Songlines has announced its list of the Best Albums of 2014, and featured in that top ten are three albums familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Robert Plant's label debut album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar; Kronos Quartet's A Thousand Thoughts, which led Songlines to call the group "one of the musical marvels of our ages"; and Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté's Toumani & Sidiki, about which the magazine says: "Every note in this rich tapestry of strings is exquisitely calibrated in the pursuit of perfection." 

The Black Keys, who are currently touring North America on their Turn Blue world tour, recently sat down to discuss life on the road in a new video. The video offers a look on stage and behind the scenes as band mates Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney talk about the evolution of their touring life, from humble beginnings to now, when the important things remain the same, despite the change in venues. See what they have to say here. The tour heads to Vancouver Thursday  before headed back to the US West Coast. What's more the band is giving away an autographed U-Turn turntable, their complete album discography on vinyl, and more.

Composers Steve Reich and Stephen Sondheim will be featured in Lincoln Center's 2015 American Songbook series. They will take part in an evening of conversation, moderated by WNYC's John Schaefer, in The Appel Room, on January 31, marking the first the time the two will have appeared together on stage. The evening also includes performances of several of their seminal works . Tickets go on sale on Monday, November 17.

In 2005, Nonesuch released The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, an album in which sisters Kate & Anna McGarrigle, their family—including Kate's children, Rufus & Martha Wainwright—and honorary family members, like Emmylou Harris, celebrated the holidays in song. That same year saw the start of a holiday tradition of live Christmas shows starring family and friends. The music-making continues this December with Rufus and Martha Wainwright’s Noël Nights in NYC, with Harris, Cibo Matto, Justin Vivian Bond, Loudon Wainwright, and more, and Montreal. Proceeds go to The Kate McGarrigle Foundation for sarcoma research.

Wilco was the musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night, performing "A Magazine Called Sunset" plus a web-exclusive take on "Cars Can't Escape," both of which are featured on their forthcoming box set of rare studio and live recordings, Alpha Mike Foxtrot. Also on The Tonight Show, Wilco's Tweedy joins Ewan McGregor, Jimmy Fallon, and Charles Barkley for a game of charades. You can watch that and the two performances here. Wilco begins a sold-out, three-night run at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester tonight; in early December, the band will play six, sold-out shows at Chicago’s Riviera Theatre.

The results of the 79th Annual DownBeat Readers Poll have been announced, and topping the list for Jazz Album of the Year is Pat Metheny Unity Group's debut album, Kin (←→). The Pat Metheny Unity Group was also voted top Jazz Group, Metheny is top of the Guitar category, and band member Chris Potter is the winner of the Tenor Saxophone category. “This year’s poll is especially satisfying,” said Frank Alkyer, DownBeat’s publisher, who lauds the winners for continuing "to make ambitious, beautiful artistic statements." The Pat Metheny Unity Group resumes its North American tour November 11. 

The Black Keys will tape a performance for Austin City Limits on Monday, November 17, for the program's 40th season. The band is making its second appearance on the PBS series, having made their ACL debut around the release of their 2010 album Brothers. For information on how to get free passes about a week before the taping, visit acltv.com. The Black Keys are currently on tour in North America; the Calgary Herald, reviewing last night's show at the Saddledome, says the band "deliver[ed] in a big, big way."

Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters are on BBC Two's Later ... with Jools Holland tonight, performing "Little Maggie" and "Turn It Up" from the new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar. Tune in to BBC Two again this Friday night for the full, one-hour episode of Later to see them perform "Little Maggie" plus "House of Love" and "Whole Lotta Love." They kick off a sold-out tour of the UK and Ireland on 9 November.

On January 13, 2015, Nonesuch Records releases a two-disc collection capturing a one-night-only concert held at New York City’s Town Hall in 2013 to celebrate the music of the Coen brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis, featuring live performances by icons and rising stars of folk and Americana. They sang "in pitch perfect tone that left an oft-awestruck audience silently stunned," says the Los Angeles Times, "then vocally thrilled." The concert, the resulting Showtime documentary, and this live album were produced by Joel and Ethan Coen and T Bone Burnett. 

Conor Oberst, who recently closed out another US leg of his world tour, has announced a tour of Australia for February and March of 2015. The tour kicks off at The Triffid in Brisbane, includes multiple stops in Melbourne and Sydney, and culminates in a set at the Golden Plains Festival. Oberst will be joined on the tour by special guests The Felice Brothers.

James Farm’s sophomore album, City Folk, is out now, a new collection of ten original tunes written by all four members of the collaborative band: Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman, and Eric Harland. It earns five stars from the Financial Times ("ten beautifully crafted miniatures that rock with rhythm") and four stars from the Guardian, which notes the "enthralling improvisations [on] this inviting set," and the Evening Standard, which describes the band as "four crack musicians and improvisers whose fierce grooves and synergy make for spine-tingling listening." The Buffalo News calls City Folk "the second first-rate disc by one of the more impressive jazz quartets to come together in the past few years."

Sam Amidon's new album of reimagined folk songs, Lily-O, was released on CD and digitally last month and is now available on vinyl. The album was produced by Valgeir Sigurðsson and features guitarist Bill Frisell, along with Amidon’s other frequent collaborators, bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Chris Vatalaro. The New York Times calls the album "hauntingly beautiful." Amidon kicks off a European tour on November 14 and performs at the EFG London Jazz Festival with Frisell and Ismaily on November 16.