The Arcs, whose debut album, Yours, Dreamily, was released on September 4, made their live concert debut performing at NYC’s Housing Works Bookstore Café on September 9 as part of NPR Music’s First Listen Live series. Mariachi Flor de Toloache, who are also on the album, joined for the concert as well. NPR captured it all, and you can now watch it here via npr.org/music.

Rhiannon Giddens continues to tour this fall, in support of her solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, starting today in Louisville, Kentucky. She stops in 33 cities, including newly announced dates in November, which go on sale on Friday. Giddens gave a show-stopping performance of "Waterboy" from the album at the Americana Awards in Nashville last night. Highlights from the ceremony will air on PBS's Austin City Limits on November 21. In addition, she participated in NPR Music's Songs We Love: Americana Edition, which will be posted to npr.org/music.

The full line-up for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has been announced, and, as is often the case, featured among the performers are a number of artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Punch Brothers, Conor Oberst, and Kronos Quartet. The free, annual outdoor music festival returns for the 15th year to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, in the Hellman Hollow, and will take place October 2–4, 2015.

Sam Amidon, who is touring Ireland this week, has just announced several new tour dates in North America supporting the band San Fermin in December. The dates begin at World Café Live at the Queen in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 2 and include stops along the Eastern US and Canada and into the Midwest, culminating at Bowery Ballroom in NYC on December 17. Amidon will play a number of previously announced shows in the Midwest with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline in November.

Punch Brothers have announced a number of new US tour dates for this December, starting at Overture Hall in Madison, WI, on December 1, and making their way across the Midwest, over to the Northeast and Southeast. Gabriel Kahane will again join the band for the first two weeks, after which Anaïs Mitchell will join for several shows. A limited ticket pre-sale begins Tuesday, September 15, at PunchBrothers.com; general on-sale begins this Friday, September 18. The current leg of the tour, which kicks off Friday at FreshGrass Festival, now includes a set at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco.

Audra McDonald, a six-time Tony Award winner, now shares an Emmy Award as host of Live From Lincoln Center's telecast of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The show has won the Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program. As the official host of the PBS series, McDonald shares the award with the show’s producers. She has served as the official host of Live From Lincoln Center since 2012. This marks her fourth Emmy nomination and her first win.

The Arcs—Dan Auerbach, Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, and Nick Movshon—are the subject of a short introductory video directed by Nick Walker, who also directed the official music video for "Outta My Mind," off Yours, Dreamily, their debut album. "I think we just put The Arcs together as a means to have a platform to do this thing that we love to do," says Auerbach: "make music, make records, and be able to share it with people." Watch the video here. The band will perform on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Friday, September 25.

Sam Amidon performs at Kings Place in London before kicking off tour of Ireland ... Nashville Symphony performs John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls ... Laurie Anderson's Heart of a Dog receives Canadian premiere at Toronto International Film Festival ... Tyondai Braxton has solo shows in Oberlin, Portland ... Jeremy Denk plays Rhapsody in Blue with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra ... Rhiannon Giddens heads home to Greensboro for National Folk Festival ... Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell tour Virginia, Pennsylvania ... Audra McDonald opens Minnesota Orchestra season ... Robert Plant headlines Lockn' Music Fest ... Punch Brothers are at Ellnora Guitar Fest ... Joshua Redman starts Europe tour in Germany, Spain ... and more ...

Joshua Redman kicks off a European tour at Musikfest Bremen in Germany this Saturday, joining the Metropole Orkest, Ibrahim Maalouf, and Lalah Hathaway on stage. He then tackles the piano-less trio format with Ole Morten Vågan on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums September 13–19 in Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Norway. In November, Redman returns to Europe to perform with the collaborative band James Farm. Before and after the James Farm tour, Redman resumes his North American tour with The Bad Plus in October and December. 

The Arcs have unveiled the video for "Outta My Mind," off Yours, Dreamily, their recently released debut album. The video premiered on The Huffington Post, which says: "A dreamy gift of garage blues wrapped in fuzzy, soulful guitar, the album is a refreshing shift from [Dan] Auerbach that you'll want to keep on repeat all weekend long." Watch the video here. Yours, Dreamily, is WFUV's New Dig and Album of the Week from The Current, which says "this album is chock full of memorable, hooky jams ... [Auerbach] can't help but write songs that get stuck in your brain."

Rhiannon Giddens and Ry Cooder will be among the performers at the Americana Honors & Awards show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on September 16. Cooder is also among the presenters, as are Rodney Crowell and Punch Brothers' Noam Pikelny. The show will broadcast live on SiriusXM's Outlaw Country and will stream live via NPR Music. PBS will air highlights from the show November 21 on Austin City Limits. Giddens, Punch Brothers, and Carolina Chocolate Drops' Hubby Jenkins are all nominees. Giddens will also take part in NPR Music's "Songs We Love: Americana Edition" event with critic Ann Powers earlier September 16.

The Arcs have confirmed eight European tour dates in November as part of their first tour in support of Yours, Dreamily, their debut album. They will be joined on stage by Mariachi Flor de Toloache. The European leg comprises concerts in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, UK, Holland, France, and Italy.  Tickets go on sale on Friday, September 11. The Arcs make their live concert debut via NPR Music’s First Listen Live series in NYC this Wednesday and perform at Bowery Ballroom in NYC later this month.