Conor Oberst performed his new album, Ruminations, in its entirety at NYC's Housing Works Bookstore Cafe last Friday; the performance was webcast live via NPR Music's Facebook page. You can now watch three songs from the set: "Tachycardia," "Gossamer Thin," and "A Little Uncanny." "Ruminations is one of Conor Oberst's most personal records," says NPR Music's Bob Boilen, "a collection of brave, dark songs ... that are unmistakably moving and contain some of Oberst's best lyrics and imagery." NPR Music will soon post the full concert, but these three tracks "establish the sound of the record, spare and lyric-based. These are the sounds of hard moments, elevated through beautiful music and a true poetic touch." Boilen includes "A Little Uncanny" on the latest episode of All Songs Considered. Ruminations is BBC Radio 6 Music's Album of the Day today.

The Magnetic Fields announce their 2016–2017 US tour schedule. They will be performing across the country in support of their forthcoming multi-disc album, 50 Song Memoir, due spring 2017 on Nonesuch. The concerts will premiere at Mass MoCA in November 2016, then head to Brooklyn Academy of Music in December, followed by stops in Philadelphia, DC, Durham, Knoxville, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Oakland, Portland, and Seattle in the spring of 2017 (Boston performances are still to be announced).

Devendra Banhart spoke with NPR's All Things Considered on Saturday about his songwriting, from his new album, Ape in Pink Marble, all the way back to the first song he wrote and performed for his family at nine years old. "Banhart has made a name for himself as something of a musical sponge, drawing on traditions from blues to salsa to psychedelic folk," says host Lakshmi Singh. "But he'll be the first to tell you that his work is as much about writing, acting and storytelling as it is about the music itself." Hear the conversation here.

Conor Oberst's new solo album, Ruminations, is out now. He will perform the record in its entirety for an audience of contest winners at New York City's Housing Works Bookstore Cafe tonight. The performance will be simultaneously webcast via NPR Music's Facebook page. Oberst will be the musical guest on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 24. He resumes his tour in his hometown of Omaha on November 3, followed by stops in Nashville, Toronto, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles; the European tour begins in January.

Chris Thile takes over as host of A Prairie Home Companion, joined by label mates Lake Street Dive … Sam Amidon plays North Carolina, joins Richard Thompson in South Carolina … Devendra Banhart gives a DJ set in LA … Jeremy Denk concludes run with SPCO in NYC … Richard Goode is in Virginia … Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant play Toronto, Boston … Mariza begins tour in Northeast … Conor Oberst performs Ruminations for NPR Music First Listen Live from NYC … Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau tour Asia … Caetano Veloso, Teresa Cristina play Chicago … and more …

Rhiannon Giddens was a guest on NPR's Mountain Stage, returning to the show to perform from the Augusta Heritage Festival in Elkins, WV, earlier this year. "T Bone Burnett mentions her with some very serious company—Nina Simone, Odetta, and others—and I think that she deserves that mention," says Mountain Stage host Larry Groce. "She's at home with many different kinds of music: traditional, non-traditional, blues, jazz, whatever she wants to sing." You can hear why here.

Portuguese singer Mariza begins a two-week North American tour in support of her album Mundo at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston on Friday, followed by NYC and Newark, two additional shows in Massachusetts, in Amherst and New Bedford, and one night in Connecticut, and a stop in Toronto. Mariza then heads to the West Coast for a four-night residency at SFJAZZ in San Francisco and a concert in Seattle. She concludes her tour with a sold-out show in Vancouver on November 2.

"Here's a song dedicated to a great world leader," Randy Newman says of his new song. "I hope all of you like it. I know he will." You can hear it here.

Caetano Veloso and Teresa Cristina have brought their world tour to the US for four shows. The concerts, in which Cristina's opening set features music from her new album and DVD, Canta Cartola, begin with a sold-out show at The Town Hall in NYC tonight, followed by a second night there on Thursday and shows at Symphony Center in Chicago on Sunday and Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. Veloso and Cristina will bring the music back home to Brazil in November, with newly added shows in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Robert Plant returns to the Austin City Limits stage for the first time in more than a decade when his set airs on PBS stations across the US this weekend. The full-hour set, which he and his band the Sensational Space Shifters taped on tour in March, includes songs from his 2014 Nonesuch debut album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, Led Zeppelin favorites, and tunes from Plant's earlier solo album, like "In the Mood"; you can watch that performance below. Plant joins Emmylou Harris and others on the Lampedusa: Concerts for Refugees tour tomorrow, October 12, through October 21.

Steve Reich turned 80 years old last week, an occasion that is being celebrated in concerts across the globe. NPR marked the milestone with a feature on Weekend Edition Sunday yesterday, in which Anastasia Tsioulcas spoke with the composer and examines works that span his career. "When he began, Reich was an outsider," Tsioulcas concludes. "Now his work is embraced by temples of high culture around the world." You can hear the piece here.

Brad Mehldau brings Highway Rider to SFJAZZ … John Adams’s Nixon in China is performed by Royal Swedish Opera … Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly perform in London … Laurie Anderson honored at Hammer Museum in LA … Jeremy Denk joins Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra … Rhiannon Giddens makes Austin City Limits debut … Emmylou Harris is in Midwest … Kronos Quartet brings multimedia work to UCLA … Lake Street Dive plays Radio City … Conor Oberst plays Austin City Limits fest … Robert Plant plays David Lynch fest in LA … Caetano Veloso, Teresa Cristina tour Japan … and more …