Bombino, as part of his 30-day European tour, kicks off a seven-city run in the UK with three performances this weekend: at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room in London tonight, Turner Sims in Southampton on Saturday, and the Warwick Arts Centre in Warwick on Sunday. The UK leg continues in the week ahead with stops in Clitheroe, Manchester, Barrow, Barton on Humber, and Stockton. Following their UK stint, the Tuareg guitarist and his band return to the Continent to perform in Switzerland, France, and Italy.

Bombino and the band kick off a 14-city North American tour starting at the University of North Carolina, Asheville, on November 20; it includes stops in Nashville, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Montreal, Cambridge, Providence, and DC, and culminates in New York City with a concert in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall.

The tour features music from Bombino’s Nonesuch Records debut album, Nomad, released to critical acclaim earlier this year.

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Sam Amidon, who launched his European tour on Wednesday, performs at Whelan’s in Dublin tonight, and LSO St. Luke's in London on Saturday, as part of the Barbican’s Contemporary Music series. He heads next to Spain for a seven-city run of the country in early November. The tour follows the release of Amidon’s Nonesuch debut album, Bright Sunny South, from which he performs a number of songs on the road.

Amidon is the subject of a feature article in the Irish Times previewing tonight's show and looking at the roots of the music in his repertoire, not least on the new album, which the paper's Lauren Murphy calls "excellent." She writes: "Bright Sunny South’s combination of Amidon’s plaintive vocal and a fusion of the music that he loves—from traditional folk, to free jazz and improvisational rock—means that songs like 'The Streets of Derry' sit alongside his take on Mariah Carey’s 'Shake It Off' with no jarring aural discrepancies. He is not precious about what songs he takes on, he says, as long as they hold some personal connection." Read the complete article at irishtimes.com.

In advance of Saturdays' concert in London, Amidon was featured on the Barbican's monthly Contemporary Music podcast, which you can hear here.

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Dr. John brings the music of his Dan Auerbach-produced Nonesuch debut album, Locked Down, and more to the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vermont, tonight. About his recent performance in Virginia, the Roanoke Times says “the five-piece band pulled out plenty of Big Easy chestnuts, sprinkling them with their own funky style.”

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Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell play a sold-out show at Bucknell University’s Weis Center for the Performing Arts in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, as part of the school’s Homecoming Weekend Festivities. The duo just announced new dates for their Old Yellow Moon tour in 2014, which are on sale now via nonesuch.com/on-tour.

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The Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra performs an early evening set at the Northern Lights Palace of Culture in Gidon Kremer’s hometown of Riga, Latvia, on Sunday. Italian cellist and conductor Mario Brunello leads the orchestra in works by Italian composers Verdi, Rossini, Giovanni Sollima, as well as Weinberg’s Sinfonietta No. 2, Op. 74. The program—titled “Italian Travels”—receives additional performances in Lithuania and the Czech Republic this week.

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Audra McDonald continues her North American tour with two concerts in California this weekend: at the Balboa Theatre in La Jolla tonight and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, presented by the LA Opera, on Saturday. Backed by musical director Andy Einhorn on piano, Mark Vanderpoel on bass, and Gene Lewin on drums, McDonald performs songs from her new album, Go Back Home, as well as other songs from the American songbook.

The Los Angeles Times recently spoke with McDonald about her various roles on Broadway and on television, her upcoming role in NBC’s live production of The Sound of Music on December 5, and the themes of Go Back Home. “If someone were to make a musical about my life,” McDonald says of the new album, “this would be the soundtrack.” Read the full interview at latimes.com.

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Mehliana, Brad Mehldau’s electric duo project with drummer Mark Guiliana, concludes its 10-day US tour with two sets in Massachusetts this weekend: at the Iron Horse in Northampton tonight and The Sinclair in Cambridge on Saturday. Mehldau heads next to Europe for a week of solo shows before reuniting with Guiliana on November 14 for a two-week Mehliana tour of Europe.

The collaboration finds Mehldau on a collection of vintage synthesizers while Giuliana accompanies on drums and effects. In celebration of the tour, Nonesuch is offering an early listen to "Hungry Ghost," a track off the forthcoming Mehliana album, due in early 2014:

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Joshua Redman and his quartet—featuring pianist Aaron Goldberg, drummer Gregory Hutchinson, and bassist Reuben Rogers—play festival sets in three different countries this weekend: at Incheba Hall in Bratislava, Slovakia, tonight for Bratislava Jazz Days; Kiev October Palace in Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday, as part of the Jazz in Kiev Festival; and the Teatro Comunale in Cormòns, Italy, on Sunday, as part of the Jazz & Wine of Peace Festival.

The Joshua Redman Quartet begins a tour of the US at The Egg in Albany on November 7.

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Chris Thile continues his solo tour with a return to Koerner Hall in Toronto tonight, and a performance at the Massry Center for the Arts at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, on Sunday. The tour, featuring selections from his new Nonesuch recording, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, and more, continues with stops in North Carolina, Maryland, Florida, and Georgia, before Thile heads to Europe to tour in November.

“The most impressive musicians are often versatile, but few match the breadth of the brilliant mandolinist Chris Thile,” exclaims the New York Times’s Vivien Schweitzer in a review of Thile’s sold-out show in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall earlier this week. Of his performing Bach violin works on the mandolin, she writes, "in Mr. Thile’s virtuosic hands, the results are breathtaking ... a revelatory reading, poignant and exuberant by turns." Read the full review at nytimes.com.

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Allen Toussaint performs a headline set at the free Hallowbaloo Music & Arts Festival on Nu‘uanu Avenue in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Saturday afternoon. Last week, on the 300 block of Bourbon Street in Toussaint’s hometown of New Orleans, the Musical Legends Park honored the famed singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer by unveiling a life-size bronze statue of him holding a pen and paper in hand. Read the Times-Picayune coverage of the event at nola.com.

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Rokia Traoré brings the songs of her recently released Nonesuch album, Beautiful Africa, to the Festival Voix de Femmes in Liege, France, tonight. She heads north for a Halloween festival set in Oslo before kicking off a six-city tour of the UK in November.