out next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. Fans worldwide can hear the new music ahead of its release, and stream the entire album in full. "More than anything, the album waxes gorgeous about music itself," writes NPR's Ann Powers in the NPR First Listen stream. Even with all of the sounds and experiences that have gone into the new album, she says, "No one of these songs sounds precisely like its source; that's the genius of this album. It lovingly layers elements in ways that mirror memory, creating new constructs from floating shards of the musical past."

The Black Keys, who kick off the US leg of their Turn Blue world tour with two stops in their home state of Ohio this weekend, have just announced that the tour will be heading to Australia in April 2015, following the UK and European tours in February and March. The Australian tour kicks off at the Bluesfest Byron Bay on April 3 and includes sets at the two Rolling Green events and stops in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Adelaide. Tickets go on sale Thursday, September 11, 2014.

Devendra Banhart and longtime friend, musical collaborator, and fellow singer-songwriter Andy Cabic (Vetiver) will tour California in October 2014, performing both individually and together in a casual mix of older and newer material. Banhart joins Iron and Wine and Stephin Merritt for Nonesuch Records at BAM in Brooklyn on September 19 and Caetano Veloso and Andrew Bird at the Hollywood Bowl on September 21. 

Joshua Redman is Detroit Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence, performing three sets this Labor Day long weekend ... Bombino kicks off his latest US tour at Dave Matthews Band Caravan in Washington state, then heads to San Francisco ... Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays, whose duo piano album Modern Music was released in 2010, tour Brazil ... Nickel Creek concludes its US tour in New Mexico and Colorado ... and more ...

Bass & Mandolin, due out September 9 on Nonesuch Records, is the second duo recording from double bassist Edgar Meyer and mandolinist Chris Thile. In this article, these two virtuosic musicians talk with writer Michael Hill about the new album and how the personal and musical relationship between them has continued to mature and deepen in the five years since the pair released its self-titled Nonesuch debut.

Punch Brothers are reaching out to fans to participate in the making of their next album. The group has put out the request for folks to sing a few lines on the new record "as kind of a meta reference to its theme," says band member Chris Thile. The lines are from a song called "Little Lights," for which Punch Brothers are looking to add "a mighty assembly of your individual Voice Memos and GarageBand sessions" to the studio recording.

The full line-up for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park has been announced, and performing are Conor Oberst, Shawn Colvin, and Emmylou Harris, who will have performed at each of the festival's 14 years, plus Tweedy and T Bone Burnett, among others. The free, annual outdoor music festival will take place October 3–5, 2014.

Caetano Veloso will bring his Abraçaço world tour to the US in September, stopping in Miami, Seattle, Davis, Oakland, and LA, where he makes his Hollywood Bowl debut on a bill with Andrew Bird and Devendra Banhart, and culminating in two nights in Brooklyn for Nonesuch Records at BAM. Veloso's performance at the Barbican in London this past spring earned five stars from the Times, Guardian, and The Arts Desk, which says: "Caetano Veloso gets more extraordinary."

Robert Plant's new album, lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, has already begun to receive rave reviews in the UK. The album has earned four stars from Q and Mojo and nine out of ten in Uncut. Q says "he’s produced his best solo album yet … a beautifully moving, soul-stirring, bravely genre-blurring album." Mojo, calling it "a rewarding, often touching listen," makes it Album of the Month, as does Uncut, which says it is "a record that deftly aligns the chakras of Plant’s storied career while also being a bold act of reinvention ... His uniqueness has never been more apparent."

Nickel Creek have performed a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR's All Songs Considered, featuring four songs from the group's new album, A Dotted Line. "Nickel Creek was made to sing and play around a single microphone, so a Tiny Desk Concert seemed inevitable," says All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. "The trio, backed here by bassist Mark Schatz, has no equal. Nickel Creek has been doing this on and off since its members were kids, and what blows me away is the comfort and ease with which they navigate their instruments. That skill, and the creative force behind it, is a joy and a thrill to witness." Watch it here.