Emmylou Harris will receive the 2015 Polar Music Prize in a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on June 9. She will be presented the prize by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, along with her fellow laureate, percussionist Evelyn Glennie. The event will be broadcast live on Sweden's TV4, viewable throughout Europe via TV4 Play. "The music of Emmylou Harris contains the history and topography of the entire American continent," reads the prize citation. "Emmylou Harris makes the world bigger and smaller, more valuable and more beautiful." Previous laureates include Kronos Quartet, Steve Reich, Youssou N'Dour, Björk, Joni Mitchell, and more.

Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record stores, is set to take place on Saturday, April 18, and included among the special limited-edition releases on that day are vinyl recordings from Robert Plant, Steve Reich, and Buena Vista Social Club.

Congratulations to David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's musical Here Lies Love, which has been nominated for three Olivier Awards: Best New Musical, Outstanding Achievement in Music, and Best Theatre Choreographer for Annie-B Parson. The awards ceremony will be held at the Royal Opera House in London on April 12. The National Theatre production of Here Lies Love was met with great critical acclaim and won the 2014 London Evening Standard Theatre Awards' Beyond Theatre award for "pushing the boundaries of musicals."

Singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, who was born of Malian parents in the Ivory Coast, spoke with PBS NewsHour about the struggle to preserve Mali's rich musical heritage under the shadow of ongoing violence there. "If we want the best for Africa, the only—the first thing to do is to know how to bring peace," says Diawara. "Without peace, nothing, we cannot start any kind of government. Nothing, nothing’s possible." You can watch the piece here.

Tigran Hamasyan was featured on NPR's All Things Considered Sunday. He spoke with host Arun Rath about his new album, Mockroot, and its diverse musical influences. "Musicians arrive at their signature sounds through all sorts of influences, but [Hamasyan] may have the most unusual collection yet," says Rath, noting sources from the folk music of Hamasyan's native Armenia to metal to Indian classical music. "So when you listen to the music of Tigran Hamasyan, know that there's a lot going on there." You can listen to the conversation here.

Kronos Quartet premieres multimedia collaboration with Aleksandra Vrebalov, Bill Morrison in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall ... Björk begins month-long NYC run, MoMA retrospective ... Bombino plays Australia festivals ... Brad Mehldau, Mark Giuliana begin Asia tour at Java Jazz Festival ... Natalie Merchant sings in New Jersey ... Conor Oberst concludes Australia tour at Golden Plains Festival ... Punch Brothers continue tour in Boston and Portland ... Joshua Redman joins Umphrey's McGee in California ... and more ...

Natalie Merchant brings the music of her latest album, the self-titled 2014 Nonesuch release, and more on the road as she performs a number of North American concerts in the coming months. She begins this run of shows at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, on Saturday, followed by shows in New York, Connecticut, Colorado, and Virginia, and culminating in two shows at Koerner Hall in Toronto in May.

Pianist/composer Brad Mehldau and drummer Mark Guiliana take their electric duo, Mehliana, on a week-long tour of Asia, featuring music from their debut album, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon. The tour starts with two nights at the Java Jazz Festival in Indonesia this weekend, then heads to Japan for shows in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo, and to Korea for a culminating show in Seoul. 

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, whose 2013 duo album, Old Yellow Moon, won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, will be taking the music to Australia for a six-city tour, starting at the Perth Concert Hall on June 21. The tour continues with stops in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Wollongong, and Gold Coast. Special local guest Harmony James joins. Local pre-sales begin March 12; general on-sales begin March 17. 

Chris Thile will curate The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' American Strings: A Tradition of Innovation, a festival of performances, workshops, jam sessions, and panel discussions exploring the idea that tradition is innovation that lasts. American Strings will guide audiences from the origins fueling new traditions in American string music to the artistry and diverse styles in today’s creative landscape. The week-long survey, held June 20–26, 2016, in Washington, DC, will culminate in a star-studded performance with Chris Thile and the National Symphony Orchestra.

The Staves unveiled a live performance of "Make It Holy," off their forthcoming Justin Vernon–produced album If I Was. You can watch it here. The album version is available to download now with album pre-orders, along with three additional tracks: "Blood I Bled," "Steady," and "Black & White." The Staves will perform at the Eaux Claires Festival, curated by Vernon and Bryce Dessner, held in Eau Claire, July 17 and 18, as will Sam Amidon, among others.

Rhiannon Giddens' solo recording debut, Tomorrow Is My Turn, produced by T Bone Burnett, was released last month on CD and digitally and is now available on vinyl. The LP edition is pressed on 140-gram, audiophile vinyl and includes a CD of the complete album. The New York Times calls it "a showcase for Ms. Giddens’s glorious voice," and Rolling Stone dubs her "one of the most promising voices in American roots music." Rhiannon Giddens was the guest on NPR's World Cafe yesterday; her spring tour begins later this month at the Big Ears Festival.