Natalie Merchant offered an intimate performance at the 2010 Poetry Conference at West Chester University on Saturday. The Wall Street Journal reports that "poets, scholars and other enthusiasts reveling in rhyme, meter and narrative in verse were lined up like smitten rock fans waiting for Natalie Merchant to sign copies of her new, deluxe-edition, double-disc recording, Leave Your Sleep." The songs on album, says the Journal, "reveal an ideal fit between poetic and musical rhythms."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops made their Bonnaroo debut and were included among SPIN's 30 Must-Hear Artists there. Photographer Andrew Pearson was there, capturing all the action both onstage and behind the scenes with the band in photos now available at nonesuch.com/media. The band also played the culminating event of the Spoleto Festival, drawing more than 3,000 people to their set.

Tony Allen's North American tour returns to New York City for a two-day stretch featuring two free outdoor performances plus the late-night Jump 'n' Funk at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Allen's recent show in Chicago was a critic's choice for Chicago Reader, which says: "Allen merges James Brown funk with jazz, highlife, and traditional West African rhythms, and his calling card is a doubled-up kick-drum accent that's weighted like a heartbeat, pinning his grooves solidly to the earth no matter how intricate his syncopations and permutations get up top."

With just one week left till the release of Laurie Anderson's Homeland comes the fourth in a series of videos featuring Anderson's male alter ego, Fenway Bergamot. Also new at nonesuch.com is an excerpt from the documentary included with the album, in which Anderson discusses the challenges of making the record and the invaluable support of Lou Reed. PopMatters calls Homeland "an incredible work of art pop of the highest order ... one of the most riveting and poignant accounts of post-9/11 America pop music has offered to date."

The soundtrack for I Am Love, the new film from director Luca Guadagnino and actress Tilda Swinton, featuring music by John Adams, is out today on Nonesuch, one day before the film's red-carpet premiere gala in New York City. The filmmakers discuss their use of Adams' music in the Wall Street Journal. The Observer notes: "Whether or not you see the film, this soundtrack is a rewarding digest of the Pulitzer-winner's musical styles."

Ben Folds was at the 14th Annual Webby Awards in New York City last night, giving the audience of internet insiders and stars an improv performance in the vein of his viral ChatRoulette videos on YouTube. Fittingly, Folds presented the Webby Award for Breakout of the Year to Andrey Ternovskiy, the 17-year-old Russian lad behind ChatRoulette.com. 

Lonely Avenue, a collaboration between two eminent artists—American singer-songwriter Ben Folds and English novelist Nick Hornby—will be released September 28 on Nonesuch Records. The album features music and vocals by Folds and lyrics by Hornby, with string arrangements by one of the most influential pop string arrangers of all time, Paul Buckmaster. Lonely Avenue, made specifically to be listened to on vinyl, will also be available on CD, digitally, and in a special deluxe edition that includes four short stories by Hornby.

The Punch Brothers new album, Antifogmatic, is out tomorrow and is streaming in full all week at Spinner. Their Bonnaroo set is now online via NPR. The Wall Street Journal calls them "across-the-board excellent." New York Times counted their take on Radiohead among the festival's standout covers. The Star-Tribune, reviewing their opening set for Steve Martin in Minneapolis, raves: "Punch Brothers were creative, exciting and wow-inducing." The Independent calls the new album "coolly fascinating."

Congratulations to Catherine Zeta-Jones, winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music; she performed the musical's most famous song, "Send in the Clowns," at last night's awards ceremony. The Welsh-born actress was also named CBE by Queen Elizabeth II on the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Emmylou Harris performs in "A Celebration of Kate McGarrigle" in London, where The Low Anthem picked up a MOJO Honours for Breakthrough Act ... Tony Allen kicks off tour at Toronto's Luminato Festival ... Timothy Andres, Philip Glass are at Yale ... The Black Keys, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Punch Brothers play Bonnaroo ... Pat Metheny concludes Orchestrion Asia tour in Tokyo ... Joshua Redman's James Farm plays SFJAZZ ... Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music is up for four Tony Awards ... Allen Toussaint helps Celebrate Brooklyn! ... and more ...

Tune in to the Tony Awards ceremony, airing live on Sunday, June 13, at 8 PM ET on CBS, for a performance from the cast of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, which has been nominated for four Tony Awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Catherine Zeta-Jones, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Angela Lansbury, and Best Sound Design of a Musical.

Musicians and music fans from around the world have begun to converge on Manchester, Tennessee, for the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Among them are three Nonesuch artists: Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and The Black Keys. For those unable to attend, many of the musical performances will be streaming on NPR.org and webcast on Bonnaroo's YouTube channel.