Thriving Roots, the Americana Music Association Foundation's new virtual conference, takes place starting Wednesday, September 16. The three-day event features 100 online sessions, including panels with Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, Chris Thile, Yola, and Ry Cooder. On Thursday, there's Yola with Brandi Carlile and Chris Thile with Sarah Jarosz and John Leventhal; on Friday, it's Ry Cooder with Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris with Ken Burns, and Rhiannon Giddens with Taj Mahal and Ann Powers.

Rhiannon Giddens joined forces with Amanda Palmer to cover Portishead's song "It's A Fire," recorded from several continents during COVID-19 lockdown. All profits go to the Free Black University Fund. "It was a delight to work on this with Amanda Palmer ... Felt so good to make some art together, even separated by half a world," says Giddens. "We all need to take a collective breath together, and breathe on ... it's all of us or none of us."

Emmylou Harris made her Nonesuch Records debut with the release of her album Red Dirt Girl on September 5, 2000. To mark its twentieth anniversary, Nonesuch will release the album—which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album—on limited-edition, translucent red vinyl on February 19, 2021, available to pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store. Harris wrote all but one of the twelve tracks on Red Dirt Girl. The album was produced by Malcolm Burn, who also performs on the album, along with Buddy Miller, Daryl Johnson, and Ethan Johns. Dave Matthews sings a duet with Harris, and Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, and Patty Griffin also contribute vocals.

Devendra Banhart has released an Amazon Original cover of The Grateful Dead’s “Franklin’s Tower,” available to stream and purchase only on Amazon Music, in honor of the 45th anniversary of The Grateful Dead’s album Blues for Allah. The song was produced and mixed by Noah Georgeson and recorded with his current touring band remotely in various studios and home studios.

"I started thinking about old-time music, because I was bringing my kids to see my parents, and my dad was playing the banjo in his chair, playing these old songs," Joachim Cooder says in a new video about the making of his upcoming album, Over That Road I'm Bound. "I started playing along with him, and slowed it down a little ... and thought, 'This would make a really great record.'" You can see what else he has to say about the album, including working with his band Ry Cooder, Rayna Gellert, Juliette Commagere, Sam Gendel, and others, here.

Tigran Hamasyan, whose new album, The Call Within, was released on Friday, has released a video for the album track "The Dream Voyager." The video features collages by Nanuka Tchitchoua and animation by T. Wade Ivy. You can watch it here. "This song is dedicated to my father, who has an ability to see places in his dreams where he has never been before," Hamasyan says. "Every once in a while, he visits these places following the memory of the details of his dreams."

Pianist/composer Tigran Hamasyan's new album, The Call Within, is out now. On the album, he performs ten original compositions, with Evan Marien on electric bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums. Produced by Hamasyan, the album is a journey into his dreamlike inner world, taking inspiration from his interest in maps from different eras, poetry, Armenian folk stories, astrology, geometry, ancient Armenian design, rock carvings, and cinematography, and creating what Record Collector calls "a kaleidoscopic tapestry of sound." Jazzwise exclaims: "An exceptional recording for exceptional times." You can take a look inside the vinyl edition in an unboxing video here.

A limited-edition, 45-RPM version of The Black Keys’ chart-topping ninth album, “Let’s Rock," will be available from independent record stores this Saturday, August 29, for part one of this year's Record Store Day. The new Record Store Day edition of “Let’s Rock” is pressed on two 180-gram vinyl discs and comes in a deluxe holographic gatefold jacket, with each piece individually numbered. Also out this Saturday are two special k.d. lang vinyl releases from Warners: Angel with a Lariat and Drag. Due to Covid-19, Record Store Day, usually held in April, is being replaced this year by RSD Drops, three separate title drop dates August 29, September 26, and October 24.

Lianne La Havas spoke with NPR's Ari Shapiro on All Things Considered for its Play It Forward series, in which artists share musicians who inspire them. The previous week, spoken word poet Kae Tempest had selected La Havas, saying: "There is something that happens when I hear her sing, which is so uplifting ... this wash of pure melodic brilliance." Shapiro, in describing the song "Bittersweet," from La Havas's new album, says: "I feel like this summer, everyone is kind of trying to do their best to just keep it together. And when the chorus of this track hits, it's like you're not even pretending anymore. Like, the mask drops, and it just feels very real."

Yola gave an NPR Music Tiny Desk Home Concert outdoors in Nashville accompanied by guitarist Jordan Tice of Hawktail, performing songs from her debut album, Walk Through Fire, and more. You can watch it here. "Yola is an electrifying performer," says NPR's Bob Boilen. "This is a rare Yola moment in her temporary quarantine home, so put the whiskey aside, grab a glass of iced tea and chill."

Tigran Hamasyan, whose new album, The Call Within, will be released on Nonesuch Records this coming Friday, has released a video of him performing the album track "New Maps" at the piano, set to the other elements from the album recording, featuring Evan Marien on electric bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums. You can watch it here.

David Byrne’s American Utopia will debut October 17 at 8pm ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max. The special event, directed by Spike Lee, presents a one-of-a-kind, dynamic film that gives audiences access to Byrne’s critically-acclaimed Broadway show that played to sold-out, record-breaking audiences. The filmed version was recorded during its late 2019 to early 2020 run at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre in New York City. You can watch a first look from it here.