The Big Ears Festival returns—for the first time since 2019—to Knoxville, Tennessee, March 24–27, 2022, with music from Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Kronos Quartet, Jeff Parker, Tristan Perich, and Attacca Quartet, among many others.

David Byrne was on NPR's Bullseye with Jesse Thorn to discuss David Byrne's American Utopia, the Spike Lee film of which has won two Emmy Awards, and the theatrical production of which returns to Broadway this Friday. "If you wanted to find a common theme in his work, maybe it's that David Byrne has always worked to push the boundaries of what pop music can be," says Thorn. "While at the same time, he takes high art ... and makes it more accessible and familiar." You can hear their conversation here.

Chris Thile is on American Songwriter's Basic Folk podcast to talk with host Cindy Howes about his new solo album, Laysongs. "How beautiful and intoxicating finding a little bit of truth can be," he says. "We start to consider it a threat to that truth that we've discovered for ourselves, a threat to the good that we perceive it doing for ourselves when someone else doesn't accept that as true. And I think that's giving all of us a whole lot of trouble right now, on the internet and everywhere else." You can hear their conversation here.

"Sam Amidon is one of the most open-minded artists I know," says pianist/composer Pablo Held of his latest Investigates podcast guest. "Right away I was struck not only by his beautiful music, I was also amazed by the vast range of things he welcomes into his world. Every Sam Amidon album is a winner." You can watch their extensive conversation here.

Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers' Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert is out now on Nonesuch. The album features the 1990 Nashville debut of the acoustic all-star group—Sam Bush, Roy Huskey Jr., Larry Atamanuik, Al Perkins, Jon Randall Stewart—at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). The concert was recorded and shelved until now, when it has been unearthed and will be released for the first time. The set features entirely different songs from the band's acclaimed live album At the Ryman, with music by A.P. Carter, Rodney Crowell, Ruth Franks, the Louvin Brothers, Doc Pomus, Paul Simon, Townes Van Zandt, and Harris herself. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an exclusive print autographed by Harris, while they last. You can watch the band's 1993 Austin City Limits performance of three album tracks here.

The Staves performed "Best Friend," from their new album, Good Woman, for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's online series Play at Home. The video was filmed at Snap Studios in London. You can watch it here.

Nonesuch Records releases a two-track digital single from Sam Gendel today that includes his interpretations of Duke Ellington's "Isfahan" and Cal Massey's "My Little Suede Shoes" (a song popularized by Charlie Parker), performed in the manner of the sonic construction/destruction from his 2020 album Satin Doll. Gendel is joined by Gabe Noel on electric bass and Philippe Melanson on electronic percussion.

The Staves perform an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert of four songs from their new album, Good Woman—"Nothing's Gonna Happen," "Good Woman," "Satisfied," and "Waiting on Me to Change"—from the kitchen of their childhood home in Watford, England, for NPR Music. Sisters Emily, Jessica, and Camilla Staveley-Taylor are joined by guitarist and horn player Marcus Hamblett for the set, which you can watch here. NPR Music's Bob Boilen says: "This stripped-down performance is a beautiful way to experience these sisters' gorgeous harmonies through their songs of strength, loss, life, and womanhood."

The Staves have announced a tour of North America for early 2022, featuring songs from their new album, Good Woman. The tour begins in Dallas on February 9, heading across the South, up the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, up to Canada, back down the US Midwest, over to the Pacific Northwest, and down to California, culminating at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on March 15. "We are beyond thrilled to announce that we will be coming to you in 2022!! We can’t wait to take Good Woman on the road to a town near you!"

Lake Street Dive's Rachael Price, Punch Brothers, and Gaby Moreno are among the artists who will perform at The Kennedy Center's 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert, hosted by Audra McDonald with special guest Caroline Kennedy on September 14. The event will be broadcast on PBS as The Kennedy Center at 50 on October 1. Other performers include Christian McBride, Ben Folds, Kelli O'Hara, Renée Fleming, and more. 

"The icon that is k.d. lang was on the first ever list of dream guests for this podcast and remarkably this week our dream came true," says Chris Sweeney, co-host, with Alan Cumming, of the podcast Homo Sapiens. lang spoke with Sweeney about her role as an LGBTQ+ pioneer and how things have changed since she came out publicly in the 1990s. They also discuss makeover, her recently released collection of classic dance remixes, which Sweeney calls "totally brilliant." You can hear their conversation here.

Joshua Redman and Cécile McLorin Salvant are among the artists to contribute tracks to Relief, a compilation of previously unreleased music to benefit Jazz Foundation of America, due November 12. Redman's track "Facts," from the sessions for his 2018 Nonesuch album Still Dreaming, with cornetist Ron Miles, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade, was released today and can be heard here. All net proceeds from Relief will go to JFA's Musicians’ Emergency Fund, which provides direct financial support to musicians in need.