American singer Fontella Bass, best known for the seminal soul classic "Rescue Me," died last week at the age of 72. Recorded for Chess Records when she was 25 years old, "Rescue Me" remained on the Top 40 R&B Chart for 19 weeks in 1965. She returned to the music scene with the released of her album No Ways Tired on Nonesuch Records in 1995. Bass suffered a heart attack on December 2, 2012, and died on December 26.

Dr. John released his Nonesuch Records debut album, Locked Down, in April 2012 to great critical acclaim and, more recently, numerous year-end-best accolades and a Grammy nomination for Best Blues Album. Locked Down was produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and features a band of young musicians Auerbach hand-picked to make the album. Dr. John and the band celebrated the album's release last spring with shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The video of their BAM performance of the track "Ice Age" premiered on Rolling Stone last week. Watch it here.

As 2012 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2013, it's time to take a look back and remember all the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists this year. Many of these artists and their recent Nonesuch releases have made music critics' and fans' year-end best lists; several were nominated for Grammy Awards. Here is a look back.

It's been quite a wonderful year of music for which we, the staff at Nonesuch Records, are grateful as ever. We are thankful both to the artists whom we are privileged to have call Nonesuch their musical home and to the music lovers around the world who support those artists and the music they make. Stay tuned for a re-cap of all the great music we enjoyed this year to come in the Nonesuch Journal. In the meantime, we wanted to wish everyone happy holidays with the short video message here.

Patrick Carney, drummer of The Black Keys, will host Serious Boredom, an exclusive show on SiriusXMU, channel 35, featuring Carney talking about and playing his favorite independent music, new and old, as well as music from his personal collection. The show premieres this Thursday, December 20, at 8 PM ET. New episodes will debut on the first Thursday of every month beginning in January 2013. "I'm excited about the show and the opportunity to host SiriusXMU’s Serious Boredom," says Carney. "I've wanted to do a DJ gig like this for a while now and am looking forward to being on air."

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Rokia Traoré has a new album coming in the spring of 2013 on Nonesuch Records; it is the first time Nonesuch will release her record worldwide. Further details about the album and its release will be announced shortly, as will upcoming festival and tour dates. Traoré performs at the Sydney Festival in January. Pitchfork described her most recent record, 2009’s Tchamantché, as “a guitar album of a particularly understated bent ... hauntingly spare yet ridiculously well-defined, the timbre and tone of every string presented in perfect resolution.” And the BBC World Service called it “One of the best albums of the year. An absolute stunner.”

In 2005, Nonesuch released The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, in which sisters Kate and Anna McGarrigle, their family—including Kate's children, Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright—and honorary family members, like Emmylou Harris, celebrated the holidays in song. That same year saw the start of a holiday tradition of live Christmas shows starring McGarrigles, Wainwrights, and many friends. The music-making continues with Rufus and Martha Wainwright’s Christmas 101, three concerts in Oakland and Los Angeles this week, featuring appearances from Harris, Maria Muldaur, and Van Dyke Parks. Proceeds go to the Kate McGarrigle Fund, which is dedicated to research for a cure for sarcoma, a rare and deadly cancer from which Kate McGarrigle passed away in 2010. 

The Black Keys are featured in an encore episode of Austin City Limits (ACL) airing Saturday, December 29, 2012, on PBS stations across the United States. The episode, which originally aired in October 2010, is a prescient indicator of things to come as the band brings raw energy and steel-belt grit to tracks from their 2010 breakout album Brothers in their ACL debut. The episode also features Sonic Youth. The Black Keys close out year with two performances at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

Following the news that Randy Newman will be among the 2013 Inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Newman was featured on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The show opens with his solo piano-and-vocal recording of his classic tune "Political Science" from his 2003 Nonesuch debut album, Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1, and includes two past Fresh Air interviews. Newman, who has described the induction into the Hall of Fame as "a great honor," recently spoke with both Rolling Stone and Billboard magazines about that honor.

Fatoumata Diawara's debut album, Fatou, was released earlier this year to critical acclaim. Now comes the release of a new music video for the album track "Clandestin," which addresses issues of immigration. "They are called 'illegals,' but I call them warriors as it’s not easy to leave everything behind and to trust in the unknown. In Bambara, we call them nomads," says Diawara. "This song is dedicated to all the brothers who die on this trip and to those who have already left!" Watch the video here.

Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell play the Miracle on Music Row benefit in Nashville for Harris's Bonaparte's Retreat Dog Rescue ... The Black Keys join The Rolling Stones in Newark, telecast and streaming live ... John Adams's El Niño receives Canadian premiere ... Shawn Colvin closes out tour on East Coast ... Jeremy Denk joins San Diego Symphony ... The Barbican celebrates Philip Glass's 75th birthday ... Gidon Kremer joins National Orchestra of Belgium ... Mark Morris's The Hard Nut opens in Berkeley ... Jessica Lea Mayfield, David Mayfield conclude Sibling Rivalry Tour in their home town of Kent, Ohio ... Rokia Traore performs in Poland ... and more ...

Just in time for the holidays, The Hard Nut, Mark Morris's 1991 retelling of the classic tale of The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffmann, returns to the Bay Area for the first time in three years, with a seven-performance run at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, California, starting tonight. The Mark Morris Dance Group will be joined by members of the Berkeley Symphony, led by conductor George Cleve, for the performances with the Piedmont East Bay Children's Choir under the direction of Robert Geary. For the first time in Berkeley, Morris will take on the role of Dr. Stahlbaum/King. Watch a preview here.