Conor Oberst, with The Felice Brothers as his backing band, resumes his US Salutations tour in Colorado this weekend: playing Ogden Theater in Denver tonight, Boulder Theater on Saturday, and the Mishawaka Amphitheatre in Bellvue on Sunday.

Salutations, a companion piece to 2016's lauded Ruminations, was released in March to critical acclaim. The Sunday Express says: “The results are quite simply sublime. This is songwriting of the very highest quality, Oberst’s lyrics rarely less than astonishing. Wonderful." The Independent gives the album five stars, calling it "the best work of the singer’s career."

---

Devendra Banhart, currently touring Europe with music from his new album, Ape in Pink Marble, makes two festival stops in Spain, playing the Vida Festival in Vilanova i la Geltrú tonight, followed by a set at The Royal Botanic Garden of Alfonso XIII in Madrid, as part of Noches del Botánico. The Washington Post says the new album "feels as mysterious and inviting as a strange dream. The tempo dips to a reggae lull midway through while guitar solos delicately fill in spaces with carefully chosen notes."

---

Fleet Foxes continue their European tour, in support of their new album, Crack-Up, with three festival sets this weekend: at Vida Festival in Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain, on Saturday; Ferrara Sotto Le Stelle in Ferrara, Italy, as part of Bands Apart, on Monday; and the Montreux Jazz Lab in Switzerland on Tuesday, as part of Montreux Jazz Festival.

Crack-Up, the band’s highly anticipated third album, was released earlier this month and has been met with great critical acclaim. "Rewarding, involving, and meticulous," says the AP, "Crack-Up has been well worth the wait." "Likely to be the most remarkable album you will hear this year," exclaims says the Times of London, calling it "the return of one of the most original bands of this century." The New York Times calls it "a defiant artistic statement, an album that dares to feel important," while Pitchfork says it's the band's "most complex and compelling album to date." Uncut calls Crack-Up “astonishing.” “Ambitious, mature, meticulous … A recipe for total entertainment forever.”

---

Tigran Hamasyan shares a double bill with saxophonist Colin Stetson at Maison symphonique de Montréal on Saturday, as part of the Montréal International Jazz Festival. Hamasyan released his newest album, An Ancient Observer, earlier this year on Nonesuch Records. DownBeat exclaims: "It's simply breathtaking."

“I’m open to any style,” Hamasyan tells the Montreal Gazette in a feature on this weekend’s program. “The most important thing is the content of what you’re writing … The connection is the composition and the idea of improvisation within these genres.” 

---

Emmylou Harris, currently touring the US as special guest of John Mellencamp, performs at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford tonight, followed by shows at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, on Saturday, and Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, on Monday. In an interview with Harris ahead of Saturday's show, the Albany Times Union calls her music “an electrified melding of classic folk, country, blues and rock traditions" which "has emerged as a subgenre in its own right.” You can read the interview here.

---

Composer Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express, currently touring the UK with music from their 2015 album, Junun, play a sold-out show at Manchester Emirates Old Trafford, opening for Radiohead, on Tuesday. The Irish Times called their opening set for Radiohead in Dublin last week “joyous.”

“I think that coming and playing and sharing music and sharing ideas is the gift that we can give in the world,” Ben Tzur tells Rolling Stone India in a recent interview. You can read what else he had to say here.

Ben Tzur, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and the group of Indian musicians called the Rajasthan Express, recorded Junun in a makeshift studio inside the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, India. The Sunday Times of London called it "one of the most inspired releases of the year … intriguing, sinuous, and essential listening."

---

Natalie Merchant begins a career retrospective tour of the United States, entitled Natalie Merchant: 3 Decades of Song, with a sold-out show at The Bardavon in Poughkeepsie, New York, tonight. The tour coincides with the forthcoming The Natalie Merchant Collection—a deluxe ten-CD box set compiled by Merchant—which she celebrates with a free event at Kleinert/James Center for the Arts in Woodstock on Saturday. The event includes an interview with Merchant and an audience Q&A, followed by a short performance. Merchant closes out the weekend with a show at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, on Sunday.

“There’s a handful of songs that really are held closely by people, and I feel so fortunate to have made this music and made that connection with so many people,” Merchant tells the Boston Globe in an interview ahead of Sunday’s show. You can read what else she had to say here.

Nonesuch Records releases The Natalie Merchant Collection on July 14. The Daily Telegraph writes, “Merchant is a rare breed: an artist who has never compromised, but instead evolved with integrity, thought, and meaning.”

---

Rokia Traoré plays the Open Air Theatre in Hertme, Netherlands, on Saturday, as part of Afrika Festival. She released her latest album, Né So, on Nonesuch last year. "Traoré has made the album of her career,” exclaimed the Times. “This accessible yet sophisticated album offers its own defiance against hard times.”