Rhiannon Giddens, Stephin Merritt play Tibet House Benefit at Carnegie Hall … David Byrne previews American Utopia in Northeast … Jeremy Denk is in UK … Fleet Foxes take Crack-Up to Florida … Richard Goode joins BBC Philharmonic … Jonny Greenwood is up for an Oscar ... Tigran Hamasyan performs in NYC … Kronos Quartet is in Berkeley … k.d. lang brings Ingénue to California … Audra McDonald performs in Atlanta … Brad Mehldau plays solo in Germany … Pat Metheny duets in Connecticut … Robert Plant is in LA … The Staves are in New Zealand … Chris Thile hosts Live From Here from Saint Paul, performs at Oscars … and more …

David Bryne's new album, American Utopia, out next Friday, March 9, is streaming in full till then as an NPR First Listen. "The music is intense, it's playful and quite memorable," says NPR Music's Bob Boilen. "In a world filled with millions of songs about personal problems and love gone right or wrong, I'm thrilled to have a record that opens my eyes and widens my perceptions and helps me stop and make some sense of this inexplicable, mind-bending world of ours."

The ECHO Jazz 2018 Award nominations have been announced by the German Recording Academy, including for Chris Thile, Brad Mehldau, and Tigran Hamasyan. Thile and Mehldau are nominated for their duo debut together, Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau—Thile in the Special Instruments category, Mehldau in Piano International—and Hamasyan is up for Piano International for his album An Ancient Observer.

Rhiannon Giddens recently sat down with The Bluegrass Situation to perform "Mal Hombre," singer/guitarist Lydia Mendoza's 1934 song. The performance, for the site's Sitch Sessions, took place in a flower-filled 1954 Silver Streak trailer in East Nashville. You can watch it here.

Lake Street Dive will release Free Yourself Up, its second album with Nonesuch Records, on May 4. In many ways, this is the band's most intimate and collaborative record. The band worked as a tightly knit unit to craft the ten songs on Free Yourself Up and self-produced the album in Nashville with engineer Dan Knobler. Tour dates begin in Lake Street Dive's original home of Boston on release day. Pre-order the album to get an exclusive print signed by the band and download the track "Good Kisser" now. You can watch a performance video of the song here.

Jonny Greenwood was a guest on NPR's Morning Edition. He spoke with host Rachel Martin about his Oscar-nominated score to Paul Thomas Anderson's film Phantom Thread, and how he collaborated with the filmmaker to develop the music, which would be recorded with a sixty-piece string orchestra. We also learn how a young Jonny Greenwood was inspired by the recorder, and what his current and future plans are to work with the humble instrument. You can listen to the conversation here.

Punch Brothers, who are hard at work on a new album, have announced a US summer tour, starting at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival just after the summer solstice and winding its way throughout the country and returning to Colorado for a set at Red Rocks Amphitheatre with Gillian Welch just ahead of the vernal equinox. The tour also includes a few dates with Andrew Bird.

David Byrne has announced openers for his upcoming world tour in support of his new solo album American Utopia, out March 9. Each act was handpicked by Byrne, who has long championed younger, innovative artists from varied backgrounds. Support includes Lisandro Aristimuño in Argentina; Juana Molina in Uruguay; Karina Zeviani in Brazil; Mexican Institute of Sound in Mexico; Perfume Genius, Benjamin Clementine, and Ibeyi in the United States; and Laura Mvula in Europe. 

Laurie Anderson was the guest on CBC's Q. She spoke with host Tom Power about her experience of Hurricane Sandy when it hit New York City in October 2012 and about finding hope in loss. They also discuss the work it inspired: Landfall, her new album with Kronos Quartet; and her new book, All the Things I Lost in the Flood. You can listen to the conversation below.

The Staves have released a digital EP of six songs recorded live at Pine Hollow studios in Eau Claire, WI, aptly titled Pine Hollow. The EP opens with the trio's take on Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago," Ray Lamontagne's "Jolene," and Dino Valenti's "Something's on Your Mind." Those are followed by new versions of the group's own songs "Sadness Don't Own Me," "Let Me Down," and "Trouble on My Mind." The Staves are now on tour in Australia and New Zealand.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of her Grammy-winning, critically acclaimed album Ingénue, k.d. lang launches a twenty-city concert tour that will bring a live performance of the platinum-selling record to venues across the US, starting in the Pacific Northwest this weekend. Fans in cities such as Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Denver, Minneapolis, Boston, and NYC can experience the album live, performed in its entirety. The tour follows the release of a re-mastered, two-disc Anniversary Edition of Ingénue on Nonesuch last year.

Rostam concludes winter leg of Half-Light tour in California … Dan Auerbach brings Easy Eye Revue down South … Rhiannon Giddens is at the Apollo … k.d. lang launches US leg of Ingénue Redux Tour in Washington state … Audra McDonald joins Cincinnati Pops Orchestra … Robert Plant continues sold-out tour in Denver … The Staves perform in Australia … Chris Thile hosts Live From Here on the radio via Saint Paul …