Woody Guthrie will be the recipient of the Songwriters Hall of Fame's inaugural Pioneer Award, to be presented at the 43rd Annual Induction and Awards Dinner in New York City June 14. The Pioneer Award was established in 2012 to honor the career of a historic creator of a major body of musical work that has been a major influence on generations of songwriters. “This year, we join musicians and songwriters from around the world in celebrating Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday,” says SHOF Chairman Jimmy Webb. “One of the great songwriters of all time, we look forward to acknowledging his brilliance with the first-ever Songwriters Hall of Fame Pioneer Award.” Billy Bragg is currently on tour celebrating Guthrie's centenary with music from the acclaimed Mermaid Avenue albums, on which Bragg and Wilco set Guthrie's words to music.

Jeremy Denk marks the release of his new album, Ligeti/Beethoven, with a performance at NYC's (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight. It's a Critics' Pick in Time Out New York and in New York, which calls him "splendid." The New Yorker calls the program "irresistible." WNYC has made it today's Gig Alert. The Washington Post says of Saturday's performance of the program in DC: "Denk has a way of explicating complicated music by playing it so that it seems self-evident and absolutely graspable—a considerable gift." In a new essay for Newsweek, Denk writes of having chosen a career in music over chemistry: "I knew I wouldn’t cure cancer or anything, but I might discover some beautiful way of playing something that no one else had found."

Jeremy Denk performs in DC on Saturday and celebrates the recent release of his Nonesuch debut album, Ligeti/Beethoven, in NYC on Monday ... The Black Keys close out their North American tour in Atlantic City ... Billy Bragg launches European tour in Germany ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Virginia ... Shawn Colvin plays the Cherokee Creek Music Festival ... Michael Daves, Noam Pikelny do the Brooklyn Folk Fest ... Kronos Quartet kicks off European tour in the Netherlands ... k.d. lang continues US tour in Kansas ... Jessica Lea Mayfield plays Nelsonville Music Festival ... Brad Mehldau Trio has a trio of SFJAZZ shows ... Randy Newman plays a set at the Hang Out Music Festival ... and more ...

Punch Brothers pick up their US tour again at Appalachian Uprising in Ohio on June 2, one of a number of festival dates ahead in the US and Europe, in addition to their own headline shows. In duo news, Noam Pikenly performs at the Brooklyn Folk Fest tonight with guitarist Michael Daves, who joins Chris Thile at the Ryman next month. During a recent stop in Nashville, Punch Brothers performed two songs off their new album, Who's Feeling Young Now? at Lightning 100: "Patchwork Girlfriend" and "Movement and Location." Watch both here.

The Brad Mehldau Trio has landed in California, kicking off a string of Bay Area shows in Santa Cruz last night, followed by a set in Napa tonight and three shows in San Francisco this weekend for SFJAZZ. The San Jose Mercury News calls last night's show "transfixing ... total exquisiteness." All About Jazz says the Trio's new album, Ode, is "rich, lyrical and full of energy ... a non-stop stream of invention." The Montreal Gazette says: "This may well be [Mehldau's] most interesting, absorbing album to date." The Philadelphia Inquirer calls it "transformative." Blurt says it's "some of the trio's most fiery interplay to date. A most welcome return."

Timothy Andres's I Found It by the Sea was featured in the closing-night concert of the Look and Listen Festival in NYC this week, performed with ACME. The piece "draws on a huge range of styles," says the New York Times. "Mr. Andres is a fine pianist, and he wrote himself a dazzling solo line. His quartet writing is equally rich." Andres performs a solo recital at NYC's (Le) Poisson Rouge later this month and makes his London debut at Wigmore Hall June 8. Earlier this year, he spoke with the new-music blog I Care If You Listen about his debut album, Shy and Mighty, and performed his piece At the River. Watch both here.

Pianist Jeremy Denk's label debut album, Ligeti/Beethoven, pairing Ligeti’s Piano Études, Books One and Two, with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, is out today. "The result is dazzling," raves the Observer. "The Ligeti is crisp, nuanced and technically flawless, the Beethoven beautifully shaped and flexible." The Independent gives the album four stars. The Arts Fuse calls it "revelatory." Denk celebrates the record's release with a performance of music from the album at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City next week. 

Jessica Lea Mayfield has extended her tour into the summer with a number of headline shows and a ten-day tour supporting Langhorne Slim. Following previously announced spring sets at the Nelsonville Music Festival and Appalachian Uprising, the summer tour begins with headlining shows in St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, and Salt Lake City. The tour with Langhorne Slim kicks off in San Francisco and LA and includes additional stops in California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Ligeti/Beethoven, the Nonesuch Records debut from acclaimed pianist Jeremy Denk, is out today. The album, which features Ligeti's Piano Études, Books One and Two, and Beethoven's Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111, includes an essay written by Denk, a noted writer, both on his blog and in such publications as The New Yorker and the New York Times Book Review. Read his album note here.

Audra McDonald will be the guest on today's episode of NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She talks about her performance as Bess in the Broadway production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, for which she has been nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award and has won the Outer Critics Circle Award. She is also the subject of a feature article in the New York Times. McDonald is the winner of four Tonys has recorded four solo albums for Nonesuch.

The Black Keys, who are in the midst of their North American arena tour with special guests Arctic Monkeys, have announced several new arena shows out West for this October. The new leg of the tour includes stops throughout California, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the famed Santa Barbara Bowl, and in Arizona and New Mexico. Tegan and Sara open. Fan ticket pre-sales are on now. The Calgary Herald puts Friday's show in as an "early entry into gig of the year." The Edmonton Journal says Saturday's was a "spellbinding show of fuzzy guitar riffs and soulful grooves."

Punch Brothers performed "Movement and Location," the opening track off their new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, on Later ... with Jools Holland, which aired Friday night on BBC Two. They also helped inaugurate Garden & Gun's new web series, The Back Porch Sessions, performing The Band's "The Weight" at the magazine's office. Watch both performances here. The band resumes its US tour at the Appalachian Uprising on June 2.