The Pat Metheny Unity Group, featuring Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, Antonio Sanchez on drums, Ben Williams on bass, and multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi, release their first record, Kin (←→), on February 4. You can watch a preview video about Kin (←→), set to various songs from the album, here, then pre-order the album in the Nonesuch Store for an exclusive print autographed by Metheny. The Pat Metheny Unity Group will tour North America beginning February 3, then tour Europe from April through June; tickets are on sale now.

Bombino closes out a two-week tour of Australia at the Sydney Festival and in Melbourne ... Inside Llewyn Davis opens across US ... Shawn Colvin, who celebrates a birthday today, kicks off a California tour ... Jeremy Denk plays Ligeti and more in Boston ... Donnacha Dennehy resumes Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra residency ... Dr. John celebrates Gregg Allman in Atlanta ... Gidon Kremer kicks off Italian tour ... Audra McDonald hosts PBS's Live from Lincoln Center ... Natalie Merchant plays two symphonic shows in Florida ... Allen Toussaint celebrates New Orleans in NYC ... and more ...

The Carolina Chocolate Drops, who had announced a US tour for early 2014 last month, have now added several new dates to the tour, with confirmed shows from the end of January through the end of April. The group's lineup includes co-founder Rhiannon Giddens, multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins, and two new musicians, cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett. The tour kicks off at the Charleston Music Hall on January 30, making stops across the Southeast through March, into the Northeast starting in the spring, then back South for MerleFest and more.

Rokia Traoré, as part of her US tour last fall to mark the release of her new album, Beautiful Africa, stopped by the studios of KCRW in Santa Monica to perform on Morning Becomes Eclectic and talk with the show's guest host, Chris Douridas, about the new album and tour. KCRW has posted video of the complete interview and performance, featuring songs from the new album, which you can watch here. NPR calls her "one of Mali's most revered voices."

Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, the debut album from the electric duo of Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana, due February 25 on Nonesuch Records, and Kin (←→), the debut album from the Pat Metheny Unity Group, due February 4, are featured on the latest episode of BBC Radio 2's Jamie Cullum show. The episode looks ahead to the music of 2014 and showcases "some of the most exciting tracks coming out in the next few months in the world of jazz," including "Hungry Ghost" from the Mehliana album and "Kqu" from Kin (←→).

Inside Llewyn Davis has earned top honors as the winner of four awards from the National Society of Film Critics: Best Picture; Best Director, Joel and Ethan Coen; Best Actor, Oscar Isaac; and Best Cinematography, Bruno Delbonnel. All three New York Times film critics' Academy Award nominations wish lists include Inside Llewyn Davis for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. Tune in to see Oscar Isaac on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight.

Marcel Cellier, the Swiss music producer, radio broadcaster, ethnomusicologist, and musician, has died at the age of 88. Cellier, who recorded the famed series of albums of the Bulgarian State Television female vocal choir, Mystère des Voix Bulgares, first released in the US on Nonesuch Records in the late 1980s, died at a hospital in the Swiss Riviera on Friday, December 13, 2013. The album's release sparked a global interest in the captivating voices of the choir and was followed by a second volume, which earned a Grammy Award and led to an extensive world tour, a third recording, and a box set.

Rokia Traoré, whose new album, Beautiful Africa, landed on a number of Best of the Year lists, recently spoke with PBS NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about the album. "Rokia Traoré and her music are a mix of African and Western influences and languages," says Brown. "Traoré's new album addresses the problems of Mali and the continent, but also, as its title, Beautiful Africa, suggests, much more." Watch the complete PBS NewsHour piece here.

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, was the subject of a segment on CBS Sunday Morning, in which music producer T Bone Burnett joins correspondent Anthony Mason to tour Greenwich Village and discuss its folk music scene depicted in the film. Watch the piece here. The BBC names Inside Llewyn Davis the Best Films of 2013, "enhanced by a golden soundtrack of folk song ballads, many sung with quiet feeling by Oscar Isaac, so magnetic in the title role." The Los Angeles Times says: "It's the music that moves Inside Llewyn Davis. Like most Coen brothers films, the songs play an integral part of the story. But T Bone Burnett's work levitates Inside Llewyn Davis."

As 2013 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2014, it's time to take a look back and remember all of the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists over the past year. Many of these artists and their recent Nonesuch releases have made music critics' and fans' year-end best lists. Here, in words and music and in chronological order (more or less), is a look back at the year in Nonesuch music.

Inside Llewyn Davis, which opened to critical acclaim in select theaters in NYC and LA earlier this month, expands to additional theaters in 43 more cities across the US today. The soundtrack has topped Indiewire's Critics' Poll as the Best Soundtrack of 2013. Watch Justin Timberlake, Chris Thile, and Marcus Mumford offer some insight on creating the music for the film in a new featurette here. Tune in to NPR's World Café today to hear two of the film's stars, Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, and to PRI's Studio 360 this weekend for an interview with Adam Driver.

CBC Music has published its list of the Top Albums of the Year, and featured among them are four albums released on Nonesuch Records in 2013: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell's Old Yellow Moon (Best Singer-Songwriter Album), Jeremy Denk's recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations (Best Classical Album), and Rokia Traoré's Beautiful Africa and Bombino's Nomad (Top 5 World Music Albums).