To mark the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra) releases a video for the title track to their critically acclaimed Nonesuch debut, LIFE ON EARTH. The video is directed and edited by Segarra, who also publishes the accompanying poem, "i always thought time was a circle turns out i was wrong." You can watch the video and read the poem here.

In These Times, the new album by percussionist, producer, and composer Makaya McCraven, is due September 23. It has been in process since 2015 and is the album McCraven’s been trying to make since he started making records, an appropriately career-defining body of work. The eleven-song suite was created over seven-plus years, as McCraven strived to fuse odd-meter compositions from his working songbook with orchestral, large-ensemble arrangements and the edit-heavy “organic beat music” he’s honed over the years. With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators—including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill—In These Times highlights McCraven’s unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders, and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music.

Brad Mehldau’s new album, Jacob’s Ladder, first released on CD and digital in March, is now available in a double vinyl set. The album features new music that reflects on scripture and the search for God through music inspired by the prog rock he loved as a young adolescent—his gateway to the fusion that eventually led to his discovery of jazz. Featured musicians on the album include label mates Chris Thile and Cécile McLorin Salvant, as well as Mark Guiliana, Becca Stevens, Joel Frahm, and others. Mojo calls it "a kaleidoscopic affair, where baroque prog-rock edifices are juxtaposed with clouds of ethereal choirs, dreamy piano interludes, and squalls of free jazz-style clarinet. Skillfully weaving these elements into storytelling sound collages, Mehldau takes the listener on a memorable musical journey."

In celebration of Father’s Day, Molly Tuttle recorded a new performance video of her song, “Grass Valley,” featuring her father, Jack Tuttle, a music teacher and multi-instrumentalist, on mandolin and vocals. The song, from Tuttle's new album, Crooked Tree, recorded with her band Golden Highway, tells the story of going to Grass Valley, California’s annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival with her dad, where she was first exposed to the bluegrass music that inspired her to play. You can watch the video here.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival celebrates the summer solstice with Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Punch Brothers, and Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi ... Emmylou Harris performs at the Azkena Rock Festival in Spain ... Hurray for the Riff Raff tours Pacific Northwest with Bright Eyes ... Rachael & Vilray and a full band swing outdoors at Lincoln Center in NYC ... Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi play SFJAZZ ... Wilco is in Belgium and the UK ... 

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi are the hosts of a new Apple Music radio show, Musical Routes Radio, all six episodes of which are now available. You can hear them now on Apple Music, and tune in to hear them on Apple Radio Country every other Saturday. “So much of the Americana and country music we love has roots outside of the United States,” says the show. “Illustrating the many intersections between country/roots music and global musical traditions, including Celtic music, Caribbean music, Indigenous music, and more, listeners will discover new artists, broaden their own musical knowledge, and enjoy unscripted, far-reaching conversations from two of music's most encyclopedic minds."

Nonesuch Records releases the first recording of Steve Reich’s Reich/Richter, performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and conducted by George Jackson, on CD and digital today, with the vinyl due August 5. The composition was originally written to be performed with German visual artist Gerhard Richter and Corinna Belz’s film Moving Picture (946-3). A video of the composer talking about Reich/Richter may be seen here.

Jeff Parker is on the International Anthem Podcast. He spoke with host Ayana Contreras in front of a live audience at Dorian's (Through The Record Shop) in Chicago last December, ahead of the release of his new solo guitar album, Forfolks. They talk about record collecting, Parker’s journey to embracing solo guitar sonics as improvisational atmospheres, and more. You can hear their conversation here.

The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Koerner Hall in Toronto has announced its 2022–23 concert season, including performances from Nonesuch artists Tigran Hamasyan, Kronos Quartet, Punch Brothers, Jeremy Denk, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and Joshua Redman.

Laurie Anderson gives a free presentation of Lou Reed's Drones at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, this afternoon ... Devendra Banhart and LA Phil celebrate Latin American protest songs ... Jeremy Denk, Steven Isserlis perform Mendelssohn in NYC ... Richard Goode performs at Wigmore Hall in London ... Lake Street Dive tours Northeast ... The Magnetic Fields do Denmark ... Cécile McLorin Salvant sings at Chicago's Symphony Center ... Molly Tuttle is at North Carolina Guitar Celebration ...

Composer Ingram Marshall, about whose music composer Timo Andres once said that it "merges sacred and secular in mysterious ways, following a train of thought into territories entirely on its own,” died on Tuesday at the age of 80. “To reach the music of Ingram Marshall," New York magazine music critic Justin Davidson has said, "turn left at minimalism, right at electronica and keep going until just before you reach avant-garde. Marshall occupies a one-man lot on the contemporary music landscape. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that he creates his own musical landscapes—mists, mysterious places that afford moments of strange lucidity.” Nonesuch has released two albums of music by Ingram Marshall and a recording of his famed Fog Tropes, conducted by John Adams.

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway performed three songs from their new album, Crooked Tree, in a live Paste Studio on the Road session from DelFest in Cumberland, MD. They were joined by special guest Jerry Douglas, who co-produced the album with Tuttle, to perform “Over the Line,” “Dooley’s Farm,” and “Crooked Tree” and talk about the making of the album. You can watch the set here.