Keep Your Courage, Natalie Merchant’s tenth solo studio album and the first of new material since her 2014 self-titled record, is due April 14. An eclectic album, produced by Merchant, it features lush orchestrations throughout, two duets sung with vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis of Resistance Revival Chorus, contributions from the Celtic folk group Lúnasa and Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, and horn arrangements by jazz trombonist Steve Davis. There are nine original songs by Merchant and an interpretation of a song by Ian Lynch of the Irish band Lankum. The vinyl LP edition includes four bonus tracks from earlier albums, previously unreleased on vinyl. Merchant will tour the US in the spring and fall. 

Vagabon will join Weyes Blood on tour in March and April 2023. The shows kick off at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee on March 13, followed by stops in Minneapolis, Des Moines, Englewood, Salt Lake City, Boise, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Austin, and Dallas, culminating at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa on April 2.

Natalie Merchant has been appointed to the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center Board of Trustees by US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to support the ongoing preservation and promotion of the country’s folklore, cultural traditions, music, and arts, and aid in the long-term planning and policy direction of the center. Merchant says: "It’s such an honor to be selected to serve on the Folklife Center board. I’ve admired the work of this agency for many years and hope to find some way to help further their mission of preserving and promoting all forms of folk arts in America."

I Love a Love Song!, the second album from Rachael & Vilray—Lake Street Dive singer/songwriter Rachael Price and composer, singer, and guitarist Vilray—is due January 13. It features eleven new songs written by Vilray plus the 1930s classic "Goodnight My Love" written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. The album was produced, engineered, and mixed by Dan Knobler and features arrangements from Jacob Zimmerman. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an exclusive autographed print in one of four colors selected at random. A new song, “Is a Good Man Real?,” debuts today; you can watch a video for it, filmed in the studio, here.

Hurray for the Riff, aka Alynda Segarra, has released a cover of Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” as part of an Amazon Original series of covers of songs by the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees available only on Amazon Music. “What can you do with a classic song like this but dive in and explore the depths?” Segarra says. “My whole life I watched Annie Lennox sing it and she was so strong—superhero to me, with her suit and cropped hair. I vowed, as a kid, to one day be that unshakeable. But life happens to us all. So, I sing it today from a tender place, weary from the brutality of our world but not broken. As Annie told us all—hold your head up, keep your head up.” 

Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch nominees for the 65th Grammy Awards: Molly Tuttle for Best New Artist and Best Bluegrass Album for Crooked Tree with Golden Highway; The Black Keys for Best Rock Album for Dropout Boogie and Best Rock Performance for "Wild Child"; Dan Auerbach for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical; Cécile McLorin Salvant for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Ghost Song and Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals for "Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying"; Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade's LongGone for Best Instrumental Album; Brad Mehldau's Jacob's Ladder for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album; Punch Brothers' Hell on Church Street for Best Folk Album; Caroline Shaw & Attacca Quartet's Evergreen for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder's GET ON BOARD for Best Traditional Blues Album; Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) for Best Historical Album and Best Album Notes for Bob Mehr; and Astor Piazzolla: The American Clavé Recordings. for Best Album Notes for Fernando González. 

The Black Keys stopped by The Kelly Clarkson Show to perform “It Ain’t Over,” from their album Dropout Boogie. You can watch it here. The band has been nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Rock Album for Dropout Boogie and Best Rock Performance for the album track "Wild Child.” Dan Auerbach is up for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. 

Steve Reich’s 1988 piece Different Trains is the subject of this week's episode of BBC Radio 3's The Listening Service. Host Tom Service shares music from Kronos Quartet's 1988 Nonesuch recording of the piece, which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition, and talks with author/journalist Jonathan Freedland about creating such art that addresses the Holocaust. You can hear the episode here.

The first studio recording of Tyondai Braxton's Telekinesis—an eighty-seven-piece work for electric guitars, orchestra, choir and electronics—is out now on New Amsterdam / Nonesuch Records. The album features the Metropolis Ensemble conducted by Andrew Cyr, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus conducted by Dianne Berkun Menaker, and chamber choir The Crossing conducted by Donald Nally performing what the Guardian calls "a superpower-themed symphony … a titanic composition." Braxton cites the Japanese manga classic Akira as a thematic guide, with its story of a young boy's discovery of his telekinetic powers and his inability to control it, leading to his own destruction. The Times exclaims: "It's remarkable."

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs her new theatrical piece Ogresse at the Kennedy Center. Timo Andres celebrates Ingram Marshall at Yale. The Black Keys take part in VetsAid 2022 in Columbus. Rhiannon Giddens joins LA Phil for Julia Bullock–curated festival. Tigran Hamasyan plays in Bentonville and Los Angeles. Hurray for the Riff Raff joins Bright Eyes in Providence and Brooklyn. Kronos Quartet leads online master class. Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade are in Zurich and Groningen. Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion perform in Oregon, broadcast live. Chris Thile, Sam Amidon tour London, Manchester, and Glasgow. Molly Tuttle is in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Laurie Anderson was the musical guest on the latest edition WNYC's Get Lit with All of It, the book club series with All of It host Alison Stewart. She joined Stewart at the New York Public Library last month, along with a friend, author A.M. Homes, who spoke about her new book, The Unfolding. Anderson performed an improvised piece based on the book and spoke with Stewart about her own work. For her second performance, Anderson incorporated a recording of her late husband Lou Reed, the ninth anniversary of whose death coincided with the event. You can hear the performances and conversation and watch the complete event here.

Kronos Quartet will tour Australia for the final time in March 2023, in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The KRONOS Five Decades Tour—the eighth Australian tour for the ensemble produced by Arts Projects Australia—will take in Perth Festival, Arts Centre Melbourne, Tasmania’s Ten Days On The Island, WOMADelaide, and Adelaide Festival, culminating at the Sydney Opera House on March 14. Kronos will perform music spanning brand new works and signature pieces from composers around the world.