When Lianne La Havas was in NYC last month to celebrate the release of her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, she stopped by WFUV to record an episode of Words and Music, out now. La Havas talks with WFUV's Alisa Ali about her life in music and to perform three songs off the album. Watch the performances and listen to the complete episode here. Lianne La Havas is up for the Mercury Prize this week and returns to the US next week to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman and Conan and in headline shows in the Washington, DC–area, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Natalie Merchant, who celebrates a birthday today—happy birthday!—joins the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to perform songs from Leave Your Sleep ... Laurie Anderson brings Dirtday! to LA ... Timothy Andres performs with ACME in Brooklyn ... The Black Keys' Australia tour hits Brisbane and Perth ... Billy Bragg's in Brisbane and Sydney ... Carolina Chocolate Drops cruise the Caribbean ... Shawn Colvin holds residency in NYC ... Nataly Dawn is in LA ... Dr. John, Blind Boys of Alabama tour Midwest ... Einstein on the Beach makes West Coast debut ... Gidon Kremer tours Japan ... Joshua Redman plays Coltrane in NYC ... Sara Watkins joins Jackson Browne in Chicago ... and more ...

Punch Brothers' forthcoming five-song EP, Ahoy!, due out November 13, includes songs by Josh Ritter, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Punch Brothers, and Mclusky, along with one traditional tune. Last week brought an early listen to the band's take on Ritter's "Another New World," which is included as an instant download with pre-orders. Now you can get another taste of the EP by listening to a preview clip of "Down Along the Dixie Line," originally by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, here.

Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's groundbreaking opera Einstein on the Beach receives its West Coast premiere, nearly four decades after it was first performed, with three sold-out performances at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall this weekend. PBS Newshour marked the occasion with a look at this groundbreaking work and the career of its composer, which you can watch here. This weekend's performances of Einstein on the Beach are part of a major international tour that heads next to Mexico City, Amsterdam, and Hong Kong.

Sara Watkins, who is currently on the final leg of her US tour with Jackson Browne, will tour the UK and Ireland in January and February in support of her acclaimed new album Sun Midnight Sun. The two-week, 13-city tour begins in Sheffield on January 23, following a series of US headline shows in December with Aoife O'Donovan, and includes a show at London’s Lexington on January 30 and a set at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.

The Malian-raised, Parisian singer/songwriter Fatoumata Diawara has been named to TIME's list of "the best in world music this year." "Her debut album Fatou, released in North America in August, is enchanting and blissful," says KEXP's Darek Mazzone, who assembled the list for TIME. "Her well-crafted songs are often light and breezy, but her soulful voice brings a bluesy depth and potency that can stop you in your tracks."

Punch Brothers, who are currently on tour in Europe, have announced a string of new dates for the US in early 2013. The tour kicks off with shows in Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Dallas at the end of January before heading east with stops in many of the cities they didn't visit on their recent US tour, including Atlanta, Boston, and DC. Anaïs Mitchell joins for most of the new dates. A limited pre-sale starts tomorrow. Punch Brothers' forthcoming EP, Ahoy!, is still available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the track “Another New World."

Lianne La Havas celebrated the release of her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, with a sold-out show at NYC's Bowery Ballroom last month. Her performance of the song "Gone" there has now premiered on RollingStone.com as part of her Band to Watch profile. Watch it here. La Havas returns to the US in November to perform three headline shows and make her debuts on the Late Show with David Letterman and Conan.

Singer/songwriter Nataly Dawn, one half of the duo Pomplamoose, has released "Leslie," the second music video from her forthcoming debut solo album, How I Knew Her, due out on Nonesuch on January 22, 2013. Jack Conte, Dawn's partner and the other half of Pomplamoose, produced and orchestrated the track. The video was directed by Eric Kallevig and shot at Prairie Sun Recording Studios. Watch it here. Nataly Dawn plays shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles this week.

Nonesuch Records releases the Metropolitan Opera’s performance of John Adams’ Nixon in China, with the composer conducting, on Blu-ray and DVD together in one package on November 19, 2012; pre-order now. The Met’s production, staged by Peter Sellars, stars James Maddalena as Richard Nixon, a role he created at the opera’s world premiere 25 years ago and has since performed at international leading opera houses. Nixon in China was recorded and broadcast live in movie theaters around the world as part of The Met: Live in HD on February 12, 2011—10 days after the opera received its Met premiere.

Jonny Greenwood’s soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film The Master is out now on vinyl, featuring 12 tracks pressed on 140-gram vinyl plus the full album on CD. Following the album's CD release in September, The New Yorker called the score "rich and inventive" and Rolling Stone said the film's "visual poetry is matched by Jonny Greenwood's haunting, hypnotic score."

The Black Keys launched their Australian tour at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre Sunday night. The tour continues with two nights at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, followed by shows in Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide, and two nights in Melbourne. The Black Keys head to New Zealand next for tour stops in Auckland and Wellington. Their new digital EP, Tour Rehearsal Tapes, is now available in the Nonesuch Store as MP3 and FLAC. The Independent says the tracks "underscore the explosive musical energy between guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney."