Ry Cooder will join a number of artists in celebrating the centenary of folk legend Woody Guthrie in This Land Is Your Land, a concert at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on October 14. Cooder, whom Uncut has described as "a modern-day Woody Guthrie," has a new album, Election Special, out on August 21, and Uncut has named it Album of the Month. "In a recording career that stretches back more than four decades," says Uncut, "Cooder has never before made an album as immediate as Election Special." Mojo gives it four stars.

Sara Watkins performed at the 2012 Newport Folk Festival over the weekend, and NPR Music was there to capture the set. Watkins performed songs from her self-titled solo debut album and her latest album, Sun Midnight Sun, which NPR’s Stephen Thompson calls “a smart, surprising collection of sweetly hooky songs that rest within pop, country and folk on the Venn diagram of musical genres.” Listen to the set now at npr.org. Sara Watkins continues her tour as special guest of Jackson Browne with two shows at NYC's Beacon Theatre this weekend.

Nonesuch releases the Brad Mehldau Trio’s Where Do You Start, a companion disc to this spring’s critically acclaimed Ode, on September 18, 2012. Whereas Ode featured 11 songs composed by Mehldau, Where Do You Start comprises the Trio’s interpretations of ten tunes by other composers, along with one Mehldau original. Where Do You Start is available for pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store, where an instant download of the album's Mehldau track, “Jam,” is included with purchase.

Amadou & Mariam launch their tour of North America with a performance at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, tonight. It's the couple's first such tour since 2009 and includes stops at festivals like Lollapalooza, Central Park SummerStage, Outside Lands, Edmonton Folk, and Osheaga, in addition to headlining shows at theaters and clubs. Amadou & Mariam will perform songs from their new album, Folila, which has been named among the Best Albums of 2012 So Far by Rolling Stone magazine and listeners of NPR.

Punch Brothers, following a month of US and European festival sets, have now announced that they will return to Europe this November, beginning with the previously announced show at Open House Festival in Belfast on November 5, followed by several headline stops in the UK including shows in Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and London, as well as festival sets in the Netherlands and Belgium for Crossing Border Festival. Tickets are on sale now. Punch Brothers head to Australia next week.

Jessica Lea Mayfield launches a month-long summer tour, including a number of headline shows as well as a ten-day tour supporting Langhorne Slim. Mayfield kicks off the tour with a headlining show at Firebird in St. Louis tonight, followed by shows in Kansas City, Wichita, Denver, and Salt Lake City. The tour with Langhorne Slim begins at the Independent in San Francisco and the Troubador in LA next week and includes additional stops in California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Lianne La Havas' debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, is due out on August 7. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. The album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen. "Lianne La Havas possesses a rich, expressive voice—but also, more importantly, a keen understanding of when to dial it back," says NPR, which calls the album "terrific," a "hyper-accessible entry point into a smart, sophisticated sound world." La Havas performs a special acoustic set and answers fans' questions live this Friday, August 3, at 4 PM ET, via Livestream.

The Nonesuch Journal is taking a bit of a break, ready to return with all the latest Nonesuch news on Monday, July 30. Till then, the summer concert season remains in full swing, of course, and with plenty of great music being made on all four corners of the globe, here's a look at some of the many events featuring Nonesuch artists this week, hopefully reaching wherever your summer travels may take you.

Joshua Redman, who is currently touring Europe as the special guest of The Bad Plus, is set to make his Irish debut when the Joshua Redman Trio, featuring Reuben Rogers and Gregory Hutchinson, tours Ireland this September. The autumn also marks the start of the Wigmore Hall Jazz Series curated by Redman, who succeeds Brad Mehldau as the Hall’s Jazz Series curator. Tickets for the Trio tour and Wigmore series are on sale now.

AfroCubism, the supergroup of Cuban and Malian singers and instrumentalists, made a rare tour of North America last month. CNN caught up with band member Toumani Diabaté to discuss the project in a piece for CNN's African Voices. "His collaborations and his vision," says CNN, "pairing the unique sound of the kora with instruments from across the globe, open up a world of possibility, all the while maintaining his roots at home in West Africa." Watch the full story, featuring clips from AfroCubism's performance at Bonnaroo, and an extended interview with Diabaté, here.

Composer/pianist Timothy Andres performed a concert at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge in May of this year, performing what he described as a "musical 'self-portrait,'" including two of his own pieces, as well as works by Ted Hearne, Ingram Marshall, Brahms, and Schumann. The complete concert has now been posted by Q2 Music, New York's online new-music station, and can be heard here.

Punch Brothers, who close out their European tour in Dublin tonight, have announced the second leg of their fall tour. This run starts November 24 in Vancouver and takes the band to cities throughout the West Coast of North America, wrapping up with a pair of Midwest dates in Minneapolis and Chicago. A limited pre-sale for most dates is under way; the first leg of the fall tour is on sale now. Punch Brothers also have a number of festival dates on tap later this month, including Grey Fox, Master Musicians, RockyGrass, FloydFest, and Newport Folk.